Winnie the Pooh Interactive Friend - feedback thread

[AnnMumsnet]

This thread is for the 20 Mumsnetters who have been trying the new Winnie the Pooh Interactive friend with their child. This Winnie is aimed at children aged between 12 months and 4 years and retails for £39.99. To see Winnie it action

Please answer the following questions about the toy, once your child has played with him for a week or so.

Please state the age and gender of your child in your post.

Q1 What were your first impressions of Winnie? What did your child think/ say?
Q2 How was the set up process?
Q3 Did your child interact well with Winnie? What about with his routines during the day?
Q4 Did your child play with Winnie in hide and seek mode?
Q5 What were your thoughts about the 50 different phrases that Pooh says at different times in the day?
Q6 Winnie sells for £39.99 - how much would you expect to pay for this toy?

Any other comments?

All testers who add their feedback will be entered into a prize draw to win a £100 Amazon voucher.

Thanks
MNHQ

[NessaRose]

Q1) I liked him. Unfortunatly he scared my dd (3)
Q2) The set up process was a bit long winded but that may have been my fault for pressing the wrong button right at the end and having to start again.
I would have liked more options regarding the hour/ half hour set up times.

[oinker]

When he first arrived I thought Pooh was great. He was very easy to programme. DS instinctively was curious and took hold of Pooh.
Once I showed him how to activate the voice by depressing Pooh's hand DS became quite cautious. He put Pooh down and walked away.
For the first night I took Pooh upstairs to DS's room at bed time. DS refused to allow Pooh in his cot so we comprimised. Pooh sat on the chair just alongside DS cot. DS did volunteer a hug and kiss for Pooh.
DS has since refused to have Pooh in his room since.
He interacts with Pooh when he is in our company as we are always trying to encourage it. He now has Pooh sit at the table with him during meal times and will feed him the honey. At nap times and bed time he will kiss and cuddle Pooh and say "night night". Pooh stays downstairs.
Having said all that DS loves the Hide and Seek mode and is always wanting to play it. It's a great addition to the toy.
Though Pooh has 50 different phrases I am not sure whether I have heard them all yet. I found Pooh's voice quite loud and the unprompted comments can be startling at times. I beleive this to also be what is preventing DS from bonding with Pooh.

I would not pay the retail price for Pooh. I would expect to pay about £20.00 to £30.00 pounds for this particular toy.

Pooh will remain out with DS's other toys for the time being. I will encourage his baby sister to interact with Pooh as she gets older.

Thanks again for giving us the opportunity to trial Pooh. I think he's great......

[NessaRose]

Aggghhh sorry hit post to soon.

Q3) Once DD(3) had got used to him, she liked the hide and seek game but she did not like him suddenly talking to her.

Q4) yes and she loved it.

Q5) I thought they where good and child friendly.

Q6) No sorry couldn't afford that much.

I liked Pooh, and had some fun with him shame dd didn't.

[BigBlueBear]

DD2 will be two in February.

Q1 What were your first impressions of Winnie? What did your child think/ say? He looks OK. DD2 recognised him as Winne the Pooh, but wouldn't have picked him up if I hadn't made him talk to her. Personally, I found his voice very irritating!
Q2 How was the set up process? A bit longwinded and I didn't like the fact that you couldn't even go back one step, but had to start again if you got something wrong.
Q3 Did your child interact well with Winnie? What about with his routines during the day? She loved the mealtimes aspect of it, but wasn't bothered about anything else.
Q4 Did your child play with Winnie in hide and seek mode? No, but she's probably too young.
Q5 What were your thoughts about the 50 different phrases that Pooh says at different times in the day? Does he? I only heard two!
Q6 Winnie sells for £39.99 - how much would you expect to pay for this toy?
Seems very expensive to me, but then new toys are! It feels a bit one dimensional to me, with no flexibility for different routines on different days. Nice, but I'm not sure I'd recommend him as a "must have" toy.

[littlerats]

My DS is three next week. I applied for this to see if an "interactive" soft toy would engage him anymore than normal soft toys that are normally spurned. He is fixated on action figures and toys that do things, so I wondered if this would make him see soft toys in a new light.

Q1 What were your first impressions of Winnie? What did your child think/ say?

DS knew exactly what he was "that's Pooh Bear, Mummy" (not sure how, to my knowledge he's never seen Pooh Bear - I blame nursery). Sadly it took Mummy about 45 mins to take him out of the carton so the excitment had somewhat dissipated by the time I manage to set him free. First impressions were that he was a decent size but that his voice was deeply irritating.

Q2 How was the set up process?

