Jurassic World Captivz Hatchlings by ToyMonster International!

My kids & I were recently invited to check out some Jurassic World CAPTIVZ Hatchlings from ToyMonster International. We couldn't wait until they arrived, so we could open them up & see who we were lucky enough to get. The Jurassic World movies are great to watch together as a family, and having grown up with the original Jurassic Park movies (the first one came out when I was two), it makes me happy that my kids not only get to enjoy the original movies but the new series as well. Blue is one of our favorites from the movie so we were hoping we would get her in one of our hatchling eggs. Funny enough, she was the first one we found when we had started to open our eggs.

The outside packaging of these eggs makes it seem like when you open the egg you'll find a ball of slime with a dinosaur in it. However, upon opening the eggs I found that the slime is in it's own little bag - dinosaur free. The dinosaurs, a collectable token, slime in a bag & sheet that shows all the possible dinosaurs you could end up with are included in the egg. I am actually pretty happy the slime & dinosaur came separate so that the dinosaurs didn't need a scrub. The egg shells are a hard plastic & they can be snapped back together so you can keep them to re-use, your kids can use them when playing with their slime, as a toy or you can keep them until next Easter & use them to hide candy in.

All of the dinosaurs come in two pieces, you'll need to snap the two pieces together & it is very easy to do. You can even switch it up and swap their parts around to see what kind of new species you can think of. The eggs were fun & easy to open, We liked that they had the little collectors tokens with them, they kind of reminded us of pogs. 

We had ten eggs in total to open up, we ended up with eight unique dinosaurs & two that were duplicates of dinosaurs we already received. Opening the eggs was fun for the whole family, even my husband became invested wanting to see which dinosaur we would end up with next. I was pretty happy we got the cutie shown above, he was one of the two I was hoping we would get. His new home is now on my collectable shelf so everyone else can see how cute he is too. These adorable eggs are available in Hatchlings Single Eggs or purchased in packs of three, they can be found & purchased at Five Below + Meijer.

Disclaimer-  ToyMonster International & Playwise Partners provided the product above for the review free of charge no other compensation was provided. However, no product compensation will influence the outcome of any review. My honest opinions are used in all reviews, they are solely my own & they may vary from others. My reviews are posted for readers in order to provide an informed decision before purchase.

Dinosaur play & explore sensory bin from HGUSA.

 

Sensory bins & tables have become quite popular over the last few years as they are a great hands-on learning experience. If you are looking to start using a sensory bin with your child, but don't know where to start then Horizon Group USA has you covered. They sell three different pre-assembled sensory bins that come with everything you need to get started on your sensory journey. The three themes are Seal Life, Dino Galaxy & Unicorn. 

My kids and I were recently sent the Dino Galaxy Sensor Bin in our partnership box & it is a pretty neat bin. The storage container for it is a lot larger than I had expected it to be, it measures 14.5 x 9.75 x 3.25 with a lid that locks shut to keep everything inside. 

The sensory bin comes with green smiley sand, garden pebbles, a paint brush, a foam volcano, a shovel, a roller, toy trees and dinosaur figurines of course. The only thing I would change about the contents is having double the amount of sand in it as it isn't really enough to cover the half of the bin like it is supposed to. Younger children tend to like to play with sensory bins, but this was fun for my nine year old too because we all love the play sand from HGUSA. 

Each kit sells for $14.99 on Amazon, you can buy just one or collect all three. After your child is done playing with it simply lock the lid on & keep it stored until later. The slimey sand can get a little dried out over time if left out so I suggest keeping it stored in a sealed storage container or baggie.

Disclaimer-  Horizon Group USA provided me with the products mentioned above for the review + giveaway free of charge no other compensation was provided. However, no product compensation will influence the outcome of any review. My honest opinions are used in all reviews, they are solely my own & they may vary from others. My reviews are posted for readers in order to provide an informed decision before purchase. 

Not Another Rubber Ducky (Spooky Toobers) Review!

