Style 4 Ever DIY Unicorn Lava Lamp Review
DISCLOSURE -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 Helen O
With half term looming, we were excited to be given the opportunity to review the Style 4 Ever Unicorn DIY Lava Lamp from Canal Toys, as February half term is often one which needs indoor activities, due to the weather.
The lava lamp arrived really quickly in shrink-wrapped black plastic, which was quite difficult to open. There was a small dink in the packaging, most likely due to how it was packaged. It didn’t affect the product inside though. The box was brightly coloured, really attractive and eye-catching. We were under no illusion as what we should expect to find inside.
Inside the box, there was the following:
1 x plastic unicorn base with detachable lid
1 x instruction leaflet
3 x packs of style components (coloured beads, sequins and pebbles)
1 x bottle of dye
1 x sticker sheet
My children were really excited to get going with making their own lava lamp. First thing I did was to put the batteries into the base. The product takes 3 x AAA batteries, which aren’t supplied. The battery compartment is screw operated, so needs an adult to assist with this. I liked how the Unicorn is manufactured from solid, rather than flimsy plastic, so likely to last a while.
The lava lamp came with an instruction sheet in several languages, which we followed to create our lamp. The children took turns to empty the packets of beads, sequins and pebbles into the plastic unicorn. The instructions advised us to fill the unicorn with water, to the fill line – we couldn’t, for the life of us, find the fill line. We scanned the QR code on the box, which showed us a video demonstration of how to fill the lamp, but again, this gave no idea of where the fill line should be, so we made a best guess.
Some of the beads floated at the top of the lamp and we had to give it a good shake to try and get them to move down into the main body of the lamp.
Once we’d filled the unicorn with water, we squeezed a few drops of the supplied dye into the water, but we didn’t think this changed the colour of the water that much, so we ended up squeezing a bit more in and that is the beauty of a product like this, you can personalise it to how you want it to look.
Finally, we used the sticker sheet to decorate our unicorn, making it completely unique to us. Once complete, we thought it looked really effective, particularly with the colour changing lights. It’s really easy to switch on and off too; with just a twist of the base.
The instructions advised that the water should be replaced regularly to avoid microbiological risks, although to change the water, you need to make sure you collect the decorations and stop them from going down the drain. This means that you can repeat the activity again, which is great.
The STYLE 4 EVER Unicorn DIY Lava Lamp has an RRP of £17, which I think is pretty reasonable for an art activity like this. It was a perfect half term activity and best of all, my children have their very own personalised lava lamp to keep.
A rocket shaped lava lamp, which might be a preference for some children, is also available. Although, my son was perfectly happy with the pink unicorn!
The product is aimed at age 6+ years, which I think is appropriate. My son is almost 7 years old and enjoyed the chance to take part in a craft activity, where he needed minimal input from me. Although I was on hand to fill the jug and open the packets to stop the contents flying everywhere!
I’ll definitely be recommending it to friends with children of a similar age to mine. It would make a perfect gift for any occasion, be it birthday, Easter, Christmas or just because.
Rating: 4.5/5
RRP: £17.00 although currently on sale for £11.99 at Very.
For more information, visit canaltoys.co.uk. Available to buy from Very, Amazon and other stockists.