I found that he was incredibly complicated to set up - and his voice increasingly irritating. I went through the process about 3 times before I didn't press the wrong nose or hand at the end and have to start again. I would have thought a process for the "parent" setting him up where he didn't talk VERY slowly would be sensible? I found it odd that every task was half an hour apart from each other - bedtime in total for DS is 30 mins (to include snack, bath, teeth and story) and yet going by Winnie this should have taken 2 hours. Perhaps I missed something and I must admit to setting him up at the end of a long working day and being rather short tempered with him.

Q3 Did your child interact well with Winnie? What about with his routines during the day?

I don't think this bear is made for a child in full time nursery! As Pooh expects every routine to take 2 hours +, he's simply not quick enough for us. I get out of bed, washed, dressed (whole family) and to nursery for 7.30am in the morning and pick DS up at 6-6.30pm and DS is in bed by 7-7.30pm. Poor Pooh can't catch up! He needs to work by the minute, not by the half hour. Equally, at weekends, our routines are very different - lie ins (including DS) til 8.30-9am and bedtime is much later. I don't want Winnie waking DS up at 6.30am on a weekend. Pooh then starts off yawning at 6.30pm on a weekend and then won't "play" as he's in night mode, or alternatively on a work night we're out of the door in the morning before Pooh has had chance to clean his teeth. I think an alternative setting for weekends would be good - I suppose I could have reset him but that was a nightmare to begin with.

Q4 Did your child play with Winnie in hide and seek mode?

DS did like this but bored quite quickly, but in order to play this with him I had to reset him as (as above) by the time we got home in the evening, usually about 6.30pm, Pooh had started getting ready for bed and wouldn't play. So I reset him so we could play with him to get up at 5am and go to bed at 11pm. Problem I soon found with this was that I got woken up in the night by Pooh even when he was downstairs. He's quite loud. I ended up having to turn him off.

Q5 What were your thoughts about the 50 different phrases that Pooh says at different times in the day?

I'm not sure I've heard them all. I will say that I found Pooh to be irritating but he did seem to amuse DS, if only for a short time. Pooh was not allowed in DS's bedroom at night though "Pooh has to stay downstairs Mummy". DS did mention that Pooh can talk without moving him mouth, so that must have intrigued him. Sadly, Pooh has not been played with anymore than any other soft toy - although I did catch him feeding him chocolate buttons one evening and on another occasion poor Pooh was being fed to a TRex, so DS did "play" with him, but not in the "companion" sense.

Q6 Winnie sells for £39.99 - how much would you expect to pay for this toy?

To be honest, I wouldn't buy him, so it's a little difficult to decide how much he's worth. Seeing the price of toys, I suspect that's about right - but for me he was just too complicated to set up and didn't fit into our lives as we don't have fixed and very long routines everyday!

He is nice to have around though... when he's switched off!

[grinningbee]

Dd is 2.7

Q1 What were your first impressions of Winnie? What did your child think/ say?

She was very very excited (understatement!) and knew exactly who it was. She was especially pleased with the honey pot and spoon, and fed him as soon as we had him out of the box.

I love him to bits, I thought he was a good size toy (not too big), looked right (some don't) and I thought the voice was spot on and not too electronic, if you know what I mean.

Q2 How was the set up process?

I found it really straight forward, no problems.


Q3 Did your child interact well with Winnie? What about with his routines during the day?

She has done, although he doesn't get played with any more than other favourite toys. The routines don't seem to have encouraged her to do anything as yet, but I live in hope!


Q4 Did your child play with Winnie in hide and seek mode?

We both love this function. She enjoys trying to find him, and gives him a big cuddle when she does.


Q5 What were your thoughts about the 50 different phrases that Pooh says at different times in the day?

Not sure we've heard that many, but I don't find it overly repetitive. It has scared dh more than once when coming out with a random phrase when he wasn't expecting it. It's funny


Q6 Winnie sells for £39.99 - how much would you expect to pay for this toy?

I wouldn't pay the full price, even though I think he's smashing. £29.99 seems more realistic to me. Then again, the cost of a lot of toys surprises me!

I forgot to mention - we had a small problem with the spoon. The paint seems to come off very easily, and ds has managed to remove nearly all of it. Then again, it isn't designed for a nearly 1 year old.

Thank you for letting us have him to test. I'm sure we'll get plenty more out of him, and ds will be able to have him as well in the not too distant future

[YougreatPumpkinmousse]

Q1 What were your first impressions of Winnie? What did your child think/ say?

We didn't tell the DD's (18mo and 3.2 years) he was arriving so when we opened him the was much excitement and mostly fighting over who got the hunnypot and spoon. We told DD1 what he did and she was imaptient to get on and play but you can't play until he was set up and it was 5 past the hour so she needed to wait until half past for me to set him up properly. She got bored with the non-speaking Pooh and went to find something else to play with.

Q2 How was the set up process?

Pretty easy except for the stupid hour/half hour time slots - Pooh saying the hour and then minutes would be much simpler.