 

Rubber ducky you're the one, you make bath time lots of fun. Does anyone else have the sesame street song pop into their head when they think about rubber ducks? Do you also think that rubber ducks are just for kids? There are plenty of adults who collect rubber ducks, there are so many different variations of how they look, it is fun seeing them all. Well now there is a new bath time toy line that celebrates those who like the slightly spookier yet cute supernatural creatures. I want to introduce all of you to a fun brand called Not Another Rubber Ducky that sells floating bath toys that look like various well known supernatural creatures, they are called Spooky Toobers. This is a fun line for kids and adults alike.

How cute & fun do these creatures look floating around on little inflatable tubes? At the moment they have four different creatures to choose from, you can purchase Frankie, Drac, Wolfie or Mummy for $14.99 each. Each toy is free of phthalate, BPA + lead and each one is sealed with a bit of weight inside to keep them floating upright. They are great for the bathtub or in the pool. These cute monsters were designed and created by Johnathan Paine, whose name you may even recognize. He is a digital character sculpture, character modeler & now toymaker - some of his work has been shown in The Incredibles, Ratatouille and UP.  Along with this collection of devilishly cute toys he also has an Etsy shop where he sells cards & prints of some of his creature artwork. I will cover his Etsy shop and some of his work on another post.

My kids love these Spooky Toobers, they might not be at the age where they play with bath toys anymore however they are looking forward to having these on their shelf with their other collectable figures. Each character is unique & show cases both designs and personalities that fit each character such as Wolfie who can be seen howling while floating around on his tube. 

Their little feet sticking over the side of the inflatables are adorable, they all seem so relaxed, enjoying the water. It makes you want to get in a floatie and float around the pool too! My favorite out of the four is a two way tie between Wolfie & Drac and my kids can't decide which is their favorite either due to all of them being pretty awesome. I like that there is no hole in the bottom like typical rubber ducks have, thus preventing any water from getting trapped within which makes it to where it will not grow mold inside. They are perfectly balanced, they can be pushed across the tub or pool, they can be spun and twirled and will still stay floating upright. 

Do you have a favorite out of the four? 

Disclaimer- Not Another Rubber Ducky provided the product above for the review free of charge no other compensation was provided. However, no product compensation will influence the outcome of any review. My honest opinions are used in all reviews, they are solely my own & they may vary from others. My reviews are posted for readers in order to provide an informed decision before purchase.

Create cute bead art with the smART Pixelator by Flycatcher Toys.

 

I was recently asked if I'd be interested in reviewing a neat toy with my kids called the smART Pixelator by Flycatcher Toys & I was pretty excited about it as it reminds me of a toy I used to play with when I was younger (just not as cool). The Pixelator is a fun toy that uses small plastic beads to create art pieces like keychains and more. 

After you complete the image, you'd like to create, you need to use a iron to semi melt the beads which will help them fuse together. I did something similar when I was a kid with my grandma, I remember making all kinds of designs and having her help me use the iron to complete them. What sets this pixelator apart is that it has a digital light board highlighting the designs you select or create and guide you on your way step by step. 

The memory card that comes with it comes pre-loaded with several different designs that are ready for you to create, the images include the cute little gameboy looking robot below. If you want more images than just what is on the memory card, you can search through other designs on their app or use the app to create your own pixelated image from a photo you take. You can use the app directly from your phone. If you are working on an intricate design that will take some time to complete, you can come back at a later time and pick up where you left off. 

Each set of beads comes with a bead applicator which can help place the beads onto the peg boards to create your designs, however my kids seem to like just using their hands to complete the images they slected. You'll also be provided with a ironing paper to go between your design and the iron, I do wish it came with a few more though.

