Out of my five girls, my six year old is the one who wants EVERYTHING she sees in commercials. Whether it’s a toy or not, every time the TV is on all I hear is “I’m adding that to my Christmas list!” or “Can I get that for my birthday?”
So you can only imagine her excitement when we picked up the PinyPon Caravan and Mermaid set. Her eyes grew wide, her mouth dropped open and she said, “THIS is the one I asked for! I saw this on TV!!” She sat in the car with the box on her lap pointing at all of the wonders and naming them all to her sisters. But it wasn’t until we arrived at home that she was able to open it and really see what was inside.
The caravan itself of course was a highlight; it opens to reveal a mini-home complete with a tub with a working shower head. It includes a lounge chair, two surf boards that attach to the top of the van, a picnic table that comes equipped with miniature (miniature is really an understatement) plates, cutlery, cups and straws that are just about the cutest, yet freakishly tiniest things I’ve ever seen. Also included were several stickers and decorative pegs to design the caravan (and the dolls’ hair) and make it your own.
The doll really caught her attention. She quickly remembered the commercial and started pulling off the doll’s head and hair and basically tearing the thing apart, which is where I freaked out a bit yelling “You haven’t had this thing for 10 minutes and you’re breaking it?!”
The girls were amused at my lack of Pinypon knowledge. Apparently, breaking them apart and putting them back together (mismatched of course) was half the fun. I was curious, so I did the same with the mermaid. The dolls have two facial expressions (one on either side of their face) that are visible when you take the hair off and flip it to the other side.
My main concerns were how to keep the 30+ tiny pieces from getting lost, and worst yet, having the 1 year olds find the easy to swallow plastic pieces. Conveniently enough, the people at Famosa had thought of the clean up situation. There are cabinets, drawers and hidden compartments in the van where everything has its place, which is also a bonus for carrying it to and from grandma‘s house.
As far as the twins not getting to the pieces, I had to resort to only allowing the girls to play with the caravan in their rooms, where the twins don’t go anywhere near AND they have to clean up thoroughly after every playtime. Another issue we were having after just the first couple of uses was that the stickers were peeling off and not easy to remove and replace.
All in all, the toy sets are amazingly designed and pretty sturdy for their size. The older girls played together for hours and seemed to find something incredible and new every time they played. I would highly recommend these product to families with children who are 4 and up (though the product recommendation is 3 and up) and stress that they need to be kept away from small children.
As a bonus, the Pinypon website has free games and videos available that help add to the adventure!
Product Manufacturer: Famosa
Price: Caravan set: MSRP $24.99 ($19.99 at Toys R Us); Mermaid set: $4.99
| Appealed to the advertised age range | 5 |
| Instructions were easy to follow | 5 |
| My children played with this multiple times | 5 |
| Small pieces were a problem | 5 |
| Messy | 3 |
| Would travel well | 5 |
| Durability (except for stickers) |
4 |
| I would purchase this for my family | yes |
| I would purchase this as a gift | yes |
| Overall rating | 5 |
All ratings on a scale of 1-5 with 5 being the highest.
Meet The Reviewer!
Lucia Alami is a mother of five
daughters, the youngest of which
are a pair of one year-old twins.
She enjoys photography, reading,
writing, drawing, playing board
games and doing craft activities
with her girls.