Q3 Did your child interact well with Winnie? What about with his routines during the day?

DD2 has no idea what pooh is on about especially when he talks to her without prompting. DD2 loves him and even 2 weeks down the line she has regular games of hide and seek with him. Once she is home from nursery she goes to find him and squeezes his had to check if they should be doing something together. When he speaks to remind her to do something she heads straight off to do as he has asked (if only he asked to her tidy her room!!!) in the evenings she knows once he has said to go up that she needs to find her pjs and squeezes his hand to hear him ask, she will then squeeze his hand to find out what happens next. Once he goes to sleep she understands she needs to sleep too and that is her until morning :)

Q4 Did your child play with Winnie in hide and seek mode? Yes - I am so pleased I don't have to hide anymore, I set pooh and hide him and can carry on with mning chores.

Q5 What were your thoughts about the 50 different phrases that Pooh says at different times in the day?

They are fine - DD1 has her favourite and will constantly press his hand until he comments on Woozles!

Q6 Winnie sells for £39.99 - how much would you expect to pay for this toy?

Considering we forked out £36.99 for a sleepy clock if we were desperate enough I would but I think 29.99 is a much more appealable price and I would have considered him for a younger child at 29.99 but not at 39.99 only because of the level of understanding needed to get full use out of him.

Pooh has gone everywhere with us for the last 2 weeks, to nursery where he scared the life out of the teachers when he requested lunch at 12.30. His occasional snoring when DD1 rolls on him in he night don't wake her but through the monitor they make DH and I jump but DD1 refuses to let him sleep downstairs. We are going on holiday in January and there is a time difference we hope taking Pooh will help her adjust to the new time faster than the normal week it takes.

We can't thank you enough for Pooh he has made life a lot easier for us especially in the pre-nursery hours of the morning when getting DD1 motivated was difficult.

[chocolateyclaire]

Q1 What were your first impressions of Winnie? What did your child think/ say?
Pooh was delivered whilst DS was at nursery, which gave me a good chance to have a look at him properly. DS is 3y 6m and I must admit my first thought was whether or not he would engage at all - he's more cartoony and "baby Pooh" like than I was expecting, and DS often has low tolerance for things he thinks aren't for "bigger boys". As it was, these fears were unfounded and DS immediately wanted to see what Pooh could do, feed him and show him off - I think the interactivity definitely usurped appearance.

Q2 How was the set up process?
Less difficult than it sounded in the instructions! I can imagine that if DS hadn't been at nursery it would have been more difficult though! Definitely one to set up before the child sees.

Q3 Did your child interact well with Winnie? What about with his routines during the day?
DS interacted with Winnie far better than I expected. I enjoyed the routine settings on non nursery days, but on nursery/work days we are so timetabled and routined ourselves that having Winnie to sort out too was more of a distraction. I can see it working more with a younger child with whom routines are being established, or in a less pressured environment!

DS did love feeding Winnie, and I can see the toy coming into its own when I'm on maternity leave and the baby is born, as DS can care for Winnie whilst I'm feeding the baby, etc.

Q4 Did your child play with Winnie in hide and seek mode?
Yes - this was probably the most successful mode for us. DS found his own games to play with Winnie in this mode, incorporating him in his usual daily star wars games. Poor Winnie was often subjected to being hunted by stormtrooper DS, but I liked the joining up of interactive and imaginative play. And being heavily pregnant it was nice to have someone else picked on!

Q5 What were your thoughts about the 50 different phrases that Pooh says at different times in the day?
I don't think I heard anywhere near the 50. I found that Pooh would go off sporadically throughout the day and night, which meant I was unwilling to let DS have him in his room at night in case he did suddenly come out with a random phrase.

Q6 Winnie sells for £39.99 - how much would you expect to pay for this toy? Realistically no more than £29.99. Both DS and I enjoyed (and are still enjoying) certain elements of the toy - the hide and seek game - but the routines just don't work in our current lifestyle. I'm hoping he will be used more when this baby is born.

[MotherOfHobbit]

DS is 17 months

Q1 What were your first impressions of Winnie? What did your child think/ say?
I quite liked the toy at first. DS was curious but not overexcited.

Q2 How was the set up process?
A bit long winded. Having to keep pressing the paw by the half hour was annoying. I'd also have liked to have more detailed instructions (daftie over here couldn't figure out some of the routines and couldn't figure out how to get him to play hide and seek)

Q3 Did your child interact well with Winnie? What about with his routines during the day?
He thinks it's hilarious when Winnie laughs. And has cuddled him a few times when given the toy but otherwise hasn't shown a lot of interest. The routine bit didn't work at all for us. Because the times - and times between routines are set - it doesn't allow for variation even by a few minutes or longer on weekends.
I also found Pooh's voice very loud. I set him up the first time at night after DS was in bed and kept him next to me on the sofa. Later in the night, I knocked him over and he made his 'sleepy' sounds which were very loud and startled me.
As DS is a restless sleeper I decided not to put Pooh in bed with him - I didn't want Pooh to wake him up if he was jolted in the night. This happened twice again - when everything was quiet and Pooh suddenly spoke up - once waking DS from his nap when he'd gone down a little early (DS was upstairs when Pooh was downstairs)
Unexpectedly, DS absolutely loved the honey pot and spoon and spent quite a bit of time playfeeding himself.

