Price Tag: $4.99-$17.99
Official URL: hasbro.com
Rating:

Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head have donned bunny costumes to become Spud Bunnies this Easter, making them a great Easter Basket gift that won’t give your kids a sugar high despite the fact that they’re seriously sweet.

EDUCATIONAL AND ENTERTAINMENT VALUE

What do Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head have to teach our kids? Quick lessons about anatomy, for starters. Arms go here, feet go there, eyes are at the top of the face, then the nose, and then the mouth. Simple, but it’s always good to reinforce the basics. And of course kids will delight by taking control and making the bunny have two arms on one side, or mixing up the facial features. Multiple sets of Potato Head parts allow your child to build some rather esoteric creations. My son’s Potato Bunny quickly sprouted vampire fangs, and an extra pair of arms. My son kept switching things around and giggling and yelling “Look, look!” to show off his new creation.

For younger kids, the Mr. Potato Head is a bit of a construction puzzle, and for older kids it’s a creative plaything that your child can use like any other doll.

CONSTRUCTION AND QUALITY

This Bunny-spud comes with a set of eyes, a “bunny ear” headband, a pair of bunny shoes, a bunny tail (that matches , two standard arms, a blue or pink nose in the standard Potato Head oval nose shape, and a buck-toothed bunny smile. The accessories all have pegs attached to allow you to insert them into the potato body.

The potato body is standard Mr. Potato Head fare. A lightweight hollow 6″ tall body made of a light brown plastic. It has the contours of a potato, with one additional detail: the front of it has the curve of a mouth and the slight rise of smiling cheeks that serve as a gentle reminder of where the potato’s mouth is and to help your child orient the potato figure properly. The front of the potato has three rounded holes where your child can insert a pair of eyes, a nose, and a mouth. The top of the potato head has a hole that is curved with a flat side, sort of like a “uâ€?. On the left and right sides are two holes for ears and arms, and on the bottom of the potato is a groove that is about 1 1/2″ long. You insert the feet here and you can move the potato into different positions, from leaning slightly backwards, standing straight up, or bending over as if to look at something on the ground. On the back of the potato you will find a storage compartment that flips open. You can fit every single part of this playset into the potato body except for the feet. This is a shame since every other Mr. Potato Head playset I’ve ever used has allowed you to store every single part inside the body. The storage area is easy to open with a recessed area on the body of the spud and a tab on the door. The hinge is easy to pull off and put back into place making it simple to stash the parts and for your child to pull them back out.

SAFETY

The pegs longer than a quarter-inch are rubberized making injury less likely, and the parts are all sized largely enough to avoid choking hazards. This toy is very well designed with safety in mind.

This toy is made in China, but conforms to safety standards. Toy industry giant Playskool/Hasbro stays on top of product recalls and seems to be dedicated to the safety of its toys.

BOTTOM LINE

The mix-and-match play that this toy encourages is great and makes me view the Mr. Potato Head dolls as a sort of character-themed building block set. The built in storage is sure to make any mom smile. I never thought I’d suggest that a parent put potatos in their child’s Easter basket, but these Spud-Bunnies are a great sugar-free addition to the Easter Festivities. Great for a gift, or perhaps as the prize for the winner of the annual Easter Egg Hunt?