Mizzie The Kangaroo Musical Hop Out Mizzie Review
THIS ITEM WAS GIFTED TO THE REVIEWER FOR THE PURPOSES OF WRITING THE REVIEW. ALL THOUGHTS AND OPINIONS ARE THE REVIEWER'S OWN.
Reviewed by Jo Tebbs
Easter is fast approaching, and if you’re anything like me, I try to avoid giving my kids chocolate for this occasion – they get gifted SO much at this time of year by others anyway! Personally, I would prefer to get them a novel, more memorable gift, one from which they can learn, and also something that they can enjoy for a much longer period than a few seconds of hurried chocolate chomping.
Rather than an Easter Bunny hopping into your child’s toy collection this year, or your toddler bouncing off of the walls on a sugar high, why not ‘surprise’ your little one with a Musical Hop Out Mizzie!
Mizzie The Kangaroo is a brand of Kangaroo themed products that are all designed (rather aptly!) by Australian parents, aiming to assist our little ones with their development, whilst learning in an exciting and fun way.
Although I was familiar with ‘Mizzie’ via a teething ring that a friend of ours had purchased for their baby, we had never actually owned anything from the Mizzie The Kangaroo range of teething products, toys, gift sets or books, ourselves.
It’s well worth checking out the website (https://mizziethekangaroo.co.uk) to see the full range of items available. Some products are also available for purchase at the likes of John Lewis, The Range and Amazon.
When the opportunity arose for me to review the Musical Hop Out Mizzie for our 19 month old daughter, I quite literally ‘jumped’ at the chance!
My little girl is intrigued and somewhat obsessed (to put it mildly) by anything musical! She is always attracted to toys that play musical notes, melodies or songs, and she loves to join in with the actions when singing popular nursery rhymes. Another game that she has more recently become rather fond of is ‘boo!’ I’m not talking about the standard child’s ‘peek-a-boo’ game, but a heart stopping, scare the life out of you whilst stopping you in your tracks, ‘BOO’!! So… I thought this Musical Hop Out Mizzie toy would be the perfect, winning combination of both music and, an eagerly anticipated ‘fright’ for my toddler this Easter.
If you still aren’t quite sure what I’m talking about, the Musical Hop Out Mizzie is a kangaroo version of the old school clown based toy, ‘Jack-In-The-Box.’ The essence of the product is still exactly the same, you turn the handle/ crank, which results in the box playing a melody, and after a sufficient number of turns (almost at the end of the nursery rhyme), ‘Mizzie’ the kangaroo jumps out of the box to startle the operator i.e. your little darling.
The Musical Hop Out Mizzie arrived neatly and safely packaged in a cardboard box. I was also pleasantly surprised to see that unlike most other toys, there was no plastic packaging!! In fact, the packaging was minimal and only made from cardboard, so I feel that the company is being mindful of our planet and has an eco-friendly ethos.
My daughter has never seen a ‘Jack-In-The-Box’ before, so she had no preconceived ideas or notions as to what was in store with this toy, or what was inside!! She approached the Musical Hop Out Mizzie box with curiosity and started to rotate the metal box looking at the lovely picture that wraps around the 4 main faces!
The picture, if laid out flat, is of a kangaroo peering around a tree with a beach scene background. There is a very ‘Australian’ looking lifeguard hut, a beach towel and umbrella, some sandcastles, the sea, sand and sun, and a car with the boot open showing lots of beach related items inside. I love the authentic Australian colour pallet used for the artwork which also makes it a totally unisex toy – perfect for a gift.
Whilst investigating her new toy, it wasn’t long before my daughter came across the crank lever which is made of metal with a little plastic handle. She discovered that when this handle moved, musical notes started to play. A HUGE smile suddenly spread across her little cherub like face. It took a little bit of practice before she realised that the music only played if the handle was turned in a specific direction, and she soon discovered that the tune was a familiar nursery rhyme, ‘Pop Goes The Weasel.’
As the song approached the end, Mizzie abruptly bounds out of the box – this certainly caught my daughter off guard! So much so in fact, she jumped, took a step back and was then somewhat wary of the bright orange, cute little kangaroo starring back at her. With a little coaxing, and a few rounds of Mummy playing with her toy, she soon ‘warmed up’ to Mizzie the kangaroo and before long, she was squealing with glee every time her furry little friend made an appearance!
My only potential area for improvement with this toy (I’m being a little pedantic) is that I think it would add more of an effect if Mizzie was to jump out on the ‘Pop’ of the ‘Pop Goes The Weasel’ rather than on ‘Weasel.’
It’s also worth noting, this is also written inside on the lid too, that you should listen for the song to end before trying to put Mizzie back in her box and close the lid. My daughter struggled with this element of ‘packing’ Mizzie away each time, so I needed to always assist. Older children probably won’t struggle quite so much with this. If you don’t put Mizzie back at the right time, the latch of the lid struggles to hold close, so Mizzie keeps popping back out.
Musical Hop Out Mizzie is designed for toddlers aged 18+ months and I certainly feel that this is an appropriate starting age for this toy. Younger children won’t have the fine motor control and dexterity with their fingers to turn the crank lever or pack Mizzie away. They may also feel scared by the sudden ‘hopping out’ of Mizzie. However, the toy does provide a level of education by improving hand co-ordination and also the idea of ‘cause and effect.’
We have really enjoyed this toy and I’m sure that there will be lots more giggling and laughter to come with it too! I feel it would make a lovely gift this Easter for any little person in your life, but do keep in mind that it’s far more expensive than a standard chocolate Easter Egg!
I would rate this product 4/5
The RRP for this item is £25.20
You can buy the Musical Hop Out Mizzie from the Mizzie The Kangaroo website here;