We were sent this Hatchimals Hatchibabies Egg for review, but all words and pictures are mine. This post contains affiliate links.
Hatchimals were undoubtedly the must-have Christmas toy of 2016 with parents all over the world doing everything in their power to get hold of the big speckled eggs. In 2017, Spinmaster brought out a new wave of Hatchimals; The Hatchimals Surprise. Inside the Hatchimals Surprise were twin Hatchimals!
For 2018, there is a new Hatchimals twist.
This year the Hatchimals family is growing with new Hatchimals HatchiBabies, and we were sent our very own HatchiBaby to review.
Although the egg colour indicates what species your Hatchimal will be, your HatchiBaby could be either a boy or a girl. To find which out you’ll have to hatch the egg!
HatchiBabies come inside their special speckled eggs.
To activate your Hatchimals egg and start the hatching process, you need to remove that tags on the bottom and then nurture the egg until it’s ready to hatch.
Hatchimals HatchiBaby in-egg play
When you take the tags out, the egg will make sounds, the eyes will light up and you’ll be able to see them through the egg. It will also rock from side to side!
Inside the box as well as a full set of instructions, you’ll get an A5 paper guide with tips and tricks to help you decode what the different coloured eyes they mean and how to react. In case you’ve lost it, here is that list:
By tapping and rubbing the egg you can interact with it, it will even rock from side to side if you sit it on the floor.
When the eyes flash rainbow colours, the egg is ready to hatch!
Rub the bottom of the egg and the Hatchimals HatchiBaby will hatch out of the egg, cracking through the synthetic eggshell, all on its own.
Here is a very quick video of the hatching process:
Note that, with the Hatchimals HatchiBaby in the egg, you can interact with it until you want it to hatch. The egg phase can last as long as you’d like; it won’t hatch without you there encouraging it and if the egg shows that it’s about to hatch (with rainbow flashing eyes and music) you can turn it upside for 25 seconds to put it to sleep.
What’s in the Hatchimals HatchiBabies Egg?
Well, obviously there’s a Hatchimals HatchiBaby, but we’ll come back to that!
Inside the base of the egg, which you keep as a home for you HatchiBaby, is a high high chair that you can use for them to sit in. It has three sealed compartments, which contain a hairbush for you Hatchimal’s hair and tail and an interactive rattle, bottle and cuddle buddy.
Right in the bottom, wound up, is a scroll which tells you whether you have a boy or a girl…. Ours was…
A HatchiGirl!
Our purple Ponette HatchiBaby girl
We had no idea what to expect and were happy when we hatched a very cute little furry purple Ponette with a yellow bow and a blue body/forehead.
She wasn’t exactly like the HatchiBabies featured on the packaging as her colouring is a bit different so it seems that there is some variation in the HatchiBaby’s colours.
The Ponette girl has a little nappy on, big flashing glittery eyes and a beak. She has little sparkly wings, little hands and a fluffy rainbow tail!
The Hatchimals HatchiBabies are interactive.
Once out of the egg they babble like a real baby. Their beak opens and closes, their head moves from side to side and their eyes flash different colours. They are very similar to the Luvabella, last year’s runaway success from SpinMaster, but of course smaller and much furrier!
We’ve been playing non-stop with our little Ponette HatchiBaby and have worked out how to activate most of the features.
The Hatchimals HatchiBabies have sensors on the back of their head, on the forehead (between the bow), on the chest (which can detect rattle and toy sensor), lower beak (push it downwards) and on the feet. You can stroke and cuddle them, burp them and tickle them and they respond!
Combinations of these will activate different modes, which I’ve attempted to summarise here!
If you tilt it, your Hatchimals HatchiBaby’s eyes will go white and they will almost instantly start drifting off to sleep with a lullaby and cute little snores. After a while they’ll turn off.
Cover the eyes and then remove your hands to hear a Hatchimals-speak ‘peekaboo!’.
Press and hold the right foot to play the bouncy baby game; tilt it back and forth when the music stops to keep your baby happy!
When pushed and held, the left activates an animal colours game. There are four ‘animal noises’ (a frog, chick, chicken and pig). When the eyes flash with a colour that matches the animal (frog = green, chick = yellow, pig = pink/purple, sheep = white) quickly tap the forehead between the bow at the top. If you get enough right then she’ll sing a little song!
Press and hold both feet together and your HatchiBaby will say hello; keep the feet pressed and speak to it and it will repeat back to you what you say! This did seem a little temperamental but speaking closely with no background noise worked well.
HatchiBabies interactive accessories.
If the eyes are purple, your HatchiBaby is hungry! You can feed your HatchiBaby by putting the bottle in their mouth and pushing down on the beak.
If the eyes go blue then they’re scared and want their cuddle buddy. Place the back of the head next to the HatchiBaby’s chest to comfort it.
Bring the rattle towards the chest to hear a cute little song with flashing colourful eyes. Touching the feet while the HatchiBaby sings makes drum sounds!
Doing the secret trick with your HatchiBaby!
Each Hatchibaby has a secret trick; you activate this by touching the back sensor until the eyes stop flashing, then touching both the back and the front forehead sensor twice, quickly but firmly. Our secret trick was singing a jolly rendition of the William Tell Overture. I’ve done a very short video showing you how to do it!
What did we think of the Hatchimals HatchiBaby?
I’d not met a full-sized Hatchimal before so I don’t know how the new HatchiBabies differ from previous seasons, however some feedback I’d heard was that the EGGcitement of the hatching process was all there was to the toy and once it was out of the egg it wasn’t very interesting;. This really isn’t the case!
That said, both children loved the hatching process and watched in awe as she came out of her shell.
For my son, who is only three, that was the most exciting part and then he was off. However my daughter, who is almost 5 and still plays with her Luvabella doll a whole year on, loved the interactive nature of the HatchiBaby and the different games she could play with it.
If you suspect that your child just wants to watch something coming out of a shell then a Hatchimals HatchiBaby probably isn’t a wise investment, as it is an expensive toy with an RRP of £59.99.
However, if your child is slightly older (5+) and likes to nurture and care for dolls, and likes cute animals, then the HatchiBaby will make a brilliant Christmas present which provides a lot of interactive play potential.
Hatchimals HatchiBabies are available from national retailers and have an RRP of £59.99.
This product was sent to us free of charge for the purposes of this Hatchimal HatchiBaby review, but all opinions are mine.