AD – the items in this review were gifted to our household for this post. All opinions, as always, are our own.
Recently, we went off to a very special launch party for a new toy called Nestlings! As a fan of toys myself, I was super interested in what these far more adorable then Furbies would be like, especially as they reminded me of Hatchlings, a toy animal that comes in a large egg that children need to pet and play with until it hatches. I was quite disappointed with Hatchlings, if I am honest, as they take ages to hatch and that’s the main fun – there is no way to put them back in their shell, so you just then have a toy to take care of and very slowly teach.
Nestlings is far more interesting. With this toy, there are two versions; pink and teal, both soft and contain the same general look. We got two teal Nestlings to take home and play with, each with two babies inside. You see, Nestlings are creatures you need to take care of and play with, until they are happy enough to have a baby. These two babies come in one of the following colors; yellow, pink, teal or purple, so each of ours had different ones. The Nestlings have interaction points on their head and nose (basically buttons), while the color of their eyes tell you what they need. They talk back to you, but at a very good volume (as to not get very annoying to parents trying to hear literally anything else) to let you know what they need. Their heart on their belly also lights up, which is just apart of this magical creature.
Once their eyes start lighting up rainbow, you can plop your Nestling down onto it’s plastic nest. You’ll need to be fast, as if the Nestling isn’t placed on it’s nest, it will not have a baby and will move back a stage in their development. The babies are smaller Nestlings, which come in pods. These pods can be refilled and placed back into the Nestling, once you unlock it’s chamber by flipping them upside down and holding onto the sensors, so that you can hatch them again! We have stuck several things in the pods; bracelets, stickers, small toys, etc to keep some surprises coming from this adorable toy.
The babies, though not as complex as the Nestling, do have lots of cool features as well. You can touch the baby to the sensor on the head of the Nestling parent to hear them blow kisses, as well as tap them to the foot of the parent so that they can talk. This is a really cute feature, especially with the way they interact in their own language. It’s great to see a bond between the baby and parent Nestlings.
Nestlings also have a beat box mode, where they turn into a cute, super soft beat box that you can interact with using the sensors or buttons on the Nestling. This is a slightly noisier way to play, but is quite fun for children who enjoy sounds and music. The babies can be apart of it, but if they haven’t hatched yet, the buttons on the Nestling can be pressed for different beats.
Nestlings are curious creatures, made to be round, super soft, and very colorful. The time it takes between different stages of development are really well paced, with the Nestling taking two minutes to get to stage one, four minutes to get to stage two, and then six minutes to deliver the first baby. Then, it’s just an eight and a half minute wait before the second baby is born, which can then be reloaded into the Nestling to start the process all over again.
Nestlings run on three AAA batteries, which aren’t included in the toy, but they do last for quite some time – Nestlings even put themselves to sleep when they are not being played with. Over all, Nestlings are far more fun then Hatchlings and contain a greater amount of reputability. It’s a great idea to have the pods, which can hold babies or small items, making the Nestlings even more fun to take through their development cycle. Plus, they are one of the softest toys I have ever touched. How can one resist a chunky, colorful, soft toy that blows kisses at their babies?
You can purchase your own Nestling on Amazon, Argos, Smyths, Very or The Entertainer.