A handy zip fastening makes closing up your bear super easy and means if your child wishes to change the picture inside their bear's heart it is really easy to do. However the bears are considerably smaller (measuring around 8 inches tall once stuffed) and for me don't have that Build-A-Bear "feel".

They even went as far as getting rulers and weighing scales out so that they could give exact measurements. My nine year old actually has a bigger version of the teddy she picked so of course she got named Rainbow Junior. I am a mum of two (aged 13 and 8) and I started Tantrums to Smiles with the aim of being able to help others by sharing lots of hopefully helpful information, advice and reviews. The instructions are really clear and helpful, with a step by step guide to stuffing and completing your bears, including tips if you run into any issues with the stuffing or zip. Each time the bear pops off you can move the stuffing around into the legs, arms and head and once all the stuffing is out of the station your bear will be perfectly plump.

The stuffing station comes with two bears, so if you have twins or siblings then you can give this as a joint gift. I could see younger children needing a helping hand with pushing the stuffing into all of the limbs though. I am sure all parents will agree that when you have children storage space is tight so having a toy taking up room that cannot be used again without an addition cost is a little frustrating. To get started you choose your bear "skin" and carefully place it onto the nozzle on the stuffing station machine.

And now we've been able to bring the fun of Build-A-Bear home with their fantastic Stuffing Station. One bear requires one bag of stuffing, simply put a bag of stuffing into the stuffing station, place one of the bears over the nozzle and begin to turn the handle clockwise. It’s really important before you repeat the process to ensure you have pushed all the stuffing right to the tips of the arms, legs and head before continuing. Even though there are only 2 t-shirts included in the kit, she must've got her bear changed at least 10 times in the space of about 10 minutes.The accompanying birth certs are good and my six year old enjoyed filling his in (with a little help from me).

When the bear pops off, you manipulate the stuffing with your fingers into the arms, legs and head of the bear, before putting back on the machine to add more stuffing.

When you have used all of the wool, it's time to choose a picture or message to place inside your heart. This toy was all about the experience of building the bears rather than the end product in my opinion. There are two bags of stuffing included for the two small bears and you do use the full amount for each bear. You stuff and create them, dress them in their lovely Rainbow themed clothes, make a wish in their hearts and you also have certificates for each of your creations. It is very easy to use, the instructions are clear and precise and because there are no batteries required you can get to work as soon as the stuffing station is taken out of the box and even that is simple, no fiddly tags to contend with.