Q4 Did your child play with Winnie in hide and seek mode?
Um, I might be a bit dim or didn't set him up properly but I couldn't figure this out. He just says his phrases when I press him on the nose during the day.

Q5 What were your thoughts about the 50 different phrases that Pooh says at different times in the day?
Again, maybe I didn't do it right but I think I had around five outside of routines and then more during the routines. Didn't seem like that many. DS loves the laugh but otherwise wasn't that interested. Maybe he's still a bit young for it.

Q6 Winnie sells for £39.99 - how much would you expect to pay for this toy?
I'd guess that's a reasonable price for an interactive toy but have to admit to being a bit cheap personally and I wouldn't pay that. I'd probably only spend £20 (but again I don't spend much on toys)

Another comment- DS has some cuddly toys that he loves and they tend to get quite grubby. Because Pooh has his batteries sewn in, he can't go in the wash which is a big negative for me. It might be worth making the battery pack/voice detacheable for this purpose.

[Procrastinating]

Q1 What were your first impressions of Winnie? What did your child think/ say?
My daughter (aged 2) recognised him straight away, when she realised he could talk she thought I had done a very magic trick. My sons (4 and 6) had a good squabble over him when they got home from school.
Q2 How was the set up process?
It should have been straightforward but DD would not let go of the bear so it was a bit awkward. Had to redo the setup later and that was fine.
Q3 Did your child interact well with Winnie? What about with his routines during the day?
Typical interaction : ?Will you sing me a song?- ?No?
?I will wait here while you brush your teeth? ? ?No?
But she seemed to enjoy the sense of power. It did take her a while to get the idea of pressing his hand, but she got the hang of it over a couple of days.
Winnie made me jump several times by announcing lunch / supper etc ? usually after the event. The day time routine doesn?t suit our household. But ds (aged 6) is still taking him to bed because he likes the sleeping & waking up part of the routine.
Q4 Did your child play with Winnie in hide and seek mode?
Middle son (4) loves this. Hide & seek has been the most popular aspect of the bear. DD plays this with Winnie on her own, but she can?t press his nose in the right way and it doesn?t always work for me either.
Q5 What were your thoughts about the 50 different phrases that Pooh says at different times in the day?
It didn?t seem like 50 to me. In general play mode it gets a bit repetitive.
Q6 Winnie sells for £39.99 - how much would you expect to pay for this toy?
£29.99.
Any other comments?
Didn?t like his voice at all. There is something unpleasant (self-pitying? not sure if that is quite what I mean) about his tone.

[Gincognito]

DS is 12 months - too young I think. Pooh bear will be moving on to my friend's 18mo DD soon.

Q1 What were your first impressions of Winnie? What did your child think/ say?

I though he was well made and a good size. DS has a Winnie projector by his cot and absolutely loves it so I thought he might like this too, but sadly it didn't hold his interest at all.

Q2 How was the set up process?

Fairly straightforward.

Q3 Did your child interact well with Winnie? What about with his routines during the day?

DS showed absolutely no interest in pooh (poor pooh!). He looked at him when he made a noise, but then quickly lost interest. He's too young to understand how to push the button in pooh's hand.

Q4 Did your child play with Winnie in hide and seek mode?

No.

Q5 What were your thoughts about the 50 different phrases that Pooh says at different times in the day?

I thought these were good, and I liked his voice. It is a little scary the first time you forget where he is and a disembodied voice floats out your dining room, though!

Q6 Winnie sells for £39.99 - how much would you expect to pay for this toy?

That seems expensive. I might buy it as a birthday gift for a close relative.

Other comments:

Pooh's timer seems to slip. I set the time and all the meal times etc, but he is now running 10 minutes late.

I think his voice is FAR too loud at night. I kept him downstairs one evening and pressed his paw - I was really surprised at the volume and glad that ds didn't have it.

My main gripe is that 1 is far too young for this toy. Or maybe my ds is slow? I think a lower age guide of 18 months would be more helpful.

[Lilyloo]

Q1 What were your first impressions of Winnie? What did your child think/ say?

DD was very impressed to get Winnie the Pooh. She loves him so i knew he would be well recieved. It was a surprise to me and dd as we hadn't seen the email we had been chosen to test him so we were both equally surprised. DD loves soft toys and will play quite happily with non interactive toys so it was nice to see the how she incorporated the interactive element in her play.

