As part of the Toys R Us Toyologist Programme we were sent Leap Frog’s My Pal Violet to review. Before all out war broke out I decided that I had best also buy My Pal Scout for William. Now we are a house of harmony enhanced by the lovely lullabies shared by Scout and Violet.

At 16 months I would say Esther and William quite like these toys but not nearly as much as the Elefun or the Lettersaurus that we have previously reviewed.

I think my two little ones just don’t get as attached to cuddlies as they do to other toys.

But these are cuddly toys albeit very clever cuddly toys!

Scout and Violet are two cuddly puppies from Leapfrog. They are very clever puppies who can learn new things such as your baby’s name and their favourite things.

The puppies sing happy songs and lullabies and the melodies are simply activated by pressing on the puppies’ paw.

Press My Paws!

Esther and William were both a little confused with this as they thought the music and sounds were activated by pressing the puppy’s name tag that flashes along with the music.

The lullabies are a real plus if you want this toy to use as a bedtime buddy as they can be set to play for 2, 5 or 10 minutes depending on how long it takes your little one to fall asleep. We have not used this feature as with two babies sharing a room it can create quite a sound clash!

We have also not personalised our puppies as Leap Frog recognise William’s name but not Esther’s and so we thought it unfair to personalise one without the other. I also had some problems using the Leap Frog program on my laptop as all the information did not fit on to the screen. User error I am sure but my technologically minded husband was not able to fix it either.

I have to say though that Esther and William enjoy playing with the puppies just the same and clap along to ‘If You Are Happy and You Know It’ with great delight.

Clap Your Hands!

As the weeks have passed Esther and William seem to have grown more fond of their puppy pals and can now often be found cuddling them, dancing with them or rolling around the floor with them!

Neither Esther or William seem to have preference over green puppy Scout or purple puppy Violet, they are happy to swap and share.

Esther and William have never been the knid of children that have one toy that they take with them everywhere but I can see that with time and a little encouragement their Leap Frog Puppy Pal could become it.

Another great interactive product from Leap Frog, available from Toys R Us for just £19.97.

A puppy for life, not just for Christmas!