TP Toys Bug Hotel Review

Reviewed by Rebecca Wong

I love being in my garden, I love nature and I endeavour to instil a love of nature in my children as well. We do lots of activities in the garden; rescue bee’s that are in trouble, rear butterflies, plant seeds and make sure the bird feed is always topped up. So when I received the TP Bug Hotel I was very excited to get it out in my garden to offer all things creeping, crawling, flying and buzzing, a place to burrow and shelter. We’ve made our own homemade bug hotels in the past but they never last long and always end up falling apart and joining the dead leave and twigs at the bottom of the garden. This is a really lovely solid and colourful bug hotel, that I know will last years longer than our home-made efforts. It comes with 3 different compartments which can be easily accessed for children to learn and explore and add their own ‘bug bedding’.

The hotel is a really lovely size measuring 34cm in height and the colours make it stand out in the garden as a lovely feature. We found it a little corner to sit it in within our garden, we chose somewhere we know attracts lots of bugs but left it accessible enough for the children to be able to check-in on any guests that may decide to take shelter there.

The bug hotel also came with an information sheet that was packed with facts about the different insects that could be attracted to the hotel – did you know that an ant can carry 50x its own bodyweight! In addition, there was also an activity sheet that gives children ideas as to what they can place into each room of the hotel to make it more appealing to various insects – which can also be coloured in! I love this as it meant that we didn’t just place it in the garden and forget about it. We actively searched out leaves, pine cones and more to add to the hotel. This got us talking about different insects and why they might like certain habitats, why some might prefer soil while others prefer dry leaves. It was a real labour of love for my 7 year old and she was very focussed on making sure she picked out the right accessories for each room.

Rating: I give it 5/5 as a brilliant idea for garden lovers and for those nature loving children to get them outside and exploring the diverse life that is in their own back gardens.

RRP and Buy Link: The hotel retails for £49.99 and can be purchased at https://www.tptoys.com/products/tp-bug-hotel?_pos=1&_sid=f5d36cdc3&_ss=r I think this would make a really thoughtful gift for any child who loves rummaging in the garden but in addition it’s a great idea to entice children outside and get them exploring and thinking about the wildlife outside their own doors and what they can do to help it. In a world filled with plastic toys I love this natural wood gift and the idea of educating children on such an important issue whist making it fun and interesting – it’s something they can observe regularly.