Q2 How was the set up process?

I waited for dd to go to bed before i set Winnie up as she was happy to play with him as a soft toy and i felt the instructions seemed quite complicated. However i was pleasantly surprised and didn't find the set up process to difficult. However the half hour settings was quite laborious.

Q3 Did your child interact well with Winnie? What about with his routines during the day?

Yes she absolutely loved him. DD's routines are well established now and we didn't need any help with them so he sort of fit in alongside her. Initially it was a novelty but this part of him did wear off. I think there needs to be a minute setting for some activities. It was easier to enjoy Pooh at the weekend when we aren't rushing about so much. I did reset Pooh for the weekend. DD's favourite part was the bedtime routine ( not mine ) he went off in the middle of the night and i woke up thinking one of the dc was up until i realised it was Pooh. He didn't disturb dd though. She found him easy to use with the hand pressing mode.

Q4 Did your child play with Winnie in hide and seek mode?

This was by far dd's favourite part of Winnie. She loved it as did my other dc 9 and 6. However it did take a few presses of winnies nose on occasions to activate this. I did really like this part of the bear as it was so much fun. Definately the highlight.

Q5 What were your thoughts about the 50 different phrases that Pooh says at different times in the day?

I am not sure i have heard all fifty but dd may have done. I am quite good at selective hearing so i was able to zone out and dd seemed quite happy with it. My only issue was the random noise in the night. I tried to relegate Pooh to downstairs at bedtime but dd was adamant he slept with her. I think once you have heard him speak you get used to him. He is very loud.

Q6 Winnie sells for £39.99 - how much would you expect to pay for this toy?

We get quite a lot of value out of soft toys so i probably would pay this. Compared to some of the other interactive animals on the market he is cheaper and does much more.

I have to say i was pleasantly surprised how much dd did use pooh. I was worried she may be slightly too old given the age guide and i would have likely been put off buying him due to this. However i think to be able to get full use of him it is slightly better for an older child. Thanks very much for letting us be part of this test. Pooh has been well loved and i am sure he will continue to be.

[stressheaderic]

My DD is 21 months.
Q1 What were your first impressions of Winnie? What did your child think/ say?

DD was very excited and eager to get Winnie out and play with him. She hugged him as soon as he was free (damn those metal ties) and fed him the hunny. He is just the right size and very soft and lightweight, doesn't feel like there's a battery pack inside him. Spoon and hunny good although hunnypot should be 'hollow' so spoon can sit inside it instead of getting lost all the time (in this house anyway).
Q2 How was the set up process?
When DD had gone to bed, I programmed Winnie. I'd read some Amazon reviews about it which gave me a few tips about the programming but it was very easy, you just kept pressing the hand basically. It did take a while - about 20 minutes. I thought the CD I received in the post (rather randomly) would be a CD rom for set-up, like with the Vtech Violet toy, but there was just a flimsy leaflet which I nearly missed. I thought the half hour slots were a bit silly - which 2 year old takes 1/2 hour to eat tea?

Q3 Did your child interact well with Winnie? What about with his routines during the day?
No, not really - I think she is too young, and the toy shold be re-labelled maybe 18months-4 years or even 2-4 years. She laughed when he spoke but didn't really understand him at all - but I'm sure she will in future. We set his daily routine to a day at home but nursery days are completely different and I couldn't be bothered resetting all the time (too longwinded).
She does like giving him lots of cuddles though, he has become a good friend and I'm hoping she'll get the benefit of his technological features soon.

Q4 Did your child play with Winnie in hide and seek mode?
Yes, sort of, with my help. This is (or will be, for us) a very good feature of the toy.

Q5 What were your thoughts about the 50 different phrases that Pooh says at different times in the day?
Definitely haven't heard 50, nowhere near. He does say a few cute things, which DD copies - not sure what an 'expotition' is?

Q6 Winnie sells for £39.99 - how much would you expect to pay for this toy?
Not that much. He is on sale in Smyths at the mo for £19.99 and I'd pay that. We have Vtech Violet which I know is aimed at younger ones, but it was only £12.99, you can personalise it, it plays lots of different soothing music and says lots of phrases, and lights up - it seems much better value for money, so no wonder it is so popular.
I thought Winnie could maybe have sung a little song for DD to dance to or sing along. Also he could have came with a knitted hat, socks, bib or other item - it may have encouraged to interact more, she likes getting things dressed at the moment.

Thanks Mumsnet for letting us be involved.

[St1ggy]

Q1 What were your first impressions of Winnie? What did your child think/ say? Winnie was a nice size for DD2, 3 yo, to hold and carry about. DD2 was v. eager to start playing, didn't want to wait for me to finish set up and was quite happy to play with him as a non-interactive toy, hadn't yet realised his USP!

