Elmo Slide Review: The viral toy finally hits the UK market but is it worth the hype?
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WITH many parents desperate to get their hands on the latest must-buy Christmas toy this year, one that’s received a lot of hype is Sesame Street’s Elmo Slide.
Whilst the iconic TV show has been around for decades, its latest toy to hit the market, Elmo Slide, has already been dubbed one of the top toys for Christmas by the Today Show.
After its popular US launch, which saw the song and dance ‘The Elmo Slide’ quickly become a hit over on Tiktok, with flash mobs taking place of the popular dance, it’s now finally available to buy in the UK and was just named by This Morning as one of their top Christmas toys.
So, should parents jump, or should we say slide, on the bandwagon this Christmas and snap one up right now?
Rating: 4.5/ 5
Pros:
- A varied, interactive toy that will engage your child
- The song and dance is fun and, as children’s songs go, actually pretty catchy
- Very easy for your child to use and join in with
- Durable yet plush
Cons:
- At £60, it’s on the pricey side for a toy for 3-5-year-olds
The Elmo Slide has launched in the UK and is now available at Argos, priced £60.00
- Buy Elmo Slide here
The Elmo Slide is for children aged 3 and up, with Sesame Street itself aimed at an audience aged 3-5 years. However, that’s not to say older children won’t enjoy this too, with Tiktok teaching others how to do the Elmo Slide dance themselves, older children and even adults will
likely want to join in on the trend too!
What functions does the Sesame Elmo Slide have?
The Sesame Street Elmo Slide has quite a few different functions. Firstly, you can choose from two different languages: English or Spanish, just by using the switches underneath his feet.
Everything else is accessed by squeezing Elmo’s left hand, which brings him to life and starts the Elmo slide. Elmo chats away, introduces himself and asks children to ‘come on, sing and
dance with Elmo!’
Each action in the dance is then narrated (such as ‘flap your arms’, ‘slide to the side, slide to the other side,’) which means children can really follow the instructions along with Elmo’s movements and learn the dance for themselves.
Elmo sways from side to side, glides along the floor thanks to the wheels on his feet and flaps his arms.
He goes through the routine several times (encouraging children to ‘go again!’). This lasts a few minutes in total, although children can keep pressing his hand to keep the toy going, or parents can then use the switch on the bottom of Elmo’s feet to turn him off.
As a parent to a 4-year-old, I’m no stranger to an interactive sing-along toy. In fact, I still have the songs ingrained in my head years later! But I really liked this one. As a parent, it has a few things that many of us are looking for. I loved that it wasn’t just repeating the same phrases over and over, it actually teaches your child to follow a dance and gets them on their feet. It also uses a variety of different prompts so it really does feel interactive.
The toy is very easy to operate for young children (simply by squeezing the hand, although they’ll likely need help with the on/off switches on his feet).
Elmo goes through the dance routine quite a few times and encourages the children to join in again, so there’s no boredom after a few seconds and there’s quite a variety of different ways to listen to and interact with the toy.
Yet if left, the toy will automatically stop after a few minutes, as Elmo announces ‘I’m taking a break, bye bye’ which means you’re not hearing something on a loop from the toy box until you
switch it off yourself!
It’s not designed to be a cuddly toy, but despite the hard structure it still feels quite plush and soft, which means my son has already taken him to bed a few times. This structure also means it’s pretty durable too.
This toy was a big hit with my four-year-old, who discovered Sesame Street through YouTube and is a big fan of the show.
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His eyes lit up on seeing the box and he loved interacting with
Elmo. My son struggles with fine motor skills, so often finds toys with buttons and switches tricky, so he loved how easy this was to interact with. He also really enjoyed all of the actions and joining in; the song is really catchy and he found the movements really fun to watch.
It’s been a week since we’ve received the toy to review and it’s still a firm favourite; not only does he love joining in with the dance but he takes Elmo everywhere and enjoys snuggling up to him at bedtime too.