Toy Review: Hatching Dragons Toothless

AD/Gifted. It’s fair to say that we absolutely love How to Train Your Dragon in our house. The boy is pretty darn obsessed and frequently dresses up as our Viking hero, Hiccup. When I mentioned that we were being sent a How to Train Your Dragon Hatching Dragons Egg, he was beyond himself with excitement (as was I).

Toy Review: Hatching Dragons Toothless

The How to Train Your Dragon Hatching Dragons Egg contains one large egg (with a hatching dragon inside), a fish accessory and an instruction book. It is suitable for ages 8+ and comes well packaged to (hopefully) prevent the egg from breaking at any point.

Toy Review: Hatching Dragons Toothless

Together we removed the egg from its packaging and read the instructions. There are two keys at the bottom of the egg which need unscrewing. Once this has been done, you’re encouraged to gently play with the egg to wake the dragon inside up. If you listen carefully, the dragon inside the egg starts to tap and make noises.

Toy Review: Hatching Dragons Toothless

After around an hour, the egg starts to glow a little and then hatches. This was incredibly exciting and there were lots of joyful shouts as we gathered round to watch the dragon emerge from its shell.

We helped baby Toothless out of the shell and very soon we were figuring out how to play with our new dragon. His eyes light up, his wings flap and his ears twitch. He roars, snorts, snarls and he is just brilliant.

Toy Review: Hatching Dragons Toothless

If you hold the fish accessory to his mouth he makes chewing sounds and the burps. Hold your hand over his chest and that activates the plasma blast where his mouth glows blue and he makes the plasma blast noise. If you talk to him, he’ll respond with head and wing movements, and lights and sounds. If you play music to him, he bops along to it. He is ace.

Toothless is really, really cute. I asked the boy what he liked best about him and he said everything and that he was the best thing ever. He’s played with him pretty constantly for the last few days which I always take as a positive sign.

Toy Review: Hatching Dragons Toothless

I think this How to Train Your Dragon Hatching Dragons Egg is brilliant. It’s really well done and Toothless is just a bundle of baby dragon joy. This hatching dragon is available from a wide range of retailers including Amazon for around £59.99.

We were sent this How to Train Your Dragon Hatching Dragons Egg for review purposes. All images and opinions are our own.

Children’s Books: Five brilliant books about dragons

Dragons are one of our favourite mythical beasts. Some are scary, some are friendly, some are just plain misunderstood. From George and the Dragon to Norbert the Norwegian Ridgeback from Harry Potter, dragons have long been a feature in songs, stories and fairy tales. A few weeks ago we made our own egg box dragon, and it’s had us reading more about dragons at bedtime.

We’ve picked out five brilliant books about dragons which we enjoy and you might too.

Five brilliant books about dragons

King Jack and the Dragon by Peter Bently, illustrated by the wonderful Helen Oxenbury. King Jack and the Dragon is a magical, rhyming bedtime picture book featuring the heroic King Jack and his band of faithful knights. It’s  a great story of camaraderie, den building and fighting dragons, the perfect dragon story for the under 5’s.

Children's Books: Five brilliant books about dragons

Zog by Julia Donaldson, illustrated by Axel Scheffler is the story of Zog, the keenest dragon in school. He’s also the most accident-prone. Thankfully, a mysterious little girl always comes by and patches up his bumps and bruises and helps him along the way. But will she be able to help him with his toughest test yet – capturing a real princess?

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin is a book for slightly older primary aged children. It’s the story of a young girl named Minli who lives in a ramshackle hut with her parents. Her father tells her the story of the Jade Dragon and the Old Man in the Moon. Inspired by these stories, Minli spends one of her precious copper pennies on a beautiful goldfish, which brings about a change in the fortune of the owner. Minli is eventually joined by a dragon who can’t fly; together they set out to find the Old Man of the Moon to ask him to fulfil their dreams. It’s a wonderful story for 9-12 year olds.

The Reluctant Dragon by Kenneth Grahame is the classic retelling of the St George and the Dragon story from the author of The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame. Everyone knows St George has to do battle with the dragon, but what happens when the dragon simply doesn’t want to fight St George? A lovely story for dragon fans aged 8 and over.

How to Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell is the hilarious books which inspired the film – How to Train Your Dragon. Suitable for readers aged 9+; How to train Your Dragon is the  story of Hiccup, a fairly ordinary boy who must lead ten novices in their initiation into the Hairy Hooligan Tribe. They have to train their dragons or be banished from the tribe forever! Can Hiccup save the tribe – and become a Hero?

There are dragon stories for all ages here and lots to spark little imaginations. Who is your favourite dragon? Have I missed any seriously special dragon stories?

If you enjoyed this, you might also like our five books about dinosaurs or five books about bears.

Children's Books: Five brilliant books about dragons