"Barbie^® & Stacie to the Rescue" Puppy Playground Playset with Doll, 3 Pet Dog Figures & Accessories

[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] This toy generated a ton of excitement in our household! There were many components to this toy, which created a lot of different play opportunities. It includes components for an obstacle course, which can be used to play dog show, or along with the tower and slide, a dog playground. It also includes a dog bed, treats, and comb, which can be used as a grooming area. It was also brilliant touch to include three different dog figurines- so more than one child can play with a dog at the same time.

[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] The Barbie playset was cute with the 3 puppies. The puppies were the hit of the whole set. Within the first hour of play one of them was lost. During play, the puppies and Barbie were what was mainly playing with. The playground was ignored unless attention was brought to it by an adult. In the few minutes that the playground was used, it was discovered that the dogs slid down the slide nicely however the husky had to be positioned just right on the tire in order for it to freely spin down the pole. If not, the spinning stopped and the dog got stuck between the side of the playground and the tire causing frustration. Barbie was well constructed and a huge improvement from years ago was that her shoes were able to be removed and put back on with ease. The flexible construction also created a nice fit to prevent them from falling off. The construction of the playground was flimsy and felt like the spinning tire part could easy break off. The dog figures were solid and nicely detailed. There were a lot of tiny accessories for the puppies which, like any toy, make them easy to lose. There were two bones for the dogs that raised questions on how they were supposed to be used or where they were supposed to go. This created some confusion despite trying to look at pictures of the set for clarification. In regards to the parents’ role with this toy, the packing was easy to open but the clear bands that were used to keep the set pieces attached were not always easy to locate. The worst one was the one that was placed directly into the back of Barbies head. Care had to be taken to make sure that her hair wasn’t cut while trying to get her released from the box. There was no end to pull to remove it from Barbies head and it had to be cut shirt and pushed into her head so that it wasn’t noticed. The nice part about this set is that it required very minimal assembly before play could begin. Post play, the major issue that was found was the need for storage for the set and all the little pieces. Maybe there could be a small dog house with a latch that could be attached so that the little pieces could at least have a home while not being played with. Overall, I would say that these toys play really depends on the child. Mine liked to play with individual pieces whereas other children may play with everything all together.