Review: Interactive Baby Wow Emma Doll

Both my kids seem to be quite loving and caring, and always love to have a doll or a cuddly toy to look after, though so far we’ve managed to steer clear from dolls who cry or pee (or worse). However, we’ve just had a new addition, Baby Wow Emma. Not only does she talk, she moves her head and lips too. The kids absolutely love her, but Sam and I are more than a little bit creeped out by her! When I opened the box she was in demo mode so started talking before we could even see her, which was a bit disconcerting and I really hope the postman didn’t think we were smuggling actual babies in the post! At least she arrived with batteries hey!?

Once you’ve removed Emma from her bindings (aka those plastic clip things that stop her toppling over in the box) your kid/s will leap all over Emma. Designed for kids age 3+ she has three learning stages:
Stage One: Baby speak
Stage Two: Simple words
Stage Three: Phrases and interaction (150 words and phrases in total)

To start off you need to get your child to call Emma by name, and then repeat some words to her until she announces ‘yay! I learn fast!’ (the kid’s not modest!) and moves on to stage two. Stage two is proper words, and you need to encourage her speech until she declares ‘I talk like a grown up!’ which means she’s on to stage three and becomes a toddler, basically! She’ll tell you she has a cold, needs a cuddle, is hungry… you know, all those demands your own toddler has! If your child asks her questions she’ll answer, along with a head shake and moving lips, which is pretty cool if you’re a kid! It only took half an hour for her to get from complete baby talk to ‘grown up’ speak, but if you took her batteries out and replaced them it would reset her and you can start again. She’s got a very americanized voice, which is a bit irritating but only seemed to annoy me, I don’t think the kids even realised!

Baby Wow Emma also comes with a mobile phone so she can talk to her family, if that’s held next to her ear she’ll chat to them briefly. She also responds to being tickled on her belly and will say ‘OW’ if she’s hurt. She has a sensor (in the heart on her outfit) that recognises changes in light and when someone is near. She has an off switch on her back, which you can operate without undoing her outfit once you remember which position is on and which is off. Her outfit doesn’t come off, much to Athena’s annoyance, which means you’d need to be careful of getting her dirty as you can only sponge clean her. Her arms and legs are jointed at the hips/shoulders so she can be moved into different positions, or put in a buggy for example.

Athena (and her brother) absolutely LOVE Baby Wow Emma, despite the scarily large eyes (appealing to toddlers apparently) and she’s been played with numerous times every day since she arrived, so it’s definitely a hit from their point of view! I don’t let Athena take Emma to bed with her, purely because she’d talk in the night and scare the bejeesus out of me over the baby monitor, she’s also not a particularly cuddle toy, as she has a large plastic head! Also the hair bows that were round Emma’s pigtails got whipped off in a nano-second never to be seen again, something more permanent would be a better addition. Baby wow Emma costs around £59.99 and is available from Amazon, Very & other key retailers.

See more toy reviews and For more great toy ideas, read this article with the Top 25 Best Children’s Toys.