Review and GIVEAWAY: The Toydozer

If you're like me, and I hope that you are, you live with one or more children who just love to dump out a bunch of small toys, but are decidedly less enthusiastic about picking up those small toys.  I wish Nathan was one of those kids who just naturally enjoyed things clean, but, alas, he is not. 

So, more often than not, I just end up cleaning up the toys myself.  Recently during my toy clean-ups, I have found myself feeling nostalgic for Nathan's baby days, when he owned a few large toys that were too big too choke on, rather than the piles of tiny toy rubble we have now. 

So I was pretty excited when I was offered a free Toydozer to review on my blog.  The Toydozer is a new cleaning device invented by Amy Bradley, a mom who was tired of cleaning up her son's toys every single day. 

The Toydozer comes with two parts: the scoop, which is kind of like a large dustpan, and the gatherer, which is a plastic piece you can use to shovel toys into the scoop.  The two pieces connect with Velcro for when you aren't using the Toydozer.  Observe the Toydozer in action:

This is a photo from the Toydozer site.  That is not my own kid.  

A couple of days after I indicated my interest in the Toydozer, I found myself in a situation where I really wished I already had it.  We had guests coming over in about 15 minutes, and my living room floor was strewn with the contents of different storage baskets: trains, tracks, cars, action figures, and various unidentifiable accessories.  How I wished I had my Toydozer to just scoop all that stuff up and dump it back in the baskets. 

The next week, my Toydozer arrived, relieving me of this burden of picking up small items by hand.  The Toydozer package included a hand-written note from inventor Amy Bradley, which I thought was a special touch. 

But, as eager as I was to try it, I admit to being a little bit skeptical about the thing.  Would a fancy dustpan really make my kid interested in cleaning up his own toys? 

I tried out the Toydozer myself before having Nathan try it.  I used it to pick up some Legos.  Sort of like this lady here, except she is thinner and prettier than I am:

Now came the true test: Would Nathan enjoy using it?  

He actually did!  I forgot about the power of fun gadgets to motivate children (slash husbands) to complete chores!  Nathan enjoyed using the Toydozer to clean up his own Legos.  An invention that eliminates battles over cleaning?  I'll take it. 

It's like the Toydozer's slogan says: Less Cleaning.  More Playing! (TM)

We also used the Toydozer to clean up the multiple sets of live-action Angry Birds that Bill bought for himself Nathan. And then we used it to doze a big pile of action figures. 

You can also use the Toydozer for blocks:

Puzzle pieces:

Or any other small toy!  I'm told it's good for Polly Pocket and her accessories, though of course we don't have any of those lying around. 

The Toydozer retails for $18.99 at the Toydozer site, and it comes in blue, yellow, or purple.  And right now, you can save 20% off your Toydozer using code BLOGGER20. 

Or, do you want to enter to win a free Toydozer?  The Toydozer people have given me one free Toydozer to give away.

Here's how you enter:

Leave a comment that includes your name somewhere, and that answers the question:

What was your favorite toy to play with as a kid?

(Mine was Cabbage Patch Kids, and dolls in general, really.)

Contest is open to all residents of the U.S. and Canada, and ends Wednesday, April 25 at 12:00 a.m. CST.  At that time a winner will be chosen at random, and I will notify everyone of the winner on my blog. 

Good luck, and happy playing!    

This post is part of a Toydozer blogger outreach campaign. Participating bloggers have been provided with a complimentaryToydozer to review and have been compensated for their time.