Customer Reviews

Elefun

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(19)
1 star:		(21)

 

 

I have a 4 year old and 1 year old and they love this toy. Cheap batteries don't last in this toy, you need the super high quality ones. As for butterflies not coming out, it works just fine with new batteries. You may have to bend the wings out a bit. They come folded in one direction, just flip them the other way, so they open up and look more like butterflies. The trunk stays up if you bring it up manually after turning it on and it will stay up even after turning it off. Don't use it on soft carpet because the unit will not turn on that way. You can solve that problem by placing a book underneath, though. My only recommendation is that they include more butterflies.

UPDATE:

My oldest is now 8. The kids still enjoy this toy at the grandparents' house. It has lastes many years and both my children and my niece and nephew enjoy it. The trunk is getting worn but I'd say we've gotten our money's worth.

Oh, how my son loves this game! He (4 years old) is just one big old ball of giggles every time he plays!

To address a few "cons" listed by other reviewers:

Butterflies stuck in trunk...just snip a few inches of the trunk length and you're good. This also prevents the trunk from flopping over during play. It is made longer than it needs to be.

Not enough butterflies...you can buy more from the manufacturer or you can use tissue paper cut and twisted to make your own.

Nets being unsafe...that is utterly ridiculous. You would have to really work hard to get it over a kids head!

Fan running slow...you need to use good batteries, not the cheapos.

It works great for us and the kids love it.

Have you seen the ads for this product? A burst of butterflies explodes from the end of the elephant's trunk, to the delight of elated children.

In reality, the motor driving the fan in actual production models is far too weak to ever do that, even on fully charged batteries. A full set of four "C" sized batteries won't last long. If you don't spend big bucks on premium batteries, you may get 30 minutes out of them before the flow of butterflies slows to a trickle, then stops, as there is no longer enough power to push even one up into the trunk.

The trunk itself is made from flexible plastic. It will be well creased from being stored flat in the box, and these creases will help keep those butterflies inside the elephant instead of up in the air. When you remove it to replace butterflies, you will see many still trapped inside. Then, when you replace it for another play, you will have to straighten the trunk by hand, smoothing out the creases as best you can, because the fan lacks the power to lift the plastic.

This toy really needs to be powered by electrical mains. The trunk should be cloth with a spiral wire support. And the butterflies should go back into the elephant without taking the trunk off. The extra cost of those materials would be well worth it, because it would make the toy fun more than just once, and it wouldn't eat batteries like a amp-hour glutton.

My son received this toy just after he turned 3, he's now almost 4. He still likes it and thinks it's more fun just to watch the butterflies come out then to actually catch them. A few other kids had so much fun playing it at our house that we've bought it was a birthday gift. The problems with it are that the nets get snagged easily, the batteries run out pretty fast and the trunk has to be completely straight for the butterflies to come out, which usually requires an adult tinkering with it to make sure it's in the right position. Overall though, my son really gets a kick out of this toy and has fun playing it with other kids, so it's still a winner.

Here's the thing. I bought this for my twin 3 year olds and 5 year old. The blower is slow to work and if the "trunk" is bent at all it is a waste and the little plastic "butterflies" don't come out. Yes it does teach the kids more cordination to try to catch them but the kids got more frustrated with it because we had to keep tapping the trunk or moving it for the stuff to come out. On to the parent issues I had. 1) trying to keep track of all these butterflies is a nightmare. 2) it drains batteries very fast. 3) the "nets" are dangerous and cheap. It was easy for the kids to fit over their heads and my oldest was being choked by it. mind you I was right there so I could stop it, but if I wasn't around it could have been very bad. Needless to say I think this is a waste and a nightmare for parents. Cleaning the butterfiles up and keeping track of it is very timely. The kids lost interest after the 2nd time playing with it because the butterflies don't come out easy and I had to keep tapping the trunk to make them come out. Find something else for your kids. Not worth the money or aggravation.

