Did you join us last week to see the big reveal of Hatchimals? We were thrilled to be some of the very first to show it off to the world via the Twitter Party hosted by Spin Master. Did you catch a glimpse of our lovely Hatchimal Martha?
This Hatchimal is a very unusual toy like nothing you have ever seen before and it will surely appeal to everyone! From their beginnings, nestled inside a brightly speckled egg, to the moment they hatch themselves out and progress from baby to toddler to full grown Hatchimal, they respond to a child’s curiosity, care and nurturing!
Watch our Hatchimal in action here:
This Hatchimal can’t hatch on its own. You/your child have the key to release the magic with the power of human touch. There are 8 Hatchimals to collect. You can pick the species you want to hatch: Penguala or Draggle, and the colour of the egg, but who’s is inside is only revealed when it hatches. Pengualas might be pink and teal or pink, while Draggle eggs are either purple or green and blue.
The hatch is a moment in time, never to be repeated, but this is just the beginning of the experience. Once it’s hatched, you’ll raise your Hatchimal through three phases, from baby to toddler to full-grown Hatchimal, teaching it to walk, talk, play games and more.
There are five life stages:
- Stage 1 (EGG): Nurture the egg until it is ready to hatch
- Stage 2 (HATCHING): Hold the egg to encourage the hatch
- Stage 3 (BABY): Care for your Hatchimal by feeding, cuddling and comforting
- Stage 4 (TODDLER): Teach your Hatchimal to walk, talk and play games
- Stage 5 (KID): Play with your Hatchimal to unlock new games
Want to know how to play with your Hatchimal, then watch this video:
https://youtu.be/E7Mm_LM41e8
Once we opened up the packaging and the main keys to the egg, it immediately responded to us and started chatting to us. My children were so excited and kept tapping it, rubbing it and playing with it. There are so many ways to interact with the egg. It took about 10 minutes before it moved on to the next stage where it lit up with a rainbow light and started pecking! We were really amused by it and it was a lot of fun! In between, we had to wake the egg for it to continue hatching! This stage took long than we expected and my children got quite impatient (over 15 minutes). We then helped peel off the egg slightly to get it going. We wanted to check if it was a girl or a boy!
Mr K did hoped that we had a boy but when we found out it is a girl, he was pleased with it too. This little chick is called Martha! We pulled her out of the shell and the plastics around her to get her going. We then fed, cuddled and played with Martha.
It didn’t take long for Martha to move on to the next stage. She will sing a birthday song when she reaches the next stage to let their owner know! Or by pressing its belly, you can check the eye colour to find out the stage he/she is in. If the first eye colour you see is:
- YELLOW and you hear giggling, your Hatchimal™ is in Stage 3: Baby
- PURPLE (dance mode), your Hatchimal™ is in Stage 4: Toddler
- RED (tag game), your Hatchimal™ is in Stage 5: Kid
The second eye colour displayed will tell you her emotion. Mr K likes Martha in her last stage – kid, where he is able to play games with her. There are four games to play: Silly Sounds, Tag, Hachimal Says and Psychic Hatchimal. To play games with her, simply press the button on her belly to get going, then wait for three seconds/pat her head to enter. To exit the game, simply press her belly. This is very simple and straightforward to play. At the moment, we are having to refer back to the instructions/chart to check her eye colour for clues. I think in no time both children will be able to remember the differences between the eye colours.
When they are in their last stage, you still can play all the games that is available in stage three and four. Or you can reset your Hatchimal to Baby after hatching, by pressing the small reset button on the bottom of your Hatchimal with a paperclip.
This is such a clever toy and is really unique. It was lovely watching it hatch and nurturing it through the stages. I love this concept and I believe this it is one of the most engaging interactive toys we have and great for learning. It is available in major toy retailers and Amazon and suitable for aged 5 onwards.
Disclosure: We received the sample for the purposes of writing this review, however all thoughts and opinions remain our own.