The latest toy craze for children in the four to ten year old age bracket is Zhu Zhu pets – a gang of five motorized hamsters. They each have electronic artificial intelligence which gives them their own unique personalities and allows them to interact with children, other Zhu Zhu pets and also their surroundings.
There are two main modes of play – “loving” mode and “exploring” mode. While in loving mode, the hamsters like to be petted, stroked and generally pampered. They will make cute little noises in response to petting and the different hamsters have some noises which are unique to them. When they are in exploring mode they like to venture forth in either their hamster habitat or on hard floors. Sensors in each hamster allow them to interact with toys and obstacles they may come across along the way.
As well as the hamsters themselves, a number of play sets are available. These are made up of tubes, tracks, toys and obstacles which the hamsters can use for exploring and playing. There is a wide variety of toys and accessories available – hamster fun house, skateboards, surfboards, cars, hamster balls, hamster wheels (of course) etc. The children can set up the toys and redesign the tracks and tubes in a number of different configurations – it really lets them use their imagination.
There are five Zhu Zhu hamsters in total. These are; Mr. Squiggles, Num Nums, Pipsqueak, Chunk and Patches. You can buy them individually or in sets of two or even three hamsters. The one exception is Patches who comes included with the Hamster Starter Set. All of the five hamsters have their own distinct personalities, so there should be one that will appeal to the majority of kids in the target age group.
One of the bonuses of these pets, for both children and their parents, is that they don’t need fed, watered and there’s no need to clean up after them. Zhu Zhu pets are “pets without the mess” as the manufacturer’s marketing slogan says.
Having launched in August of 2009, the Zhu Zhu pets are flying off the shelves. It’s already difficult to find them in many areas. They seem sure to be one of the top selling toys this Christmas. If you don’t want to be disappointed it might be a good idea to makes sure that you grab your Zhu Zhu pet, along with whatever accessories you want, pretty early.
