Toyologist Review: Sticker Collection (Blue)

£4.99 from Toys R Us.

Every kid loves stickers.  "Oooo, stickers," they'll say.  "Mummy(/Daddy/Gran/Uncle etc etc), can I have some of those?" Being a kind mother(/father/gran/uncle - you get the idea) and stickers not generally costing that much (at least not compared to the giant action figure they were eyeing up five minutes ago), you agree.

Now, what on earth does the child do with them?

When I was small, I knew a lot of people who stuck their stickers all over their bedroom wardrobe. My mum wasn't particularly keen on me decorating the furniture in this way, plus I always thought it was a bit of a waste. So you know what I did with them? Nothing. I ended up with piles and piles of unused stickers.

That is until one day when I had the idea of putting them all into a book.  This book - 

This book contains most of the stickers I had when I was small, usually arranged into scenes. For some reason I used a notebook I'd already written in (I can only assume my parents were too mean to buy me another one. Either that, or I had a particular fondness of Care Bears), so I had to cover all the pages in plain white paper first.

I'm sure it made sense at the time.

And so, eventually, I get around to talking about these stickers from Melissa & Doug, of triangular crayon and colouring pad fame. These stickers would be particularly well suited to making scenes out of, either in a book or on large pieces of paper. Maybe on a background drawn by the same  kindly person who purchased the stickers in the first place, or perhaps one drawn by the child himself.

Like its friend the colouring pad, this 'blue' sticker collection is full of boy-friendly material. Pirates, dinosaurs, - those boys sure are a violent lot.

It's worth noting that there are absolutely no Pokemon stickers. Nope, none at all. I know this is of particular concern to one thirty-something (for once, not me) who loves his Pokemon.  He's gotta catch 'em all.

If you want Pokemon stickers buy a Pokemon sticker collection. 'Nuff said.

A sticker. It's a dragon, but you probably guessed that.

Something I didn't expect was that the stickers would come with instructions:

I hope we all remember what can happen if you're not careful? Yes, you can end up in hospital or worse.

The stickers come away from the backing paper pretty easily if you're a 4 year old and not quite so easily if you're a 2 year old. I do, however, have a Tip. It's not often I give Tips (just ask any restaurant staff near my home), so it's worth taking note.

I'd peel off the white surround from the pad before giving it to small children. That way there's less chance of any of the stickers being ripped. It takes a few minutes, but is preferable to having a small person come crying and demanding that you somehow repair their T-Rex sticker. No, sticking it down in two halves is not acceptable.

Page of stickers with the surround partially removed.

Finally, we asked a baby what she thought of the stickers.

Thank you, Baby! I'm sure you'll get your revenge in a couple of years.

Note: do not wrap stickers around the arms of babies. Especially do not clamp your hand on said sticker to ensure it has completely welded itself to baby's arm. This will only result in tears when it comes to trying to get the thing off again.

For other Toyology reviews & information, check out Toys R Us on Facebook.