My two-year-old son had played this game at a relative's house, and we decided to get one for ourselves. We used brand-name fresh batteries, as recommended by other reviewers, and it was fun for about six games. After that, it started to slow down, so I removed about 4" of the trunk, as suggested by another reviewer. That didn't do much, and by the tenth or so time using it, barely any butterflies were coming out. I inspected the elephant's head, and there is a major design flaw. The butterflies get caught in the elephant's cheeks, and even tapping or shaking the body doesn't free them. I took a full-size piece of card stock that was on a magazine, and used it to create a cone inside of the elephant. I was careful not to block the fan at all, but to make a good chamber to increase air-flow and block the nooks and crannies that are inside of the elephant. The toy works MUCH better now.

This is an excellent game for the attention span of a toddler. My daughter loves it! It's all about Elefun in this house. Yes, the constant picking up of butterflies gets old. That's why I came up with the GREAT idea to go to the Hasbro website and print out the order form and order 2 more bags of butterflies. Yes, it makes the game last longer because now there are more butterflies to pick up! Haha! Regardless, my daughter has so much fun playing, and there aren't too many rules for her to have to remember. Just what she needs. I would recommend this to others.

FYI the Hasbro website also has other replacement parts for this game (and many other games)and they are inexpensive.

We bought this for my daughter for Christmas. She had seen it advertised on TV and was super excited. However, when we tried it out on Christmas day, it took forever for the butterflies to fly out. In fact, the directions say if they don't all come out within 2 minutes, turn it off, open it up and stir them around. If it still doesn't work right, check the batteries. We determined the toy was defective, so we sent it back. We love Amazon's easy return policy. Unfortunately, when we received the second product on Saturday, it didn't turn on AT ALL. We tried all brands of batteries (it takes 4 C batteries), and could not get it to turn on. We will be sending it back again. I am uncertain of whether to try for a third time. Very unhappy.

When I was little, I remember Elefun's debut. The commercial made it seem like the biggest thing in the world- an elephant shooting butterflies out of its nose? Sign me up! Sadly, I never got to play it, or even see it in action until just last week at my daughter's birthday. All the kids nearby gathered to watch the others play it, and this thing went on for at least an hour. Who knew a toy could keep a group of kids' attention for that long?

Elefun is easy to play- you get a net (four colors to choose from) and catch butterflies of the same color as they shoot out of Elefun's trunk. This is supposed to teach you coordination, but face it- kids are just going to go crazy trying to catch every butterfly in sight. The butterflies don't shoot all over the place, they kind of just shoot a few inches from the trunk, but fall slowly because of how light they are. Once they're caught, you unscrew Elefun's trunk, put the butterflies back in, and go again. It's pretty cool.

But there are still a few problems with the game to be found. The biggest one is yes, Elefun drains batteries like they're going out of style. Get some premium batteries for this guy if you plan on using it for an extended period of time like a birthday party. His trunk isn't made of the best plastic either, and I could see it being ruined if folded incorrectly even once because it'd end up getting ripped. The butterflies are pretty cheap too, but I can't think of another way for these to've been made and work with the game still at this price point. We had a few problems with getting all the butterflies to shoot out of Elefun's trunk, as some would just get stuck inside him. It's nothing a quick shake can't fix, but it's annoying when only 5 of the many shoot out and you have to stop a game to fix it.

Some parents have complained that the nets are 'dangerous' and fit over their children's heads. Those kids must have super small heads, because the nets aren't that big or deep. It's a pain to put the netting on the handle, but that isn't dangerous either since it's not sharp. As for this being a 'messy' game, I think that's just laziness talking. If you can't handle scooping up some fake butterflies, what's the point in buying toys for your kids?

This is still a solid game to get for your family, or use at parties for younger kids. The kids who played this at my daughter's birthday were between ages 2 and 5, and they had a blast. If only they made a bigger version for adults.

My little girl loves this toy, except that the play time is short. The butterflies come out quickly and before you know it, you're turning off the machine to set it up again (load the butterflies). Fortunately set up is a snap! She is 3 now and has had this toy for a year and still loves it. She has a hard time catching the butterflies, but I'm sure with time she'll get coordinated enough to do so. She's usually jumping around so excited at seeing the butterflies flying through the air, that she forgets to hold her net out! Great fun!