"Tinypop - the musical exercise towel for budding surf dudes !" How cool does that sound ?! Well, anything that gets the girls to have fun and get sporty at the same time is a great idea in my books so I was really keen to give it a go.
First of all, I want to point out that the description "musical towel" is a bit misleading - the towel isn't musical, the CD that comes in the box is the only musical bit ! In this day and age of all-singing, all-dancing, highly evolved electronic toys, kids that see the words "musical towel" will probably be expecting something resembling one of those electronic dance mats that you can plug into your games console. Like many of the other toys on offer on the Nubie Modern Kids Boutique website, (who kindly sent me through the towel to review), this goes back to basics and is reminiscent of the old-fashioned toys that actually make you use your imagination to have fun.
So what you actually get is a kids beach towel - 100% cotton and machine washable. If you've ever bought one of the Disney/kids TV character towels, it's exactly that kind of velvety-feel beach towel, not the fluffy cotton bath-towel variety. It's described as a "mini towel" on the website, but it's 60 x 120cm which seems standard size for a kids towel to me. As you can see above, it's printed with a surfboard design and hand and feet prints to show you where to put your hands and feet to become a surfer. There are black and white feet option so it caters for left and right-handed (and footed) mini-surfers, which is a bit confusing for small children but I don't see how they could have got around this problem easily otherwise and it makes it much fairer for left-handed people, who are often sadly overlooked !
The CD contains three tracks - the first "track" is a 6 second ultra-cute child's voice introducing you to the CD (which the girls wanted to listen to over and over because it's so cute !!). Then you have the main Tinypop song followed by the instrumental version, both of which last just over three minutes.
The song gives you instructions to get into the surfing pose, using the hand and feet placements on the towel. "Lie on your towel, Hands by your sides, Left hand on left, Right hand on right". Ummm hang on - let me just explain to my 4-year-old which hand is which ! This is designed for kids aged 3+ so colour-coding instead of left and right would have gone down well ! Right, the next bit is easier : "Paddle your arms, and kick your feet, Hands in position, one two three !" For kiddies who love listening to action songs on CBeebies and and joining in, they'll be in their element. They get to burn off a few calories as it goes along : "Ready steady, switch your feet, Jump around, that's so neat !"
If you imagine a cross between a game of Twister and a let's-pretend type activity, that's a pretty fair description. It's great fun for all kids and does actually serve an educational purpose if you are intending to take your kids surfing. It's endorsed by the British Surfing Association so does offer a serious initiation for tiny tots.
The CD is slightly irritating after the fiftieth time, which is always a sign that the kids will love it ! I was expecting something surfy, either sounding like the Beach Boys or with wind and sea sound effects but you don't get either. It just sounds like a classic CBeebies-type song to me. No complaints from the kids !
A few words of warning, that are obvious but I'll tell you anyway to avoid accidents - I know how it is at Christmas when the kids want to get straight into playing so you don't have time to read the instructions or think safety-first ! The towel is designed for use on sand, carpet or grass - not slippery polished wood or lino floors - and you should also have bare feet.
What I love is that once the novelty has worn off or the kids have got too old to want to play with it any more, you can use it as a towel in the bathroom. Two presents for the price of one !!
There's also a Dads' version coming soon, so Mums, get ready with the camcorder to have a laugh as Dad joins in with the kids. There are sure to be a few You've Been Framed moments to record for posterity !!
star rating : 4/5
RRP : £19.75
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