Q2 How was the set up process? Honestly the set up was a total pain, took ages to click through the 30min intervals, even if holding his paw down and I never did get the knack of omitting items from the routine, eg a wash in the morning. I could shorten the whole list but not remove single items from the middle if that makes sense but I guess that's down to me.

Q3 Did your child interact well with Winnie? What about with his routines during the day? Initially he was total hit with all 3 DCs age 6, 5 + 3. Verging on fighting over who got to feed him etc. The first night DD2 took him to bed with her and refused any goodnight story or songs from me and settled herself to sleep ALL BY HERSELF, first time ever, DH said it was worth the money just for that! However after a week the novelty has worn off completely, in spite of my prompting where's Winnie, does he want lunch etc and he's not been touched in days. When I last asked she didn't know where he was and didn't seem to care!

Q4 Did your child play with Winnie in hide and seek mode? All 3 loved playing hide and seek together and DD2 on her own when the others where at school but again it hasn't lasted.

Q5 What were your thoughts about the 50 different phrases that Pooh says at different times in the day? Phrases are fine, get a bit repetitive but the voice is a good match to the one in the film. There needs to be a quieter voice during the sleep setting, it's way way too loud.

Q6 Winnie sells for £39.99 - how much would you expect to pay for this toy? Ca. £20-25. Given how quickly the novelty has worn off I'm glad I didn't buy this at full price.

The 30min time slots are really awkward, eg. in the morning we don't have 30mins between waking up and then having breakfast and getting dressed etc. Also if we had lunch "early" DD2 didn't want to eat as Pooh wasn't hungry yet. V. annoying! The timer function needs some fine tuning. Shorter time slots, ability to override maybe.

[ChutesTooNarrow]

Tested by DS, aged 2.2.

We renamed ours as I have hated from a very young age the name 'Winnie the pooh' . DS christened him 'bear' upon first glance and bear he has remained.

Q1 What were your first impressions of Winnie? What did your child think/ say?
My first impression was that bear made me a bit sweary due to the mammoth task of extracting him from the wires and tape in his box. DS was bouncing around unable to contain himself with excitement but it was the honeypot and spoon he wanted at first. He played with those for a bit, but he was annoyed he couldn't dip the spoon in properly as the pot was solid. It would have been better if the pot was hollow or had a lid? These items were swiftly confiscated when I realised paint was flaking off where he had chewed them. I am so, so unimpressed that the paint has come off the spoon so much, I absolutely expect toys marketed at 12 month old babies to be chew proof.

Q2 How was the set up process?
Ok, I waited until on the hour to set up, I thought I had the time bang on but I have noticed the routine seem to be ten minutes out. The set up was fairly straightforward though. Whilst setting up I was surprised there was not an option for a daytime nap (or two).

Q3 Did your child interact well with Winnie? What about with his routines during the day?
Ds cottoned on straightaway that hand pressing got a response but sometimes he found it hard to find the hand button and got a bit frustrated. He loves it when bear speaks.

I struggled a bit with the routine aspect. Obviously DS gets dressed, teeth brushed, wash, etc. but we don't have set order or times. I was wondering if this would help but most of the time bear would go off announcing teeth brushing and we would be engrossed in something else and I would think 'bugger off'. DS doesn't register what bear says, and doesn't react to the routine bits - it's all a bit quiet and apologetic. I think a big jolly booming of 'Brush your teeth now!' from a bossier bear would have been far more effective for us.

I think once in the last two weeks have I got tea on the table just as bear has a rumbly in his tumbly and I was very proud of myself.

Bear was just an annoyance at bedtimes. This had already been thrown by the clocks changing so it was probably a bad time to test. Ds would already be asleep when bear loudly decided it was bedtime and I would have to frantically muzzle him (bear, not DS ).

Q4 Did your child play with Winnie in hide and seek mode?
I have tried hide and seek a few times but DS doesn't really get what is going on. Perhaps he is too young? He just looks a bit bemused and finds something else to play with.

Q5 What were your thoughts about the 50 different phrases that Pooh says at different times in the day?
Not sure I have heard fifty, mainly he's going on about woozles or whinging that he is hungry. I found the 'how am I feeling, think, think, think,' phrase v annoying. As I said above I thought the routine was too polite and quiet, I would have preferred more directive phrases for the routine then I might have actually acted on them.

Q6 Winnie sells for £39.99 - how much would you expect to pay for this toy?
I would not pay £39.99 for this toy. It is hard to know what would be a suitable price as I don't think I would buy it in the first place. Possibly 20-30 pounds, but I think I would have been more interested if it was just marketed as a cuddly interactive toy without the routine stuff.

