HeadSplat Review
Reviewed by Louise Totton
We love getting the kids outdoors and in the garden when the weather improves; up until recently we had a house with a very large garden, so we had bigger garden toys such as a trampoline, scooters and bikes. We recently moved and have a much smaller garden now, so whilst we have the countryside on our doorstep for walking and bike rides, it is a little more difficult to entertain the kids outside in our own space. We have a few bits that will make a regular appearance when the sun comes out, including outdoor painting, the Slime Factory, a game of Uno if it’s not too windy, and last summer the odd game of Pie Face, although that one had a tendency to get a bit sticky and wasn’t ideal with wasps and bees buzzing around the garden!
We have been looking for ways to get the kids outdoors without having to actually ‘go out’ and travel, so it was perfect timing when we were asked to try out HeadSplat! There has been a bit of a boom recently in fun, physical games aimed at the whole family – we have Pie Face, Don’t Step In It and Boom Boom Balloon and the kids do love these games with a physical element – so we were all delighted to be asked to test drive Head Splat for What’s Good To Do!
HeadSplat combines physical skill and an element of chance with the possibility of getting covered in water – to me, it definitely sounded like a game for the kids to try out rather than risk getting soaked myself! The day came when the weather was warm and the kids were keen to get outside, so we opened the box and got ready to do some head splatting!
The box contains a plastic, vented hat with a plastic and Velcro strap to keep in on most head sizes, another bit of plastic shaped like a bowl, again with vents to attach onto the hat, a packet of water balloons and a set of instructions. Assembly was simple and took let than a minute – the plastic bowl locks onto the hat securely and becomes the goal, and the game is ready to use. The idea of the game is to fill a water balloon up, hook it to the string attached to the front of the hat and basically use your head like a large (and potentially wet) version of an old-fashioned cup and ball set! You flick your head upwards to try to land the water balloon in the goal without bursting it. To make it even harder, the goal bowl has strips of coarse sandpaper-like stickers around the sides to make landing the ball in the goal safely even more difficult!
The girls are 7 and 9 and they thought this was the most amazing fun, and absolutely hilarious! The hat straps really securely on to their heads – it was a little loose on the youngest but we double wrapped the strap on itself and it fitted perfectly. There are lots different ways of playing, although our favourite way was to use a timer for 2 minutes and see how many goals they could each score.
The hat can be adjusted to make it easier or harder by changing the length of the string that the water balloon is hooked onto – shorter is easier. This is adjusted by wrapping the string around a hook at the front of the hat and is easy to adjust each time you change players.
We absolutely loved this game. It is an awful lot harder than it looks to get the water balloon in the goal, but the kids had fantastic fun trying. The risk of getting soaking wet through makes it even funnier, and it became really frantic when they were trying to beat the other one’s score! This game is such good fun and it’s ideal for getting the kids having fun outside if you have a small outdoor space. It’s also perfect for taking out and about with you, possibly to a friend’s BBQ party, camping or even to the park, as long as you remember to pick up all of the burst balloons before you go home.
The game is supplied with 24 water balloons, which I reckon will probably last three or four afternoons. When you do need refills, they are available for a very small cost on eBay.
We think this is a real bargain at just £12.99 and the hat is made of sturdy plastic so I have no doubts that it will last and we will get plenty of use out of it this summer.
Rating: 5/5
RRP: £12.99
Available to buy from www.flairplc.co.uk or www.smythstoys.com.