We haven't made our own creation using the photo method yet, but my son has had fun coming up with some of his own designs using the beads. It has been wonderful to see both of my kids using this and having fun with the outcome of their work. We have a steam iron, it does an alright job but I feel like a normal iron would work better so maybe keep that in mind when shopping for a iron to use with this kit. The base set comes with a limited number of plastic beads, however they have a great into bundle that comes with a free gift which is two sets of 2000 beads so you are set to create quite a few great designs before needing to purchase more. The set is normally $79.97 however they are having a sale at the moment and you can purchase the bundle for $29.99! 

Disclaimer-  Flycatcher Toys provided the products mentioned above for the review & giveaway free of charge no other compensation was provided. However, no product compensation will influence the outcome of any review. My honest opinions are used in all reviews, they are solely my own & they may vary from others. My reviews are posted for readers in order to provide an informed decision before purchase. 

Disney Real Littles Stitch bag Giveaway!

 It doesn't matter how old I get, I still love Disney! One of my favorite Disney characters is Stitch from "Lilo & Stitch" and when ever I see cute Stitch things I like to pick them up for my little Stitch collection that I have. When I found out they came out with small Disney themed back packs via the line Real Littles that had mini stationary supplies in them, I set out to find one. 

Not a single store near me had any of the Disney themed packs in stock, they would sell out too quickly. I would manage to find one random Disney backpack here and there, but never any of the Stitch or Nightmare Before Christmas so I was very excited when I finally managed to find a Stitch bag. Then the day after Christmas I did some basic grocery shopping, grabbed a few holiday clearance things and decided to take one more look and found two brand new boxes of these back packs that hadn't been touched yet so I managed to grab a Nightmare Before Christmas and an extra Stitch bag to use for a giveaway as I know there are lots of other people looking for these bags too. It has been nuts seeing that people online (eBay, etc.) are charging $30-$50 for one of these 😲 I wasn't hunting these down like crazy, I would pop into the toy section when ever I happened to be at the store but it took three maybe four months before finding any of these in stock.

Prize Alert: One lucky winner is going to win a Stitch themed Disney Real Littles backpack! (unopened, in box)

This is open World Wide! Please remember if you DO NOT leave a comment on this blog post as your mandatory entry into the giveaway then all of your entries will be void. Doing the Daily entries will increase your chance of winning. Winners have 72 hours to respond to the notification email! This giveaway is hosted by ME.

This giveaway ends on 2/05/2022

Giveaway entry question: Leave a comment and let me know who your favorite Disney character or what one of your favorite Disney movies is. (I know it is hard to pick just one!)

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This giveaway is sponsored by me and is not associated with Disney or Real Littles. You can complete as many entries as you want, there are several one-time activities and daily activities that can earn you more entries into the giveaway.

Be sure to keep an eye on my site & social media pages for more giveaways headed your way.

SLIMYSAND Aqua Splash Review & Giveaway!

We always have a great time opening the promotional boxes we receive from Horizon Group USA which they send out each quarter. They create and sell a wide range of craft items along with an assortment of other toy type products. Today I will be sharing their Slimysand Aqua Splash, which is a stretchable, moldable sand that can be played with in or out of the water. We've actually reviewed a similar sand by them in the past and loved it so we knew we would love this one as well. 

The sand comes packaged in a cute little sand castle mold with an easy to open lid and handle to make it easier to carry around. The sand looks like it would be kind of hard when it first comes out of the container, but once you start pulling it apart it is actually quite soft and fun to pull apart because you get to see it turn into an almost cotton candy like consistency. I will put a reel up on my IG soon showing what it looks like when you pull it apart.

I personally think this is a great product for kids or adults because it is calming to play with as you pull it apart, reform it and shape it into what ever you want. I would recommend using this on a solid surface as it can get stuck in carpets and also leaves a slight residue behind on paper, we prefer to play with this either in the kitchen on the title floor, or we use an older baking tray that we designated as the play sand/playdoh tray.

As part of my partnership as a Giveaway Guru for Horizon Group USA, I am provided with a second set of what ever we review so I can giveaway one to a reader as well. Their products can be purchased on Amazon or big box retailers like Walmart + Target.

