Review of Chu Chu TV Peek & Play Surprise Eggs Train and ABC Starter Set

Chu Chu TV

I first saw the Chu Chu TV toys at Toy Fair and I thought they were a great way to encourage letter recognition through play, but I didn’t think I knew the YouTube videos. When we received the toys to review I realised I was familiar with the channel thanks to a certain 3 year old watching the episodes endlessly on YouTube. If your children love to spend time on YouTube you might recognise the familiar lyrics including: “Johny, Johny”, “Yes Papa”, “Up to Something?” “No Papa”.  The channel has a large number of bright videos with repetitive songs set to cartoons. It’s exactly the sort of thing my daughter loves to watch and they have over 30 million subscribers.

Chu Chu TV Toys Review

The toys are inspired by some of the videos from the channel and include the characters. Mr Harlo, the surprise eggs and the song the train plays will be familiar to fans of the channel, however you don’t need to have watched any of the videos to enjoy the toys.

The toys have been carefully created to be suitable for toddlers and preschoolers without any small parts. They are easy to hold and play with even by children at the younger end of the target age (18 months).

Chu Chu TV Peek & Play Surprise Eggs - Chu Chu TV Train - £14.99 RRP

The train has 3 carriages (including the one at the front) which can each fit a Surprise Egg in. The set comes with one surprise egg with an H on it and Mr Harlo inside, if you aren't familiar with Mr Harlo he's an elephant with a horn in the middle of his forehead. The carriages are easy to take apart and hook together so you can connect them in a different order or play with them individually. 

If you push the chimney at the front of the train it plays a song and makes other sound effects (including a train noise and saying "peekaboo", "surprise" and "chu chu"). For me 2 big ticks for this toy are that it has an off switch (and 2 volume levels) and it comes with batteries inside. The 2 AAA batteries are replaceable.

Chu Chu TV Peek & Play Surprise Eggs - ABC Starter Set - £12.99 RRP

Also available as single packs, you can get your Surprise Egg collection off to a great beginning with the ABC Starter Set. The set contains 5 eggs representing the letters A to E. Each egg is sealed with some bright plastic wrapping which can be peeled off to reveal a single coloured bright egg with a smiling face on one side and a (capital) letter on the other. They open up in the middle to reveal an animal beginning with that letter eg alligator, bear, cat, dog and elephant. The animals are tightly secured into the lower half of the egg so you don’t need to worry if your child likes to put things in their mouth.

Each of the eggs in the starter set are a different colour and across all the surprise eggs there are lots of different bright shades. The colours in the starter pack are unique so if you add to the collection with individual eggs even if you get a duplicate of these letters you wont get the exact same colour egg/ letter combination.

In the UK children are generally taught letter sounds and lowercase letters first so some children might find the capitals confusing, but I doubt this is a problem for most 2 and 3 year olds and it's not something I have ever worried about with my children. The letter and face on the egg is printed/ painted on and can get scratched over time, but with normal play I don’t think it will be a big issue.

Learning Through Play With Chu Chu TV Toys

The train is a fun way to play with the Surprise eggs, but it’s the eggs themselves which are the biggest hit in our house and we will definitely be getting some more (possibly for Easter as they would be perfect for an Easter Egg hunt).

The Chu Chu TV Peek & Play Surprise Eggs can be played with in lots of different ways:

• letter recognition
• colour recognition and matching 
• teaching animal names
• memory games
• improving coordination 
• as well as generally playing with the eggs (open and closed) as characters.

The eggs have been regularly played with over the last week by both my 1 year old and my 4 year old so I think they have a lot of play potential.

The train comes with one egg, but there is space for 2 more in the carriages

The train carriages hook together

The train makes noises and sings a song if you press the chimney

***Disclosure:  We were sent the Chu Chu TV Peek & Play Surprise Eggs Train and the ABC Starter Set to review, but all thoughts are our own. You can buy them from Character Online or other toy shops***