[St1ggy]

Chutes has reminded me about the yellow paint coming off the spoon. DD2 older so didn't put it in her mouth but just chipped away from enthusiastic "spooning" honey out of the top of the honey jar.

[YougreatPumpkinmousse]

I hadn't noticed the paint peeling off until DD2 used the spoon to eat her dinner tonight and I found bits of yellow paint in her mouth, cue many tears and severe tantruming on DD2's part at losing her dinner spoon.

[fruitstick]

DS2 is 2.9.

Q1. He was smaller and cuddlier than I thought he would be. I also think he looks quite babyish. I didn't really see the point of the honey pot and spoon, especially as the spoon doesn't fit in the pot (pedant that I am )

Q2 I found the setup a little confusing. I didn't got one wrong the first time and then had to go all the way back to the beginning. I also didn't realise that the time started when you finished the set up, not start, so by the time I finished the setup the time was about 7 minutes out (pedant once again)

Q3 He did like playing with him, and was mesmerised at first by the routines. I think we suffered from the fact that our routine isn't exact everyday and there is no way to go skip backwards. eg. I set dinnertime for 5pm but sometimes it is more like 5:30, so Pooh said that he was full just as we were sitting down to eat. Routines were most successful at story time and bedtime - especially the snoring after 7pm

Q4 We did play with him in hide and seek mode and DS2 loved it. Also good game to play with DS1 (5.5) hiding it for him.

Q5 I didn't hear 50 and they got repetitive quite quickly, especially in the routines.

Q6 I think this is expensive for what it is. I think £25-£30 would be more appropriate.

[AnnMumsnet]

Thanks for all the feedback so far folks.
The team at Worlds Apart have read through your comments and wanted us to pass on the following message to you all:

"We're delighted to have your feedback on Winnie the Pooh Interactive Friend and really pleased to know that so many of you and your children have enjoyed being some of the first to have a chance to play with him! We knew that the hide and seek feature was going to be one of the best features that kids would really enjoy playing, and its lovely to hear that your little ones loved having Pooh for company at meal times! A cuddly interactive toy is quite unique and we?re glad this was one of the strongly appreciated features, along with the fact he looks exactly how you'd expect Pooh to look!

We read with interest some of your other comments. Whilst some mums mentioned that they found him quite loud, our research showed that he needed to operate at a particular level in order for the 'game play' to be effective and fun. It was also really important for this toy to sound authentic so for the few mums who found his voice a little annoying, we can only apologise but he sounds just like the Pooh most children know and love!

We accept for many people, the price of £39.99 could be off-putting, but when designing and manufacturing toys, it?s a very fine balance between including exciting features that enhance and increase the play value of a toy whilst keeping it at a value-for-money and affordable price, and it was really important for us to design a toy that offered a great range of both useful and fun features. Regarding the spoon's paint becoming chipped and some users reporting this as a potential issue, we have raised this already with our manufacturing team and will replace this item if it is found to be faulty*.

Thank you once again. The Team At Worlds Apart"

• if this has affected you please PM or email me (Ann) and I will pass on your details.

[balletmoo]

Hello!

Sorry it has taken me a bit of time to post this, but the Wee Man is teething and I'm barely getting two minutes to myself!!

Anyway, here goes:

Q1 What were your first impressions of Winnie? What did your child think/ say?
My first impressions were that the packaging seems to target little girls (all the pictures on the box showing a little girl...), but I thought that Pooh was bigger than expected and very cuddly and friendly looking. Very appealing. I also thought that the honey pot and spoon were a bit superfluous (and likely to get lost very quickly!) but my DS liked the spoon a lot, and not only was keen to feed Pooh with it, but wanted to use the spoon to eat his yoghurt too! Disappointed that the paint seemed to be coming off already though. DS (14 months) liked the look of Pooh and was fascinated by the fact he talked.

Q2 How was the set up process?
It was quite drawn out, but not too arduous. I found it a bit frustrated that I needed to wait for the hour/half hour to set it up! I have also noticed that the times are a little out from what I set.

Q3 Did your child interact well with Winnie? What about with his routines during the day?
Mmmmmm... Maybe my DS is too young, maybe it is just that he prefers cars and Megablocks to soft toys, but once the initial excitement had passed, he just was not interested. I tried and tried to get him to interact, but with the exception of the hide and seek mode, it just didn't happen. By the end of the test period, he barely even noticed the automated messages... The routines proved difficult. During the test period, DS was still suffering the after effect of the time change, and has been teething, so routines have been up the spout. More often than not, DS has been napping late and going to bed late - totally out of kilter with the routine Pooh was trying to get us to stick to!! And since DS isn't yet "getting" instructions (!!), he didn't really seem to understand what Pooh was trying to get him to do (and I started to get annoyed at being told what to do by a cuddly bear!!).


