Educational Toys Guide
Zhu Zhu Pets - 2009's Christmas Best Selling Toy?
In Developmental Toys of Advisor (September 23, 2009 8:02 pm)
If current sales trends are anything to go by then Zhu Zhu pets could easily become the hot selling toy in the run up to Christmas 2009. Basically, these are a set of five motorized hamsters which interact both with the kids and each other.
The five different Zhu Zhu hamsters – Mr. Squiggles, Chunk, Pipsqueak, Num Nums and Patches – all have their own separate personalities and individual character traits. They operate in two modes “nurturing” and “exploring”. The first four are all available individually, but Patches can only be collected as part of the “Hamster Starter Set”.
In nurturing mode the hamsters respond to petting by making adorable tiny noises. Each hamster has its own signature sound. There are a total of over forty different sounds spread across the five hamsters.
In exploring mode the hamsters will scuttle about – either free ranging on the floor or inside their specially created hamster habitats. The habitats can be built and rebuilt by the children in a variety of different combinations and include tubes, tracks, toys and even a vehicle.
There are a wide variety of different accessories to select from. There’s a hamster funhouse, hamster wheel and tunnel (of course), hamster garage, adventure ball, surfboard, skateboard, sleep dome, hamster carrier with blanket etc. It’s a long list of toys.
Kids seem to go crazy for these little furballs. They are cute, they interact and the process of designing and constructing the hamster habitats in various different arrangements will stimulate their imaginations and make sure that they don’t get bored.
One of the advertising slogans for Zhu Zhu hamsters is “pets without the mess” – and that’s a big bonus for many parents. There’s no need to feed them, no need to keep their water bowl topped up and no need to clean out their cage. A couple of AAA batteries every now and again is all the maintenance that’ll be required.
Because they are motorized and contain small parts, the Zhu Zhu Pets are not best for very young children. The target age group is from four to ten years of age.
These toys are going to be the next massive fad (at least for a while). The manufacturer has released them at an ideal time, just enough time to gain up a following prior to Christmas but not enough time for them to become yesterday’s news before the Yuletide gift season. If you know a child who would appreciate one of these for Christmas then you would certainly be wise to get your order in well in advance.
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