****/***** (4/5 Star rating)

For those of you that have small children it is highly likely that you will know Bing Bunny. The character and his friends have become very popular over the last few years. Especially after the release of the TV series on the Cbeebies channel. My 2 year old son is a big Bing fan and has been since he was tiny.

Bing was originally brought to life by author Ted Dewan in a children's book series. Just like the television series, within each book there were stories of Bing's daily activities with his friends and his guardian, Flop. The product I am reviewing in this write up is the latest Bing toy from Fisher Price, the official label of Bing products and toys.

Toilet Train Bing is a product linked to the well known character by using its popularity to peak the interest of pre-school children. This product is a fun and interactive toilet training aid for children aged 2 years and over. Within the set you recieve a cuddly, plush version of Bing that talks when his tummy is pressed. You are also provided with a small green coloured potty for Bing bunny to use. It's clear that the idea behind the toy is to encourage Bing to use the potty. However what is clever about this toy in particular, is that you actually have to get Bing to the toilet on time before he has an 'accident'. I think this is a really clever concept. Yes, it is great and a big achievement for any parent to get their child used to using the potty or the toilet, but its an even bigger achievment getting them into a routine of getting to the toilet before they end up with soiled or wet clothing.

The plush Bing toy is around 12 inches tall including his ears (when stood up). He is wearing his signature green t-shirt and a pair of white pants. The toy says over 50 words and well known phrases including "Hoppityyyyyyyyyyyyy Vooooooosh!" and "Time to stop the game for the toilet train!" - This is the phrase that Bing will use to indicate that he needs to go to the toilet and use his potty, at this time your child is encouraged to get bing to sit on his interactive potty. If Bing does make it to the potty in time you will hear him sing a little tune and a tinkling sound followed by a flushing sound. Bing will then get excited and show that he is happy because he has made progress by getting to the potty on time. Although if Bing doesn't make it to the potty in time a small yellow light will appear on the front of his pants looking like a little patch of wee on his clothing. He will then say "uh-oh, choo, choo", "I tried to hold it in" after this if his tummy is pressed once more he will say "Ahh pants! thank you! You need to pee pee before you play, or stop the game and do it". A simple yet great feature of this product is that Bing's pants arent sewn onto the toy at the back, so this enables the child to be able to pull down the character's pants before sitting him on the potty.

As well as Bing needing help to get to the potty he also invites the child to play games with him and share storytime too. Bing will ask your child if they would like to play "Hoppity Voosh" (a game of flying superheroes), Hide and Seek or Airplanes - which is when Bing will ask the child to pretend to be a whooshing plane with him. Bing will also tell a story about 'Hoppity Voosh and the moon keeper'. Not only are all of the interactive games fun and enjoyable for young children but the brilliance behind it is the art of distraction. Like in reality toddlers and pre-schoolers will often be playing with friends or outside in the garden when suddenly nature calls. This is when the child needs to recognise that they need to stop what they are doing so that they are able to find a potty or toilet to use to avoid an embarrassing accident. Bing will play games along with your child for some time and will all of a sudden tell your child that he needs to go to the toilet. Not only does this keep Bing happy but it also shows the child how important it is to stop what they are doing to get to a toilet should they feel the urge to. At the end of the day we don't want our children to feel humiliation from soiling themselves. This can be such a tough and degrading time for potty training children. As a qualified childcare practitioner I have seen the disappointment in children many times before. This is why we need to let children know that this is a natural part of growing up and we need to make this hard process as fun as possible for them and make them feel great when they do succeed. In my opinion this toy definitely does that.

I only have few small and probably nit picky kind of negatives about this toy. One is the price. The RRP on this toy is between £30 and £35. Although the Bing products are often on offer in certain shops and online stores so keep an eye out for those. Luckily I only paid £14.99 for my son's one as it was on an introductory offer in Argos for £24.99 and I had a voucher too. But to be honest other than that, it is a tad on the pricey side. Secondly like as any parent or child carer will know, musical/talking toys can become rather irritating after some time and Bing does get very repetitive with his sounds such as plane noises and "Voooooooosh" but there is an upside to this. There is an on'off switch in the battery pack which is in a Velcro pocket at the back of the plush character. This also means that Bing is a good bedtime comforter and won't wake a child as night when he is accidentally pressed from a child moving. Thirdly the actually potty that comes with this set doesn't actually do anything on its own It's brilliant that it has interactive qualities with the plush Bing toy but even when Bing uses the potty to go to the toilet the sounds are coming from the soft toy and not the potty itself which is what I expected it would do. Lastly and this is a very nit picky negative observation, the toy set doesn't mention about the toy needing to go for a poo. I understand that as a soft toy it can't actually poo or have any sort of feature such as the poo that a Baby Born doll would have but I think it would be good if the toy's voice box actually mentioned needing a poo as well as needing to go to the toilet for "pee pee".

As a parent I genuinely like this toy. I have't found it irritating as yet which is a plus although after working in childcare settings for over 10 years I guess I have become immune to things like that. My son (2 years old) loves Bing and he was potty training and wearing pull-ups on and off when I purchased this toy for him in an attempt to get him to progress. He has played with it a lot and often took Bing and the toy potty to the toilet with him when he needed to use the bathroom. I would sit on the floor to make sure Bing was OK and going to the toilet while my son sat on the loo to do his business. This was a few months ago (maybe two months ago). My son is now fully potty trained and in pants morning, noon and night. I'm not saying this toy is a miracle for parents and their toilet training children, but I can say it really built up my son's confidence and he did get used to the routine very quickly. He even goes out without any kind of nappy on and always asks to go to the toilet - he calls it the "Toitot" as he is not able to speak very clearly yet and is about to start speech therapy. I'm so grateful to Fisher Price and this toy for helping my little boy. Toilet Train Bing is definitely a high recommendation product from me and if you have a Bingster (Bing bunny fan) at home like I do then this is a must buy for you and your child. It's educational, it's confidence boosting, Bing is lovely and cuddly and the phrases are very cute.

Remember, Christmas is just round the corner...And not far away. See what I did there Bingsters? On a more mature note, even though this toy has been on the shelves for a few months, I expect that this toy will be very popuar this Christmas so if you think this is the ideal gift for your little ones then be sure to keep an eye out for offers on this product as I feel it will sell very quickly.