That said, my friends little girl - an incredibly advanced 18 months old - thinks that Pooh is the best thing since sliced bread and showers Pooh with cuddles and interacts with him every single time she sees him.

Q4 Did your child play with Winnie in hide and seek mode?
Yes - the one bit of this toy that DS really enjoyed playing, although this too had started to wear off a bit by the time the test period was coming to an end!

Q5 What were your thoughts about the 50 different phrases that Pooh says at different times in the day?
Not sure I heard 50 different phrases, but some of them seemed to come up all the time! A bit repetitive!!

Q6 Winnie sells for £39.99 - how much would you expect to pay for this toy?
That seems a bit steep - I wouldn't pay £40 for this toy. £25 seems more fair.


Despite DS not being totally enthused with Pooh, it has nonetheless been great being able to test and I thank Mumsnet and Worlds Apart for the opportunity. I will see if Pooh has more appeal when DS is a little older as I suspect that he just wasn't getting it this young...

[BumgrapesofWrath]

Right, I've finally got round to leaving my feedback! Winnie the Pooh was tested by me and my 14 month old DS.

Q1 What were your first impressions of Winnie? What did your child think/ say?
My first impressions of Pooh were that he seemed very cute, and cuddly, for what is a toy with electronic components. DS has really taken to Pooh, which is out of the ordinary for him because he doesn't really like soft toys as a rule.

Q2 How was the set up process?
I did find the set-up process a bit arduous. Though partly it might have been my fault for trying to set up Pooh whilst DS waas there and wanting to play with him! When pressing Pooh's hand to set the time for the routines I found myself missing the time I needed to select and then having to go through another 48 times to get to the time again - bit frustrating! I have missed some parts of the routine, but not sure how I did when I was setting him up (and don't really want to reset Pooh and do it all again) I think this Pooh could be improved by making this process easier to complete, and also change, as routines do change over time anyway.

Q3 Did your child interact well with Winnie? What about with his routines during the day?
DS loves Pooh. He especially likes pressing his paw to hear him talk. I don't think DS responds to Pooh's cues about routine, but I think at 14 months maybe he is a bit young to do this. I think my issue with the routine part of it is that sometimes we don't have Pooh with us all the time as obviously it isn't practical, so some days we don't really hear Pooh's routine cues that much.

Q4 Did your child play with Winnie in hide and seek mode?
We have played with Pooh in Hide and Seek mode, with me obviously heping DS because of his age. I definitely think when DS is a bit older he will enjoy playing with Pooh on his own.

Q5 What were your thoughts about the 50 different phrases that Pooh says at different times in the day?
I really like the phrases Pooh says when you touch his paw, as does DS (We especially like "I think I saw a woozle over there!". I don't think we have heard anywhere near 50 different phrases though, but that might be due to me missing part of the routine in the set-up (see above). I think Poohs voice seems authentic. I think I'd like more phrases in play mode.

Q6 Winnie sells for £39.99 - how much would you expect to pay for this toy?
Q2)
I think £39.99 is a reasonable price for this toy, based on this being an interactive toy.

Overall, I think it is a lovely toy, and DS really likes him. However, the routine bit doesn't seem to be working for us... I am wondering how many parents would actually want/require a toy like this? A large proportion of my friends don't have strict routines with their DC, so I do wonder how marketable an interactive toy that focusses onn routines will be.

[stressheaderic]

Has the £100 Amazon voucher draw taken place yet, can anyone tell me?

[magnolia74]

Sorry I have taken so long, crappy computer!!! Ds1 is 4

Q1 What were your first impressions of Winnie? What did your child think/ say?

My first impressions were, does this really do everything it says. Ds1 though it looked fab before I had even taken it out of the box!!

Q2 How was the set up process?
Time consuming!!!! Also by the time you finish each bit the time you want is not correct. Not sure I would like the though of changing times etc... for routine changes.

Q3 Did your child interact well with Winnie? What about with his routines during the day? Yes but he is on the older end of the scale so doesn't have naps etc, mainly getting up, meals and going to bed

Q4 Did your child play with Winnie in hide and seek mode?
Yes and this was the bit he loved!

Q5 What were your thoughts about the 50 different phrases that Pooh says at different times in the day? I don't think i heard 50, same ones were repeated often.
Q6 Winnie sells for £39.99 - how much would you expect to pay for this toy? No more than £30

Enjoyed the oportunity but I feel 4-5 is too old for this. My 2 year old neice though has great fun with pooh when she visits

[AnnMumsnet]

stressheaderic - am awaiting 2 more MNers reviews!

[StiggyWarriorPrincess]

BTW, Interactive Winnie the Pooh is on "sale" in our local Tesco until 07/01/12 @ £19.99!

Further to my previous comment about his voice being loud, esp. during the night, he is now banished to inside a suitcase at bedtime as "he's scary in the dark, mummy. too noisy"