Prize Alert:  One winner is going to win their own container of pink aqua sand.

This is open to U.S Residents ! Please remember if you DO NOT leave a comment on this blog post as your mandatory entry into the giveaway then all of your entries will be void. Doing the Daily entries will increase your chance of winning. Winners have 72 hours to respond to the notification email! 

This giveaway ends on 1/29/2022

Giveaway entry question: Leave me a blog comment letting me know another color aqua sand you'd love to own!

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Disclaimer-  Horizon Group USA provided me with the products mentioned above for the review + giveaway free of charge no other compensation was provided. However, no product compensation will influence the outcome of any review. My honest opinions are used in all reviews, they are solely my own & they may vary from others. My reviews are posted for readers in order to provide an informed decision before purchase.

Shore Buddies Giveaway + Review.

Did you know that plastic water bottles can be recycled and turned into stuffed animals? No? Neither did I. I recently came across a brand called Shore Buddies that is working towards their goal of reducing the amount of plastic waste that ends up in the ocean and helping education adults and children of the impact plastic has on the Earth. Every stuffed animal they make is made from six water bottles, I've seen a short clip before of how plastic is broken down to create a type of yarn out of it (you should look up a video of it) the whole thing is pretty interesting and crazy to watch. 

Not only are they helping directly keep plastics out of the ocean by turning them into adorable Shore Buddies, they also take a $1 from every sale and use it towards educational campaigns and animal rescue organizations who help animals affected by plastics in their natural habitat. 

I was recently sent one of their Shore Buddies, I received an adorable blue whale named Emma. If you were to hand me this stuffed animal and ask me what it is made out of, I would have never guessed plastic bottles. Emma is just as soft and squishy as a stuffed animal made out of fabric materials, my kids were shocked as well when I told them about the brand. Emma is so round and lovable, the blue dye used in the yarn is quite lovely.

If you push on the belly of Emma it will play a sound recording of a real whale. The sounds were recorded by a professional marine biologist scientist to make it even more authentic. My daughter would like to be a marine biologist when she is older, so she really enjoyed getting this whale and being able to play the whale sounds. You can purchase Emma for $19.95.

Not everyone is a fan of whales so they also sell four other ocean/beach related stuffed animals - Stephen Seagull, Finn the Dolphin, Shelly the Sea Turtle and Sammy the seal plus they have key chain versions of each one for $9.99. 

While looking at stuffed animals for you or your little one, also check out their reusable straws which help keep millions of straws out of the landfills and oceans. They also offer free coloring pages for kids, there should be a pop up when you first enter the site where you can put in your email and have them send you the coloring pages digitally. 

Prize Alert: One lucky winner is going to win their own Emma the whale. 

This is open World Wide! Please remember if you DO NOT leave a comment on this blog post as your mandatory entry into the giveaway then all of your entries will be void. Doing the Daily entries will increase your chance of winning. Winners have 72 hours to respond to the notification email! 

This giveaway ends on 03/05/2021

Giveaway entry question: Leave a comment telling me which of their other Shore Buddies you love!

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Disclaimer-  Shore Buddies has provided the products mentioned above for the review + the prize for a giveaway free of charge no other compensation was provided. However, no product compensation will influence the outcome of any review. My honest opinions are used in all reviews, they are solely my own & they may vary from others. My reviews are posted for readers in order to provide an informed decision before purchase. 

Horizon Group USA Review.

We recently received a surprise in the mail and it ended up giving us a good laugh because my daughter had been asking for one the week before it arrived. I received a package from Horizon Group USA that contained two products, one of them was a plasma globe. A few days before this had arrived I was actually looking one at a store I stopped at, but didn't end up buying it because the box felt way too light to have a full plasma ball in it, and then this showed up on my porch.

The size of this is perfect for a bed side table or a computer desk, there is nothing to put together because it comes in one piece and it has bonus glow in the dark stickers to decorate the base of the globes. This is so neat to watch turn on, it usually takes it a second or two but then it is bursting with light. 

