Review¦ Thinking back to my childhood in the 90’s, my Furby was one of my most favourite toys. Who doesn’t love the idea of an electronic pet you can interact with and teach things to? Things have come along a lot since then – now you can buy toy owls called Owleez that you can teach to fly! Aimed at 6 year olds upwards, I know I would have adored this as a child. (Actually, I even find it pretty fun to play with as an adult!)
Building Confidence
Owleez are really adorable little owls, with large friendly eyes and soft little feathers at their sides. Unlike other similar toys, they’re half electronic pet, half drone!
Their eyes light up different colours to let you know what they need. Motion sensors in various places help you to take care of them. Fortunately, they don’t eat chick legs and things that a real owl would eat! Instead, they come with a cute berry that you put to their beaks. Afterwards, they may need a little pat on the back to help them burp. Carry on doing these things and it won’t be long before you see her eyes glowing pink with love.
The sensors allow you to rock Owleez to sleep, but one of my favourite things is encouraging her to sing a song. Just move her side to side and watch as her eyes turn purple when she begins. It’s so funny and cute – lots of giggles are guaranteed!
Learning to Fly
Of course, one of the main draws of this toy is teaching it to fly. You need to take your time and help nurture her; she won’t fly straight away.
Spreading your wings (or, I guess, spinning your blades) takes confidence! When her eyes light up as a rainbow and she makes a little trumpeting sound, pop her in the nest and see what happens. If her eyes turn red and she sound sad, she’s just not ready yet. However, with a little time, she’ll gain the confidence to lift up her head, revealing her blades and begin to fly. I was amazed by the power and the speed in which she flew up to my ceiling!
The flight times will get longer and longer up to a maximum of 10 seconds as she learns. It’s a good idea to not have any obstacles nearby – or any pets in the room. However, don’t worry too much if it crash lands as it feels pretty sturdy. Several crash lands here seem to have had no effect! If you want to go through the experience of teaching her to fly all over again, she’s really simple to reset!
I have no doubt that this will be a very popular toy on children’s Christmas lists this year – and it’s easy to see why! Retailing at around £49.99, they are fairly pricey. However, given the flying mechanism, I think this quite a fair price.
Disclosure: We were gifted an Owleez for the purpose of this review. As always, all views and opinions are honest and my own.