Learning Resources Spike The hedgehog Fidget Friend Review

Reviewed by Nia Lock

I got this Spike the Hedgehog fidget toy as a birthday gift for a one year old who was visiting us, and it’s been a good gift. He was excited by it before it came out of the box!

Spike the hedgehog is small enough for a baby to pick up and chew, although I was surprised that he spent so much time doing that. Apparently, the nose is the tastiest bit, or at least has the best gum soothing properties. Although the toy is aimed at age 18 months plus, it still interested this one year old and of course he will continue to enjoy it in different ways as his development continues.

As well as being very bright and multicoloured, Spike has a sweet little face and nice little feet. Although he is small, he does have 6 different activities which all help develop a baby’s fine motor skills. The first one is a large light switch type button which makes a satisfying click when pressed. Next there’s a wheel for winding round and round which has an indentation for a tiny finger, this one is smooth and silent. Spikes tail is an orange lever which goes up and down and stays in the position you leave it in. There’s also a clicky green knob which twists in either direction and has an interesting shape to it, as well as an orange gear which spins when you flick it. The final activity is on Spikes back and is a purple plunger type attachment which creates an interesting optical effect when lifted or pushed down – this one is my favourite.

The activity guide included in the box has lots of helpful suggestions for how to play with Spike together with your baby and how to encourage them to get the most from Spike the fidget hedgehog in terms of developmental benefit.

Our baby’s favourite song just happens to be ‘a hedgehog is very prickly’ and so now we sing this whenever we play with Spike the hedgehog fidget friend. Spike doesn’t make much noise which is a welcome break from many toys which have batteries and are a bit noisy for playing with in public, such as while you’re viewing a swimming lesson. Spike is perfect for this because there’s a lot of activities packed into a small toy.

Spike arrived in a cardboard box which fits him nicely and, according to my 2 year old, is his house. As well as being fidgeted with, Spike has become a toy pet who lives in this little house in a nest of tissues. they’ve really enjoyed playing with him and when it was time for Spike to leave with his new owner, my own children were sad to see him go. They’re too old to justify buying them their own spike the hedgehog fidget toy but it does show that the toy is good for encouraging imaginative play and should therefore be useful for a few years.

I would’ve like to see more information on the box about the type of plastic that Spike is made of, I do worry about things such as phthalates and bpa when I’m choosing toys for a baby, other than that, I’m very pleased with him.

Rating: 4/5

RRP: £16.50

This product can be purchased from Amazon here.

For more information please visit the Learning Resources website here.