VTech Bounce Time Turtle

Durability: 4/5
Longevity: 2/5
Value: 4/5
Score: 71%
Conclusion: A great toy that the children loved, which would have had longer-lasting appeal if it was bouncier.

The VTech Bounce Time Turtle is a large plastic ride-on toy. It arrives in four large pieces and is very easy to put together as it makes a loud click when each piece is pushed firmly into place. However, the initial pleasant surprise at the compact box it arrives in is negated when you realise that once assembled the turtle cannot be disassembled, making it difficult to store as it is an awkward shape.

The fact that it cannot come to pieces almost certainly makes it sturdier, however, and the ‘footprint’ of the toy is also much smaller than you might imagine, so it takes up less space than we first feared.

The testers were all immediately attracted to the brightly-coloured character, and wanted to have a go. They enjoyed pressing the buttons and singing along with the melodies, and one child immediately commented ‘That’s Mr Tumble!’ about the voice. On checking with VTech they confirmed that it is indeed voiced by Justin Fletcher, who plays Mr Tumble on the CBeebies show Something Special.

None of the testers attempted to follow any of the educational directions such as ‘find the triangle’. An adult tester (who did not sit on the toy as the weight limit is 25kg) had a go and couldn’t easily work out what the instructions were trying to get you to do. On reading up about the toy it became apparent that a button with a triangle (or whatever the instruction was) would light up as you bounced.

Which brings us to a rather unfortunate downside of the fun toy – it’s really hard to bounce. Upon seeing the children struggling, several adults even checked that there was not a hidden catch on the bottom preventing it from springing as it ought. The testers had to make a big effort to get it to bounce – which actually made it move across the floor slightly – and most of them gave up fairly quickly.

The children did really like the toy though, and they simply sat on the seat and pressed the buttons on top of the turtle’s head rather than bouncing. However, a ‘Bounce Time Turtle’ really should bounce, and a little more springiness would probably have given it greater longevity, as without the physical aspect, the toy’s appeal only lasted as long as it took for the push-button novelty to wear off.

Approx. price: £32.99

Age range: 18–36 months

Website: www.vtechuk.com