When I was sent the Tree Fu Tom Magic Sapstone Belt and Holopax I knew straight away who should put it through it’s paces. Little C is the son of one of my best friends, he was born the day before Little Bean and has loved dressing up as his favourite characters for as long as I can remember. This is what they had to say:
E. .X . .C. . I . . T . . E . .D was the word of the day when our very generous friend, Sabina at Mummy Matters was good enough to request us to review the TFT Magic Sapstone Belt and Holopax.
My 4 ½ year old son could not wait to get the box open and get his hands on the items so he could wear them straight away!!
The initial feel and sight of the Magic Sapstone Belt and Holopax was very impressive because they actually look like the items TFT wears in the programme, and I am certain the material the toy is made from will last for quite a while.
The belt and holopax come in 4 parts.
The Holopax is already in one piece and is very easy to place onto the wrist and secure with a push and click type fastening, which is adjustable according to the size of the child’s wrist.
The Magic Sapstone Belt has the middle section with the sapstone in the centre, then two side parts of the belt which quickly slide onto each side of the belt. Again, as with the Holopax it is secured around the waist by the same adjustable push and click fastening.
After flicking the ‘on’ switch on the sapstone itself, we encouraged my son to move around, as according to the information on the front of the box the child has to “Move to make Tree Fu Magic”. This led me to believe that after trying out a few TFT moves the sapstone in the centre of the belt would soon glow. However, after a few minutes of running around the room we could see his cheeks ‘glowing’ instead of the sapstone!
We then decided to remove the instruction leaflet which states the child has to move for over 40 seconds and the Magic Sapstone Belt will glow for two minutes. Once two minutes is up it will power down and you can start again. If you move for less than 40 seconds the Magic Sapstone Belt will not continue to glow – so you have to keep moving!
Now, I quite understand the principle of this toy is to get your children up and about and moving around – which I am keen for my son to do at all opportunities.
Unfortunately, this is the down side to the toy because despite running around our living room for around 2-3 minutes, we had no ‘glow’. We then resorted to visiting our local shop to buy brand new batteries which we replaced in the Magic Sapstone Belt – but to no avail – there was still no ‘glow’.
By this time we had encouraged our son to run up the stairs and back down again 4 times and surely that would be enough vigorous exercise and for long enough to get the belt to ‘glow’ – but the sapstone in the Magic Sapstone Belt was, unfortunately, a ‘NO GLOW’!!!
The only time we ever got it to glow at all was when my husband held each side of the sapstone and shook it within his hands for around 50-60 seconds, then it was a rush to get the belt attached to my son’s waist so he could get the enjoyment of moving around doing his TFT moves while the sapstone glowed in all its glory – and once it glowed, it was a very bright glow!!
This product could be easily altered so that the 40 seconds ‘moving’ time is reduced (as I feel that 40 seconds is a long time to expect small children to move to gain the outcome they are waiting for) and also the sapstone itself altered so it glows by replacing the current sensor with a better one to detect any movement, rather than, it seems – vigorous non-stop – cheek glowing movement!
Available from: Toys R Us and The Entertainer