My three girls couldn’t wait to try the Smooshins Surprise Maker Kit. They all love sensory toys. They love anything they can squash and squish, particularly if it looks cute as well. They loved the idea of being able to make their own smooshy toys.
The Smooshins Surprise Maker Kit costs £45, and comes with everything you need to make 4 cute characters. In the kit you get: 2 character moulds, 4 colour pouches, 4 headpieces, 4 surprise face pieces, 4 belly pieces, 4 character stands, 1 pouch squeezing tool. It also needs 2 x AAA batteries which aren’t included.
The set is suitable for ages 7+ and we thought that was about right. It needs a lot of help and supervision from an adult as the process is a bit complicated. It is worth reading the instructions several times and watching the videos of how to do it. The process also takes several hours and you can only make one figure at a time. It works best if you leave each to set overnight.
First, you have to punch the gel pouch hard. This was really good for getting your aggression out.
The next part is mixing the colour with the gel. This is very hard and even my eleven-year-old needed help as you have to twist it hard to get the colour to mix. You only have a minute and a half to mix the gel. My tip would be to put on a timer.
The fun thing is you only know what colour your character will be. You can’t see how it will turn out so you get a surprise at the end.
It is really important you pour all the gel into the machine. It is worth taking your time to make sure it has got into all the corners. When it is in the machine flashes.
This part takes four hours, so you need a bit of patience to wait. When it is finished take it out of the machine, through the used pouch away and leave overnight to make sure it has set thoroughly.
The finished toy looks really bright and colourful. You can easily stick on the face, tummy and accessories.

The finished Smooshkins characters are really cute and have a pleasing smooshiness.

We did find the back didn’t set as well as the front despite several attempts. It was more bobbly as the gel didn’t get into all the spaces in the mould, which was a bit disappointing.

Charlotte likes this character the best.

The finished Smooshkins characters are really cute and have a pleasing smooshiness.

There are several other Smooshins products available which mean you can make up to 1000 different combinations:
Which character will you get? Each Surprise Character Mold gives you the ability to make a different animal. Place your surprise character mold inside of the Surprise Maker (sold in the Surprise Maker Kit), squeeze in your Colour Pouch, and find out which character you got! Includes surprise accessories to customise your smooshy characters. Each Character Mold includes one surprise character mold, one surprise face, one surprise belly, one surprise head piece, and one character stand. Must be used in conjunction with the Smooshins Surprise Maker Kit For ages 7+.
Make cute smooshy characters in all the colours of the rainbow! Colour pouches come in 6 different colours for you to collect – Blue, Orange, Pink, Purple, Red, and Yellow. Just pop and squeeze the pouch into the Smooshins Surprise Maker (sold in the Surprise Maker Kit)! Each colour comes with a different set of surprise accessories! Each pouch includes one colour pouch, one surprise face, one surprise belly, one surprise head piece, and one character stand. For ages 7+.
Disclaimer: We were sent the toy for the purposes of this review.