John Adams | Chocolate Lolly Maker: Melt, mould and wrap your own chocolate lollies! | Food craft | Ages 6+

Loved that u didn't need batteries, just warm water, kids loved making them and eating them. We bought the chocolate as it doesnt come with some. It's enjoyable, my kids wants to have one everyday so get plenty of chocolate in and have fun!

I paid less than £10 for this as I had a voucher so it wasn't bad for that. My daughter enjoyed making the lolly pops, she's 7 and used them with her friends on her 8th birthday. They all enjoyed it. You don't get any chocolate or sprinkles with it. The wrapping bit doesn't work, there's not many lolly pop sticks, sleeves or string so we recycled our sticks. It's a one / two times use kind of toy so I wouldn't have paid any more than £10-£15 for it. The box is quite big & bright so it makes a nice, different gift for I'd say age 5-9 year olds.

Despite reading some of the bad reviews before and nearly not buying it, i’m glad I did. It’s a great little product and my kids (ages 5 & 7) really enjoyed doing it. Don’t agree with previous reviews saying that you can’t melt the chocolate in the plastic tub, it’s not dangerous either, just put in hot water and seal before handing to children, it doesn’t melt as quick as microwave but still melts fine (the kids loved stirring the choc watching it melt). We used around 4 small bags of choc buttons for 4 lollies. Lollies hardened very quickly in the freezer. You have to make sure there’s a thick layer of choc to hold the lolly stick or it falls out. The only downside was sealing the wrappers with the twisting mechanism - which didn’t work at all, but not something we needed anyway (as we ended up eating them!). If you were giving the lollies as a gift I guess you can just wrap it yourself using the bags provided. Easy to clean afterwards. Some very happy children.

There are a lot of negative reviews for this product. But at the same time, it is a device that captures the imagination of children. Think back to when you were 4 or 5, imagine a machine that made real CHOCOLATE COINS!!And there is the dilemma. The expectation is set so high that the machine is bound to fail unless it is any more complex than drop in chocolate chunks and pull a lever to expel perfect chocolate coins.Well it isn't that simple. My 3 year old saw this on tv and in shops and wanted it badly. We tried to make him forget but 6 months later he still wanted one. That is a powerful want and not one to dismiss in one so young so Santa dropped one off on his rounds at Christmas.The first time I used it I sympathised with the negative reviewers. Lots of steps, lots of complexity, 4 coins at a time with refrigeration in between. The possibility that the final process would fail and make a gooey mess rather than a chocolate coin.4 months later and after a half dozen goes it is still a favourite toy and I have some top tips for use.1. Read the instructions well before first usage. This is a toy you do WITH your child not left alone.2. Don't microwave the chocolate - it spoils the fun. Buy some real chocolate buttons and fill the melting pot with hot water. The buttons melt in about 2 or 3 minutes.3. While the chocolate melts get the moulds ready for the coins.4. Accept that there is a break while the coins set in the fridge. Don't rush it, let the kids scrape the chocolate off the melting pot and go do something else for an hour. Really let the chocolate go hard in the mould.5. Really press down hard when doing the foil wrapping of the coins, you should feel it clunk as the mould sides spring open to wrap the coins in foil.6. Screw down the top when stamping a bit more than the instructions say to.Usage is not that hard really but you have to supervise young children and it is not an instant process. No it is not instantly gratifying but not all toys have to be.Final tip - don't use Flake or easter egg chocolate - it melts at a higher temperature than you will get - use real buttons. A pack of buttons does 4 coins.

Very good

Daughter had this for Christmas last year and has only used it once. Chocolate melter takes chocolate ages to melt and only melts a very small amount of chocolate at a time. Very clumsy thing to make the coins and doesn't always work. Daughter got bored of making the coins after making about 6 coins.

Quick n easy

I did this with both my 9 year old and 3 year old. The 3 year old was really excited with the results and could not wait to eat them so we haven't used the packing machine yet. We did not use the melting tray as I had bought a bar of chocolate so it would have taken too long to do. I used a boiling jug of water and floated the chocolate inside a beaker. My 9 year old enjoyed it too and would probably try some more tricky designs in the future. I liked it because it was nowhere near as messy as I first thought.