Once Upon a Time with Peppa Pig Storytime
About twelve months ago our Peppa Pig toys were in the recycling bag waiting to go to the charity shop but LM pulled them out and began playing with them and they earned a reprieve. Since then she's had a birthday and Christmas and we've added to her collection and she plays with them every single day.A couple of weeks ago we received a very exciting box, with Peppa Pig written all over it, something she was very quick to spot, we opened it to reveal four exciting boxes.
Story Time Castle Playset (£19:99)
This is a double-sided, free-standing playset which means that two children can play with it at the same time. It's a castle gatehouse, complete with working portcullis, a small 'George and the Beanstalk' figure, and a crate of magic beans. There are some lovely features including the flag and George and Dinosaur pennants and George can climb on the different platforms inside the castle. We would have liked it if the drawbridge had moved in addition to the portcullis.
Pumpkin Carriage (£14:99)
I think that this was our favourite. The Pumpkin Carriage is a bright orange Pumpkin with wheels that cause the three seats inside it to rotate a it is pushed along. It arrives with a chauffeur Peppa and you can fill the seats with your figures from other sets. It's a really nicely built carriage and the movement is an interesting feature. The roof of the pumpkin flips open for easy access to the seats and will unclip instead of breaking off if it is dropped or banged. The seats work well for the figures and we haven't had too many falling out.
Storytime Tea Party Playset (£14:99)
This is a lovely little playset incorporate Peppa Bo Peep Peppa, Fairy Suzy and Prince Pedro alongside a table, tea pot, jelly and three chairs. Again the chairs sit the characters well although we did have to balance Pedro's chair more carefully as his tended to fall over more often. This is the perfect set to play with using the castle playset, or in an existing Peppa Pig playset.
Story Time Figure Pack (£9:99)
This set incorporates four of the most popular Peppa Pig characters and you get Swan Princess Peppa, Medieval Danny, Woodland Candy and Woodland Rebecca, you also receive a 'Once Upon a Time' story book (it doesn't open). These are great to use with the other playsets, as extra passengers in the Pumpkin Carriage, for example. It's nice to see all of the different outfits too.
Bud and LM have both played with these sets extensively since they arrived with us and they've been incorporated very quickly into LM's Peppa Pig world. We all really like this new range and it's really refreshing to see all of the different costumes and different characters available with the sets. We have Peppa three times across these different playsets but she is wearing a different outfit each time, we love that as it means you don't get repeats as you do with the main range (I've lost count of the number of Peppa in her red dress figures that we own!)
I can see this range being very popular with little Peppa Pig fans this Christmas. There is so much scope for imaginative play with familiar characters and I loved that you can incorporate fairy tales into the play too. LM, especially, has really taken to the toys and I think we may well be adding to her collection at Christmas.
We received the toys for review purposes.
