Unconditional Mom

MONTY REX

As part of the 2010 Birthday Gift Guide here on Unconditional Mom I have had a load of fun reviewing a couple of products submitted by Playskool/Hasbro. Yes, me. An adult. You’re never to old to act like a child.

In the video review above you met Monty Rex. Monty Rex is part of the Kota & Pals line that has quite literally knocked my socks off. I wasn’t entirely sure what Alexis would think of him beings she’s a girl. Girls are obviously known for wanting to play with more “girly toys” and if I had to place Monty in a gender based category I would have obviously selected it as a toy fit for a boy.

Little did I know just how much of a humongous hit Monty Rex would be in the eyes of my daughter…nor myself.

Let me give you a bit more information into what Monty Rex can teach your child; it’s more than just play:

Imaginative Wild Play
Empowerment
Imagination
Conceptual Thinking
Language
Cause & Effect
Fine Motor Skills
Problem Solving
Bonding & Attachment

Each of those links will take you to information on the Hasbro.com website where you can learn how to make Monty Rex more than just a toy to play with. I stand behind each of those as a direct result of seeing my daughter interact with him. She loves him so much she continually tries to feed him milk from one of her doll’s ‘magic baby bottles’.

Monty Rex is awe-inspiring to put it lightly. Even seeing him in the package gives a bit of a “Ohhhh wow!” reaction as that’s precisely what I did upon first-sight. It’s when you take him out of the box that you realize just how neat he really is. I have to tell you, the only other time I’ve been fascinated by prehistoric animals is in museums, whilst staring up at their bones formed into a skeleton. Fortunately those don’t move…

Monty Rex is animated beyond what I anticipated. He has many movable parts that interact to several different touches and sounds. Something I really enjoy about Monty Rex is that he’s entertaining. Even those he’s programmed to do certain things he can still surprise you…and it makes me giggle every time. Alexis and I have had quite a few laughs because of this 15″ tall animated dinosaur. My cat? Well, let’s just say he’s not all that fond of him.

Monty Rex will sniff, sneeze, stomp, chomp, roar and play music for you. Do be cautious as not to ROAR at him more than 8 times in a row, however, as this will disable his microphone. And take my word on the fact that you don’t want to do that as his ROAR is the best part about him.

Imagine being stressed after a long day at work. You’re looking for a way to relax and as you walk past your childs room; you see Monty. You approach him carefully… he looks fierce. To show a display of animal-like bravado you “ROOOOOOOOOAR!” at the top of your lungs. Monty slightly cocks his head to the side and “ROOOOOOOAR’S” right back. You’re intrigued and you “ROOOOOOOOOOAR” again; he returns the gesture. You can’t help but to laugh and suddenly…that laughter relinquishes you of all former stress.

Okay, so maybe you should go get one for you and one for your child. Imagine the prehistoric battles that would take place in your home.

PLAY-DOH COCO-NUTTY MONKEY

The obvious question is: What child doesn’t love Play-Doh? I remember when I was a little girl there was something about the feeling of it that was just fun. Then the idea of creating things with it, simply from my imagination alone, was a very cool feeling; for lack of better words.

I don’t remember having the “Play-Doh Luxuries” that children, today, have. Playskool/Hasbro has come up with some clever kits that are ingenious.

Introducing Coco-Nutty Monkey. Look at his tongue - you can tell he’s a bit nutty. Even more fun is the numerous amounts of things that you can make due to the ‘accessories’ that he comes with. You literally take a set of each thing that you want to make; whether that be bananas, pineapple or a monkey and put them on his hands - it’s easy to do! Then you push down on his tail and viola! you end up with the shape of your choice.

In addition to that, you can also give him Play-Doh hair. This kit even comes with 5 different Play-Doh colors. Alexis and I decided to give him pink hair - we love pink. You just pop off his head, place the Play-Doh on top, push his head back down and out comes the stringy Play-Doh hair. I thought cleaning that out would be a bit of a pain, but it took me 3 seconds. The plastic that it’s made of is completely smooth so there’s no picking off little pieces of Play-Doh.

On the  base of Coco-Nutty Monkey there are molds where you can make a few different things: we decided to go for flowers. Once we made it she wanted it to dry out so she would always have one - it turned out very cute.

There’s more though - Coco-Nutty Mokey even has a Tiki torch right in front of him (the tall blue thing). I like that there’s more than one thing you can do with this little guy and even more so how it entertains my daughter and influences her imagination.

Disclosure: I received one Monty Rex and one Play-Doh Coco-Nutty Monkey for review purposes only. However, this did not reflect upon my opinions stated above as Unconditional Mom’s opinion is always honest; regardless.