Product review: Big Feelings Pineapple

Available from Learning Resources
Ages: 4 and up

Pamela is mum to twins: Jasmine (5), who’s profoundly deaf and wears cochlear implants, and Daya, who’s an oncology patient.

"This is a toy with a purpose. The Big Feelings Pineapple (or Mr Pineapple as I call him), is here to help you teach your children about emotions and expressions.

Talking about feelings is something I started early on with my children. I wanted them to develop their emotional intelligence from a young age to help them understand their thoughts and feelings and to help regulate their emotions as they grow into adults. It won’t always be easy, but Mr Pineapple is a practical start and can be a fun toy. It’s interactive, which is more engaging than simply looking at different expressions in a book.

Mr Pineapple is useful in facilitating conversations whether your child can hear or not. It comes with lots of little pieces which I found fiddly and overwhelming at first. However, the girls got stuck in straight away. I left him on the table and when I returned less than two minutes later, they were pushing pieces in all over it. Don’t take this too seriously! Let them explore and play first.

The toy also comes with a detailed sheet of Mr Pineapple facial expressions. You can make two faces on either side of the toy. We made opposite expressions and also tried to guess each other’s faces. I asked them why Mr Pineapple felt the way he did and what we could do about it. I’d say it’s good to use him in small bursts to label and discuss emotions so that you can develop the conversations over time. This is useful for children aged four and up."