My Mummy's Pennies: My First Scooter from Ozbozz
Most of the items we’ve been lucky enough to be given the chance to review so far have been aimed at babies so it’s been Elizabeth who has been the tester. But this time we were given the opportunity to review a product that Ben could use! The fantastic ‘My First Scooter’ from Ozbozz!
It seems to be the ‘craze’ these days for little ones to have scooters from quite a young age, but a 2 year old has completely different needs to a 3 year old or even a 4 year old when it comes to something like this. So what do you do? Buy one with four wheels for your toddler then have to replace it each time they progress? That could be a very costly process!
The very clever people at Ozbozz have come up with the perfect solution!
The ‘My First Scooter!’
It is an ideal starter scooter suitable for toddlers age 2 upwards. At this age you would start out with four wheels to provide your little one with stability and balance while still allowing them to whizz around with the ‘big kids!’ Then as they grow in confidence, you can reduce the scooter to three-wheels and then as their ability develops further, they can progress to a super ‘grown-up’ two wheels! This means that one scooter could last your child for years!
What‘s even better is that this fabulous 3 in 1 scooter comes in at a very ‘Penny Pinching’ price of just £19.99 RRP! Which is really good value for any scooter!
The my first scooter is available in pink for girls or blue for boys, The lovely folks ot Ozbozz kindly sent us a blue one for Ben to play with!
Getting Started…
When the brightly coloured box arrived Ben was very excited and wanted to play with it straight away, but thinking that it would take me a while to put it all together I said that he would have to wait until the next day.
So when he had gone to bed and Elizabeth was having some ‘Daddy time’ I thought I would have a go at putting it together, realistically thinking that I would ‘give in’ half way through and let my hubby take over!
Inside the box you are provided with the main parts to the scooter, four wheels, and a ‘mini tool kit’ consisting of two Allen keys and a double ended mini wrench. The instruction’s although only pictures are simple and easy to follow and I was amazed (and quite proud) that in just over 5 minutes I had put the whole thing together! (ME – who can’t even put an IKEA bookcase together correctly!)
Once together the Scooter is very sturdy and really good quality, the frame is painted steel with plastic wheels and foam covered handles which are ‘easy grip’ for small hands. The bright colours look really good together and appeal to little one’s eyes with out being too ‘tacky.’ On the footplate of the scooter the words ‘my first scooter’ are printed in a rough anti-slip material, to prevent falls. There are no sharp edges or exposed parts that would made me worry about a small child using it. The Mechanism to fold the scooter down is nice and chunky with a plastic covering so there is less risk of small fingers getting trapped.
Let’s Play!
Even though Ben is three he has never really used a scooter before (although he has looked enviously at his cousin’s) so we decided to start off with four wheels to get him used to it while he developed his co-ordination and balance. The first time he saw it all put together, his first words were ‘Wow Mummy! That’s cool!’ and gave me a thumbs up! I was definitely in the good books! Firstly we just stayed in the back garden to get him started, but he soon got the hang of it and was off scooting up and down the path! The frame, although sturdy was light enough for Ben to pick up and carry when he wanted play in another part of the garden.
After seeing how well he had done in the garden the next day when we were going to the park I decided to take it with us. To get to our local park we have to walk down a busy main road and I didn’t want Ben riding the scooter that close to the traffic so I popped it in a ‘bag for life’ and hung in on Elizabeth’s Pram. The scooter is incredibly light weight, and folds up quite compact so was easily transported like this and didn’t weigh the pram down or get in my way at all.
In the park Ben spent over an hour scooting around the play area and paths, and didn’t fall once! Having the extra stability of the four wheels really meant that he could concentrate on steering the scooter and getting confident on it with out worrying too much about balance!
Moving on up…
After Ben had used the ‘my first scooter’ like this for a few weeks I decided to try changing it down to three wheels to see how he got on. (Obviously if your child is younger you will mostly likely keep it on four wheels for a longer period but Ben is almost 4 and had grown really confident on the scooter in just a few weeks.)
To change the ‘my first scooter’ down to three wheels you need to remove both front wheels and change the fitting to a smaller one (provided in the box) this took me only a minute to do and was very simple.
At first Ben was a little wobbly with just the one front wheel but with a little guidence from Daddy and all the practice he had had with the four wheels had helped to develop his balance and co-ordination and he soon got the hang of it! He now whizzes around our garden, Gran’s garden and the park on just three wheels!
I think it will be a while before he is ready to progress again to the traditional ‘two wheels’ but when he is I am reassured that instead of having to ‘shell out’ for a whole new scooter I can simply adjust this one for him and it won’t cost a penny!
Overall thoughts
Ben has now been using this scooter for a month and I am really pleased with it. It is fantastic quality for the price and wears really well, considering how rough Ben can be with things, there is barely a scratch on it!
The bright colours and ‘big boy’ design will appeal to children, but the quality, price and ability to ‘grow with your child’ will definitely appeal to parents! I would certainly recommend the ‘My First Scooter’ to any parents of 2 – 4 year olds who are looking to buy a scooter for their child who is not quite ready for a two wheel version straight away! It is definitely a ‘Mummy Saving Buy’ that could save you having to purchase up to 3 separate products to keep up with your child’s development!
The Ozbozz ‘My First Scooter’ is available from Amazon, Tesco and Argos stores at around £19.99. (As I write this it’s currently on offer at Amazon for £17.99!)
Visit: www.ozbozz.co.uk for more information. You can also follow Ozbozz on facebook for the latest news.