Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Mattel Fijit Friends Interactive Toy {Review}

Fijit Friends logoI have always been amazed at my daughters' creativity when it comes to performing. Whether they are playing with a toy microphone or a stick that they found on the ground, they seem to be able to sing and dance and laugh for ages without getting bored. There's just something about putting on a show with friends that sparks their imagination!

So what could be better than simply jamming with some music? How about a robotic best friend that wants to do it with you? Which is just what you'll find in the Fijit Friends!

Fijit Friends reviewThe next generation of interactive friends, Mattel's new Fijit Friends are electronic toys that can talk, dance, and laugh right along with your child. The result? Not only entertainment but actual engagement on a whole new level!

The colorful, squishy skin enables lifelike movements and the jazzy dance moves, ability to recognize spoken emotions (and react appropriately), cute kid jokes, and more ensure that the fun continues long past a simple instance of playing one song.

When a Fijit Friends Party Pack arrived, both of my girls were thrilled to know that they were going to have a chance to play with these new characters as well as with their friends.

Fijit Friends reviewFijit Friends come in four different color variations, each with a unique personality. As we looked over our new pals, Sage and Willa, the girls got even more excited to hear that Sage is an adventurous little explorer and Willa is a trendy fashionista.

When it came time to get to know them as we prepared for our Fijit Friends party, the looks on their faces were pretty priceless as they poked and prodded the rubbery material of the bodies and found that they really did respond to conversation. Little Sister B would give it a squeeze, listen to it talk, and then look at me wide-eyed in wonder!

After seeing how much fun we were having, when the day arrived for our party, we were ready to spread the Fijit Friends entertainment with our friends. It was such a beautiful day outside that we decided to meet at a park and hoped that the background noise wouldn't interfere with the interaction between child and toy.

Fijit FriendsEvery child at our party wanted a chance to touch and hug and play with the Fijit Friends! The kids got into the fun right away by saying "Dance with me!" and enjoying the moving and grooving that the Fijits would do. After dressing up in the boas, necklaces, sunglasses, and more, we were definitely ready to join in and dance along!

Oh yes, we were all getting into the Fijit fun.

I appreciated that we were able to play our own music (and the Fijits pick up on the beat) or that they contain their own, so that other than the toy itself, you really can have a dance party in nearly any location without needing to bring along other props.

Due to the commotion and background noise, it did seem that it got more difficult for Willa and Sage to understand the commands as time went on and we did have multiple instances where they would continue to ask us what we wanted to do even after having been told.

But in all, I was impressed with how well that the Fijits interacted and they did cause quite a bit of giggling while we tried out the "Chat with Me" and "Tell me a Joke" modes and got to talk about how we were feeling, where we were going, or hear things like, "What is green and loud?" pause "A froghorn!" The kids couldn't get enough and piled on plenty of kisses to show it!

In fact, as much fun as many of the girls had dancing and talking with Willa and Sage, they also really seemed to get into giving their squishy body hugs and laughing at their cute, robotic voices as well. It was as if they truly did find these little characters to be new friends!

For a fun and unique way to interact, Fijit Friends are an innovative toy that can provide an awfully entertaining experience. They laugh, they dance (sometimes so much so that they seem to get dizzy and fall down), they play music and rock out, they cheer you up with funny jokes... the list goes on and on. I think every child at our party left that day giggling and saying, "Hiya, Papaya!" which was a catch phrase of our little pals!

Designed for ages 6 and over, our group was a little on the young side for the Fijit Friends and that may have contributed to the issues that we had in getting them to react at times, as younger children's words aren't as clear. Since our party outdoors, we have also found that Willa and Sage respond better indoors, which makes sense that there isn't as much competing noise in the background.

In all, the girls really loved playing with the Fijit Friends and Big Sister E has asked time and again to play with them more and more! Retailing for $49.99 (or slightly less on Amazon), until the end of August you can receive free shipping on all four Fijit Friends on ShopMattel by using the code FIJITBL. I know that we'll be dancing along with our new pals for quite some time to come!

I wrote this review while participating in a campaign by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of Mattel Fijit Friends and received product samples, a party kit, and a promotional item to thank me for taking the time to participate.

1 comments:

Anna said...

Oh how cute. Your kids look adorable with these toys. They sure look like they had fun with these new toys.