We have owned several Little Live Pets for years. We used them both before we had any real pets and have used them since we got some. In this post I will share our experiences and 6 ways that Little Live Pets can help your children prepare for real pets.
My children are big fans of Little Live Pets and own the Scruff a Luvs, My Puppy’s Home, Mama Surprise Guinea Pigs, Lil Bird and Bird Cage, Surprise Chick and the Lil Hamster House. They also now have 2 real guinea pigs and a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.
What are Little Live Pets?
Little Live Pets are a line of interactive toy pets created by Moose Toys that you can buy at Very.co.uk.
They are designed to mimic the behaviours and sounds of real pets. These toys often include features like movement, sound effects, and touch sensors to respond to interaction from children.
The product range includes various animals such as birds, butterflies, turtles, and more.
6 ways Little Live Pets can help your children prepare for real pets
1. Teach them about some responsibilities they will have for their pet
The Little Live Pets toys can help teach children about some of the duties you have as a pet owner.
For example, the puppy in the My Puppy’s Home Playset will cry if you aren’t giving it enough attention.
You have to build it’s home yourself. Your child will have to pour it water in its water bowl and then little paw prints will magically appear.
You will name the puppy and write its name on the sign on its hutch. There is a bone you can give the puppy and put in its mouth.
The electronic puppy reacts to your child’s touch just like a real pet. My Puppy’s Home even comes with an adoption certificate that can be filled in.
The interactive puppy is so playful, it has more than 25 sounds & reactions to mimic what it is like having a real puppy (with way less biting!).
2. Tide them over until they can get a real pet
There are many reasons why you might not be able to get a real pet yet. You might be a family who travels a lot. Little Live Pets Lil Hamster House is travel sized and is really quite a lot like having a hamster without the mess! It runs round and round its wheel and zooms around the floor making squeaking noises.
In our family (pre-pets) we had our youngest child desperate for a pet and our eldest scared of most animals.
We used Little Live Pets in 2 ways. One, to give the youngest a pretend pet to tide her over until we could get a real pet. Two, it also allowed us to introduce some of the concepts to the fearful eldest and build his confidence in a safe way. Then we were able to move onto guinea pigs and finally a dog.
My daughter still loves her Little Live Pets even though she has some real pets now. In fact she enjoys playing with the Little Live Pets WITH her real pets.
3. Test their understanding and readiness for a real pet
Once your child has been playing with their Little Live Pet for a while you can then quiz them about their understanding of what tasks you need to do when you have that pet for real. You could ask them to write or draw the tasks they think they would need to do and how often.
Open discussions like this, prior to getting a real pet can help your child understand what is really involved but can also help them commit to the tasks they will need to do as a responsible pet owner, rather than just dropping chores on them at a later date.
They can also practice doing some of these tasks with their Little Live Pet.
4. Help them develop good pet owner habits and prove themselves ready to get a pet
You can set some goals with your child so they can prove themselves ready for having a real pet.
For example, you can say you have to tend to your Little Live Pet and do certain tasks every day for X amount of weeks to finally prove you are ready for your real pet.
You can create a wall chart where they can tick off tasks like playing with the pet, grooming the pet, tidying their home etc and once they get to the end you get to choose your pet together.
5. Help them choose which real pet they really want
Playing with a range of Little Live Pet toys can help your child understand what it is that they want from a pet and which they might want to commit to in real life.
For example, taking care of a dog is more work than taking care of the guinea pigs or a bird but you might find you get more out of the dog.
You can have these conversations with your child – do you think you would enjoy doing this for a real dog? Would you find this annoying if you had to do this every day? What is your favourite and least favourite things about taking care of this pet?
You can play with the Little Live Pets with your child and ask them these questions whilst playing.
All the discussion and consideration will help you make more thought out and realistic choices when it comes to taking the plunge with a real pet.
6. Help them prepare for a pet giving birth
If you end up with a pregnant pet or intend to breed then Little Live Pets can help your child prepare for that too.
The Mama Surprise Guinea Pig set is so sweet. There is a mama guinea pig who has a pink glowing heart and makes sweet noises as she is pregnant and in labour.
Kids can care for Mama by feeding her and brushing her long, beautiful hair with the accessories provided. With enough love and attention, Mama’s heart will start to glow, indicating that a baby is on the way. Gently place her inside her interactive purple hutch and then your child will need to learn the patience of waiting!
There are 3 baby guinea pigs and they pop out of the roof of the hutch on a timer so you get one a day for the first 3 days which makes it so exciting for your child.
You can use this as a learning tool to talk about what will happen with your own pet during labour.
For example, if you open the hutch door during the Little Live Pets Mama Surprise Guinea Pig’s labour then the timer for the babies dropping down starts again. You can use this to explain how important it is for us to leave our own labouring pets alone and not distract them or interfere or it can cause problems.
If you liked this post about ways Little Live Pets can help your children prepare for real pets, then you might also enjoy:
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