Mr. Potato Head is an all time classic toy and one that just never gets old. Although this toy seems basic compared to many of the toys on the market these days Mr. Potato Head will always be a welcomed toy to any home.Mr Potato Head comes in a clear plastic box reinforced with colorful printed cardboard and a red plastic handle on the top for easy carrying. Inside the box is a Mr. Potato Head body and various accessories, these accessories include: two pink ears, two white arms, one blue pair of feet, one white toothy smile, one brown moustache, one white pair of eyes, one yellow pair of glasses, one red nose and one green baseball hat. The Mr. Potato Head body also has a small compartment in the back to store any Mr. Potato Head accessories that your child is not using.

The basic Mr. Potato Head comes with quite a few accessories; however, there are also tons of other accessories on the market for Mr. Potato Head (including a Mrs. Potato Head.) Among the various Mr. Potato Head accessory sets which are available for purchase for around $3.99 each as an addition to the basic Mr. Potato Head toy are: Alien Spud, Birthday Spud, Construction Worker Spud, Firefighter Spud, Glamour Spud, Halloween Spud, King Spud, Mermaid Spud, Party Spud, Pirate Spud, Princess Spud, Safari Spud, Santa Spud, Sassy Spud, and Superstar Spud. A Silly Suitcase is also available for any where between $7.50 from Amazon.com to $14.99 at most other retailers, this Silly Suitcase is a jumbo accessory set for any Mr. Potato Head.

As well as the various accessory sets that are available for Mr. Potato Head, there are also various Mr. Potato Head dolls available for around $9.99 including a Spiderman Spud, a Star Trooper Spud, a Pirate Spud, a Mr and Mrs. Potato Head set, an Optimus Prime Spud, an R2D2 Spud, a Darth Vader Spud, a Mrs. Potato Head and a Trick or Treat Spud. There is also a suitcase which includes three Spud Buds for $9.99 which comes with a Carrot, an ear of Corn and a Mr. Potato Head all of which fit with the Mr. Potato Head accessories but also come with a bunch of accessories of their own.

The packaging on the basic Mr. Potato Head was great, not only was it easy to open but it’s also easy to repack and carry around thanks to the small red plastic handle. There is only one “pesky” tab to ensure the lid on your box stays closed and your accessories don’t fall out, and the box itself is sturdy enough for repeated use to store the Mr. Potato Head and his accessories. The plastic of the box is hard enough to store Mr. Potato Head but there are no sharp edges for your child to cut themselves with despite the durability of the plastic itself, all of the edges are rounded which I believe was done with much foresight on the part of Playskool. As for the toy itself, although the basic Mr. Potato Head comes with quite a few accessories there are only really enough for your child to make one Mr. Potato Head. While one Mr. Potato Head is fun to play with and there is a possibility of creating one Mr. Potato Head with or without a moustache, with or without glasses etc. I highly recommend investing the money in to the Silly Suitcase to really make this toy worth while.A plus to the Mr. Potato Head toy is that it is a waterproof toy and can be used in the bathtub, we do not, however, recommend that this toy be used as a travel toy. Mr. Potato Head would not make a good travel toy for the obvious reason that there are too many small parts that can be dropped or lost along the trip. One of the only other hangups I have with the Mr. Potato Head toy is the age recommendation. Mr. Potato Head is recommended for children ages 2+ and while I feel that this toy is age appropriate playwise I do not feel it is age appropriate for unsupervised play. When taking in to account the size of the various accessories on Mr. Potato Head…namely his eyes and ears, they are potential choking hazards for young children in unsupervised play. As far as toy construction the only other real hazard with Mr. Potato Head is the launch factor, should the body of Mr. Potato Head be thrown in a tantrum it will hurt whoever is on the receiving end!

Overall Mr. Potato Head receives a rating of 4/5 for being a classic toy with infinite potention for play because of the numerous AFFORDABLE accessory kits that are offered by Playskool.

The Littlest Pet Shop Pet Display and Play Pet Nook Turtle with Surf Shop is a novelty toy, one piece among many in a collectible unit of pet nooks. The Littlest Pet Shop Pet nooks are small panoramas which fit together to create one large “pet shop,” however they only come one to a pack. There are currently six Play Pet Nooks available: a bunny with a grocery store, a cat with a candy shop, a monkey with a gym, a puppy with a vet office, a seahorse with a bathroom and a turtle with a surfshop.

The Play Pet Nooks come in a cardboard backed plastic package, within the package is a small panorama, one prop for the panorama and the pet that came with the panorama. The prop fits in to a custom hole for it within the panorama (on the surfshop panorama there are three holes for the palm tree prop.) There is also a magnet within the pet assumedly to keep the pet within the panorama. The panorama itself is decorated with a large sticker of the background of choice (in this case a surf shop,) which is why this toy is not recommended for water play. The panorama also has small holes in the top and curved scrolls on the side to hook it on to other panoramas and create a larger pet shop theme.

The packaging was taped together with what seemed like industrial strength tape, this did serve the purpose of keeping the toys in the packaging but it also served the purpose of keeping me out and as a result upon opening the packaging was torn. Within the packaging is a booklet of other Littlest Pet Shop products along with a coupon code for 10% off Littlest Pet Shop products online…be prepared, there are a LOT of different pets available. The toys themselves are encased in a plastic shell and attached with some type of flimsy rubber band, this can be removed without using scissors but it may not be an easy feat for a child so I recommend that you remove the toys from packaging yourself.

Although I think the Littlest Pet Shop toys are a cute concept I find them to be cheap toys with limited wow factor. The collectible aspect of these toys adds some value as a childrens toy and the fact that the individual pet “nooks” are able to be joined to other individual pet “nooks” makes this toy a neat concept but still it’s not enough to convince me it’s worth its money. The pet “nook” itself is pretty tough however the sticker which forms the backdrop can be peeled away or destroyed in exposure to water so keep that in mind. The prop for the “nook” (in this case a palm tree) is made of softer plastic and is bendable which is great, had it been made from harder plastic it would be snapped within the first five minutes of play. The prop itself slots in to the “nook” in a shallow hole which barely holds the prop upright and one bump with the hand and your prop will come out of the hole and fall down increasing the frustration factor. Now the pet itself has a moveable head and is about the width of two adult fingers. The pet comes with a magnet, this causes the pet to stick to various things that magnets should stick to; however, I have yet to find a way to stick it to the pet “nook.” Being that the pet doesn’t stick to the pet “nook,” at least not in the toy I purchased, I don’t quite see the point in putting a magnet in the pet. Since there is no magnet within the “nook” to connect with the magnet within the pet once set up as a “scene” the pet will move around quite a bit. While this may not be such a problem with a single pet nook as your child will want to play with the pet, should your child have a few pet nooks and attach them together pets will begin toppling out of their nooks and this can definitely add to the frustration factor for your child.

All in all I’m not convinced this toy is a great investment, I would say if your child is looking at the Littlest Pet Shop line of toys and really has to have one stick with the solo pets. The pricetag on the solo pets runs around $1.99 a piece and there are many to collect but as with all small toys I remind you of the potential of a choking hazard!