The New ANIA Animal Line from TOMY Will Let Your Child Experience Animal Play in a Whole New Way -- Think Moving Parts and Realistic Features (Review)

Disclosure: I was provided with samples from the vendor in exchange for an honest review.  All views shared are mine and mine alone.

Get ready for a pack of animal fun with ANIA Animals, the all-new preschool line of articulated animals and playsets designed to inspire hours of nature-themed play and exploration.

My girls love animals and learning about animals and their habitats.  They are eagerly awaiting the nicer weather so that we can head to the nearby zoos for our weekly Funday Friday field trips.  Being a homeschooling family, we love heading to zoos and nature centers while the kids are still in public school as the attractions are less packed and the girls can see the animals up close.  I also use this time to incorporate lessons we have learned about the animals, or pick a particular animal to focus on before we visit the zoo. Last year the girls chose the elephant to do an in-depth study on.  They learned all about the elephants and then when they found the elephants at the zoo they took photos for a collage assignment in which they added facts about the animal in bubbles around the photos they took.  And, if that wasn't fun enough, I brought sketch books and colored pencils for the girls and they found the perfect spot at the zoo near the elephant exhibit to draw their favorite elephant.  The girls really had a blast learning and exploring the world of elephants, and can't wait to choose more animals to learn about this year.  We have a goal to choose one animal a month to focus on and study and will end the month with a field trip to the zoo, where we will do similar activities to pull everything together.  Our hope is to study between 5-8 animals in 2018 (depending on how the weather is going into the fall).  

The girls are done with winter and just want the nice weather to get here already.  They can't wait to head to the zoos and nature centers to visit with the animals.  Bella especially is looking forward to feeding the deer at the zoo near my husband's work.  You get to walk amongst the deer, and when they see you have food, they walk right up to you and eat right out of your hand.  It is a fun experience and one my girls look forward to each year, followed by a visit to their Daddy's work to say, "Hello."  Thanks to a recent ice and snow storm, and two days of rain, we have found ourselves inside playing.  But, thanks to the kind folks at TOMY, they recently sent my girls a box of ANIA Animals to play with, and that has been keeping the girls busy while we have been indoors playing.

So, what are ANIA Animals and how are they different from other animal toys? 

Articulated Animals - each features 1-5 points of articulation: mouth, legs, wings, tail, fins, head or neck
Nature Themes –explore and collect animals from the arctic, ocean, grasslands and prehistoric ages
Inspiring Playsets – bring your animals to life with exciting playsets featuring adventure, action and sounds
Adventures in Motion - experience animal play in a whole new way!

"ANIA, a line of cute and articulated animals designed to inspire exploration and a passion for nature, has a new line of animals that is sure to be loved by all children. ANIA brings animals around the world to your home and is perfect for the animal lover in your family."

Highly-detailed ANIA Animals feature multiple points of articulation for realistic role play and feature animals from around the globe. SRP: $4.99-$6.99. Ages: 3 years and up.

I have lost count of how many animal toys my girls have.  But, I can say that they don't have anything like the new ANIA Animals toy line.  When I first showed the girls the assortment of animal the folks at TOMY sent, they were quick to point to their favorite and call dibs on them.  Savannah is all about aquatic and Arctic animals, so she claimed the Killer Whale set, along with the Arctic Adventure playset (shown above) which came with a polar bear and two seals .  

Bella, on the other hand is all about the animals of the Safari after a recent lesson we did on the Savannah.  

So, Bella asked if she could have the Safari Quest set, lioness, panda family, koala and red panda.  

This is the Safari Quest set, which includes a giraffe, rhinoceros, chimpanzee and watering hole

I have a fun dinosaur month planned in March, so the different ANIA Animals Dino Stomp, T-Rex and Stegosaurs we were sent will definitely come in handy for the sensory bin I plan to set up for the girls.  

The girls quickly posed for photos with the different ANIA Animals, but then like rabid animals, they tore into the boxes to get the toys out.  They couldn't wait to play with them, especially to see how they moved (a feature of the ANIA Animals that makes this new toy line so cool and unique compared to other animal figures and toys on the market.  Savannah was quick to check out the killer whale set, which comes with a mother and baby.  She loved how the mouth of the killer whale was able to open and close, and the tale was able was to move up and down.  

She make construction paper fish and used the background water scene that came with the box, to act out the killer whale searching for food.  She moved the tail up and down as if it was swimming, and when she found a fish she attempted to catch it by opening the mouth and chomping down.  While she was doing all this, Bella, my youngest, was in charge of the iPad and had to record the scene for Savannah, as she wanted to be able to watch it. :-)  Do your kids love to film themselves playing with their toys or acting out scenes, so that they can watch over and over again? My girls love to do this, and I find when they do, the stories they come up are really imaginative and fun.  And, when they are not filming videos, they are snapping photos of their favorite toys, of which ANIA Animals is now at the top of their list.