This plasma globe looks neat in the light but it is even better turning off the lights! You can use just one finger to trace the globe and watch the light chase your finger, or you can use all of your fingers and pretend like you are Thor himself.

This is plugged into the wall so you don't need to worry about batteries which is always nice. Both of of my children have a lot of fun watching this and playing with it. A plasma globe would make a fun gift for any boy or girl in your life! 

The second item included in the package was a Mixy Squish lap desk. This kit comes with ten different colors of air dry clay, fourteen sculpting tools and a lap desk that has various molds for you to use.

This was a blast for my kids to use as well, however I did notice that if you didn't use all of one color that it dried up faster than expected even being inside of a sealed baggie. My kids made a lot of cute things with this set though included a purple set of dice that they made by hand.

The clay is easy to use, you can use it with the molds or you can free hand a creation of your choosing. Once your master piece dries it is fairly sturdy, I think it would be really cute to use this clay to create an assortment of fridge magnets. Each of the clays have speckles of glitter sprinkled within the clay to add a little extra flare to your artwork. 

The lap desk doubles as a storage container for the clay and all of your sculpting tools, plus the lid also has several different textured areas to give your clay the same look. While both products are entertaining, I think in the long run we will get the most use out of the plasma globe.

Which of the two products is most interesting to you? What would you want to create with your air dry clay?

Disclaimer- The products mentioned above were provided by Horizon Group USA for the review free of charge no other compensation was provided. However, no product compensation will influence the outcome of any review. My honest opinions are used in all reviews, they are solely my own & they may vary from others. My reviews are posted for readers in order to provide an informed decision before purchase.

Creating summer fun with Buzz Bee Toys + A Giveaway!

My kids spend a lot of time outside, during the cooler times of the year they enjoy playing on the swing set, running around and playing on the trampoline and during the summer they are constantly in the pool. I am always on the look out for fun, entertaining toys for the kids to play with so when I was offered a chance to work with Buzz Bee Toys I was pretty excited. As an added bonus they are hosting a giveaway as well! For my review I received a water gun and a dart gun.

Adventure Force Power Raider (MSRP $19.84, Ages 6+) - This water gun is designed with three different nozzles, a 65oz water capacity and a battery operated red-dot-scope so you can pinpoint your targets and it states it can squirt up to 40 feet away. 

The scope is actually pretty easy to snap onto the water gun and easy to remove, it is also quite simple to use. The water gun itself gets slightly heavy when it is full so I'd suggest using both hands while wielding it, it fills up quickly and pumps up without any issues. We haven't actually measured the distance it shoots, but it doesn't seem like it goes quite as far as it says but it does reach a pretty decent distance for a few moments before it starts to lose its pressure. The kids have been having a lot of fun with this in and out of the pool, it is a great way to help keep you cool during the summer. The scope light only works inside of the scope, your opponent won't see it on their skin or clothing so sneak attacks are easier plus it means you won't accidentally get the laser in anyone's eyes.

Adventure Force Thermal Tracker (MSRP $24.97, Ages 8+) - "The Adventure Force Thermal Tracker by Buzz Bee Toys provides unbeatable target detection. Its heatseeking scope detects a heat source up to 60 feet away, and its crosshairs will turn red when on target! Coupled with blasting power of up to 100 feet and rail adapter, your opponent's escape is near impossible!"

This dart gun is a ton of fun, so much so that my husband and I have been the main people using this dart gun while the kids have been using their smaller dart guns. The thermal tracking is pretty neat, the light changes from green, to blue and also to red to tell you when is the best time to shoot. When the light turns red it meals you are pointing it at a warm target and you can shoot that target. The scope is slightly off though it isn't pin point, we noticed you need to aim a little higher though if you are looking directly through the scope in order to hit your target. You are able to load ten darts at a time, they load easily without getting jammed into the compartment and they shoot out with ease. It is light weight which makes it ideal for running around the yard, plus it is quiet so you can sneak up on your opponent. The dart bullets shot a long distance so you don't need to be worried about being close to your intended target. 

