Today is the first edition  of TOY STORE TUESDAY!

I LOVE TOYS.  I love researching them, buying them, and okay, I’ll confess it- I love playing with them. What I hate is buying a stupid, badly thought out, or cheap toys. I call these toybox fodder, because they end up in the bottom of the toy box, a worthless pile of plastic

Because I run a daycare I basically get paid to play with toys and watch kiddos play with toys. I thought it would be fun to include toy reviews to help you out with your holiday shopping.

For this review, I chose Fisher Price’s Double Poppin’ Dino. I saw this one at Costco, and had to try it out.

To sum up this toy, it’s a cute little dinosaur that plays music and has a little mechanism inside that pumps balls up and down, bouncing them around. It has two levels to put balls on and comes with six different colored balls. They balls also roll out of the dino’s mouth. There is a roller in the front, making it easy for little ones to operate without adult help and a blessed on/off button for those days when crazy kid music needs to be silenced. Fisher price has a few different varieties of these- a blue dinosaur and a hippo, that I know of. I really like the ease to the balls and the two tiers of ball popping.

Sorry the picture is a little blurry – I’m a really lousy photographer. 🙂

COST- $ $   I checked a variety of different places. They first thing you should know about this one is that the price varies A LOT. Anywhere between $17 dollars and some change to around $35.00. (Amazon seems to have the best deal I could find and you don’t even need to leave the house. Whoo hoo.) **It does take 3 C batteries though, so add that to your cart so you don’t forget them.

AGE- This is listed for ages 6-36 months. (I won’t even get started on why I think people should stop referring to ages in months after 1 years old, but that is what it says.) This age limit is accurate, although even older kids will play with it too.

EASE OF ASSEMBLY- You guys, this one is awesome! It takes like three clicks and a screw and you’re golden. Very well thought out plan. Fifteen minutes, tops- but you do have to find a screwdriver. Honestly, that part took me the longest to do.

QUALITY OF MATERIALS- LOVE IT. Solid and sturdy. Great colors and this little guy can take a beating. It need to because this toy will get plenty of action.

OVERALL IMPRESSION AND RATING * * * * *

Five stars!! I love this toy. If you’re purchasing it for a relative I wouldn’t give it to anyone over 2 because it will seem like a baby toy, but I know for a fact that my four- year-old’s will play with it, and even some of my older kids. The two-year-old’s LOVE IT! I has a great song that comes on when a wheel thingy in the front gets rolled and the balls jump around like crazy, leaving them cracking up. They play with this thing for hours.

**The only downside at all is that the balls roll out so easily that they get lost.  Best if played on carpet, so they don’t roll so far away. Especially for crawlers.

Thank for taking a look at my first toy review. I love it if you’d leave a comment and let me know if it was helpful for you.  Also, you still have time to enter the drawing for the Miracle Maker movie by signing up for the Newsletter. Don’t be afraid. I know we all hesitate to give out our email because we’re drowning is spam, but I promise this one will be painless. They’ll have great info about books and book deals, as well as some inside info, and will only be about once a month.