We have only had the ANIA Animals assortment of toys for about a week, but they have become instant favorites with my girls.  In addition the cardboard backdrops that they kept from each box, the girls have drawn their own scenery to tape to the walls or to poster boards, to help bring the stories they are making up and want to tell about the different animals to life.  Not only are the girls having fun playing with the ANIA Animals, but they are also learning and asking questions about the animals, as well as talking about things that we learned in our homeschooling.  Just last night Savannah was educating my husband on the polar bear.  She used the Arctic Adventures playset that we were sent to show how a polar bear's favorite meal is a seal, and how they patiently wait by holes in the ice for  seal to pop its head up or jump onto the ice, before they move in.  

Savannah also shared all about the blubber of the polar bear and how this helps keep them warm in the winter.  Did you know that a polar bear's fur is not really white? Their hair is actually transparent/colorless.  It just looks white because the air spaces in the hairs scatter light of all colors.  This is one of the things I love about homeschooling as we get to delve deeper into a topic and learn fun facts like this, and do hands on experiments like using Crisco over a surgical glove to see how the blubber on a polar bear feels and how it keeps it body warm, compared to no blubber (or Crisco) and how you feel the cold easily.    My husband was not only impressed with all the polar bear knowledge my girls were sharing with him, but also loved seeing them get excited about the ANIA Animals toys, and use their imaginations to act out stories complete with handmade backdrops to make the stories come to life.  The little movements of these toys added that extra "Wow" factor that really got the girls excited and made it hard for them to stop playing with the toys.  Just last night the girls stayed up past their bedtime as they wanted to finish making a video with the safari ANIA animals.  I couldn't help but laugh as my youngest tried to do an Australian accent as she described the story, while Savannah moved the animals across the Savannah scene they worked all afternoon on.  :-)

My girls are already asking for more ANIA animals to add to their current collection, and are even talking about pooling their allowance to be able to buy more from Toys R Us soon.  

Savannah just has to have these cute otters

While Bella wants to add the kangaroo and elephants toys to her ANIA Animals collection...

They are having so much fun with their new ANIA Animals toys that they want to bring more animals into their stories and playtime. And, I can't blame them, as I got down on the floor the past few days to play with them, and couldn't get over the detailing of each animal. They really look life-like, and the movements they do just add to their realistic nature of the toy.  If only they had these toys when I was a kid.  I would have been asking my parents and Santa for them. :-)  


If you have young children, especially preschool and early elementary ages, then you will want to check out the new ANIA Animals line from TOMY.  With post animals ranging in price from $4.99-9.99, you can't go wrong picking up an assortment to get your child started with their ANIA collection.  

And, once you see your kids playing with them, and how their imaginations run wild, you will want to add more of the animal toys to their collection, as well as pick up some of the fun playsets to go with them.  I showed my girls this playset for their Safari friends, and they said, "Please, please, please."  

I told them that if they put some of their allowance money in as well as do some extra work for school, then we can head to Toys R Us the end of this month to pick up.  They added the date to the calendar, and have been eager to do school work each day, even on the weekends...I wonder why? :-)

I could go on and on about how great the new ANIA Animals toy line from TOMY is.  But, instead, why not check out out this new toy line for yourself.  Once you see how excited your kids get playing with the animals, and how they use their imagination to come up with fascinating stories using the animals, you will see why I can't stop raving about ANIA Animals to friends and families, and how my girls can't stop playing with their new animal friends.  My girls have been bringing a favorite ANIA animal to bed each night, and the rest of the animals, playsets and backgrounds are waiting on their play table in the living room, so that they can resume playing when they wake in the mornings.  I don't see my girls getting bored with these fun animal toy anytime soon, and know that once they add more animals and playsets to the mix, it will make their playtime experiences with their ANIA Animals collection that much more enjoyable.  I can't wait to hear the elaborate stories they come up with, and watch the short videos that they take. :-)

To learn more about the ANIA Animals line from TOMY head on over to http://tomy.com/ania today.  And, be sure to look for ANIA Animals during your next trip to Toys R US (they are also available online at ToysRUS.com).  I can't wait to hear what your kids think of the new ANIA Animals, and which figures become their favorites to play and carry around.

--BUY NOW--

Toys R Us is the official retailer for the new ANIA Animals toy line from TOMY.  You can find these toys online as well as in store at your favorite local Toys R Us store.  Prices vary on animal and playsets, but range in price from $4.99-$9.99 for animals and $14.99 up to $39.99 for the playsets

Disclosure: I was provided with samples from the vendor in exchange for an honest review.  All views shared are mine and mine alone.