PRIZE ALERT:
One lucky winner is going to win the same two toy guns I received above. 

This is open to US Residents only! Please remember if you DO NOT leave a comment on this blog post as your mandatory entry into the giveaway then all of your entries will be void. Doing the Daily entries will increase your chance of winning. Winners have 72 hours to respond to the notification email! This giveaway is hosted by ME and is not associated with any of the brands mentioned above.

This giveaway ends on 07/05/2019

Giveaway entry question: Which of the two toy guns mentioned above are you most excited to play with?

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Disclaimer- The products mentioned above were provided by Buzz Bee Toys for the review & giveaway free of charge no other compensation was provided. However, no product compensation will influence the outcome of any review. My honest opinions are used in all reviews, they are solely my own & they may vary from others.My reviews are posted for readers in order to provide an informed decision before purchase.

Whittle Shortline Railroad Review!

****This was not a paid post and my honest opinion was used. The opinions are solely my own and may vary from others.The products mentioned below have been provided by Whittle Shortline Railroad for the review free of charge.****

Do you have a train lover on your holiday shopping list this year? I know I do, I have a three year old little boy who loves hands on toys like cars and tractors so when I was offered the chance to review a train set from Whittle Shortline Railroad I said yes right away because I knew my son would love the wooden trains sold by them.Whittle Shortline Railroad is a family ran company and they have been around for twenty years, the company originally started in their garage and now they sell their trains worldwide.



For my review I selected the Mixed Burlington Northern set which includes a Burlington Northern Engine, a Burlington Northern Caboose and three freight cars chosen by the Whittle Shortline Railroad. I really enjoyed the set that was sent to us because each piece is well made, and is bright in color which makes the set extra fun. The wheels move around smoothly so you can get this little train set to go pretty fast depending on how you have your track set up.All the trains and train cars are handmade and painted with child friendly paints.


     
The cars are magnetic so you won't have to worry about any little plastic hooks needing clasped together you simply need to move them near each other and they will connect and the connection is pretty sturdy. Each car is well made and has a smooth finish, looking these over I could not see anything I would want to change or anything that was out of place. This set cost $69.95, it shipped rather quickly and was packaged well that combined with the sturdiness and the long lasting durability of this set I do think it is a good price, normally it would be a little more than I would want to spend on a train set however since these are made from wood they can take more than a plastic train set would and therefore will last a lot longer so the extra price is well worth it. These trains are also compatible with Thomas, Chuggington  sets and Brio sets. 

Toy State Review!

****This was not a paid post and my honest opinion was used. The opinions are solely my own and may vary from others.The products mentioned below have been provided by Toy State for the review free of charge.****

My son loves almost anything cars, especially bigger cars that zoom around the house or on their own via a wireless controller so we were pretty happy when we were offered the chance to do a review with a company called Toy State. Toy State sells a number of toys in the following lines: Hot Wheels, Road Rippers, WWE, Gear Heads, Nikko R/C, CAT & James Bond 007.

For the review we received a pretty neat car called a Flipping Fury by Hot Wheels. This car features a different car on each side of it's body, one side is blue and looks like a fighter jet and the other side looks like a red race car. When you hit the middle button the engine starts up and the car takes off, it will go forward first then it will stop and start heading backwards. When it hits something hard enough or just right it will flip itself over to the other side and keep going. I was going to take a video of this car in action but this car is pretty fast and crazy so it is hard to follow along with as a video. My kids love this car and think it is a lot of fun because not only is it fast and fun but it also has four different music buttons that play different tunes. Toy State products can be purchased from Target, Amazon, Toys R Us, K-mart and Walmart. This car is sturdy and can take bashing into things no problem so if your child is normally a little rough with their toys then this car would be perfect for them.