The clock features the cute face of Sleepy Bunny, whose ears flop down when he’s asleep (when you press the centre button). Once it’s time to get up, his ears perk up and his eyes open. The clock works on a 12-hour cycle, which means if your child goes to bed at 7pm and you want them to stay in bed until 7am, you’ll need to adjust the clock once they have gone to sleep to get the alarm to work properly.
The clock is recommended from the age of 2½ until about 6, although apparently quite a few adults have them too! There’s an audible alarm, although the makers don’t recommend this for children under 5.
What we love
The bunny-themed clock is a cute idea, and I really liked the way the ears pop up when he wakes up. If you can get your child to relate to the bunny, then this can work well. It’s a simple, visual way to help you child know when it’s time to stay in bed and when it’s time to get up before they learn to tell the time.
The Bunny Clock Children’s Alarm Clock is battery operated. This means it’s easy to put right by the bedside without the risk of trailing wires.
Many other parents say the Bunny Clock Children’s Alarm Clock works wonders and their children stay in bed until bunny wakes up. I think it probably depends on your own child's nature more than anything else.
What to watch out for
I'm the victim of an early riser (as the shadows under my eyes and the caffeine addiction will testify) and had high hopes for this clock, but it didn’t really do the job for us. Arron is 3 and didn’t particularly relate to the bunny. He just spent the time he should’ve been going to sleep pressing down and popping up the button to make the bunny sleep and wake up. This problem is highlighted on the maker's site, and they suggest that once children can relate to the bunny they won’t do this.
Personally, my heart sank at having to find batteries for the clock. As the mum of a 3-year-old we’re always hunting around the house for batteries to go in cars, trains and goodness knows what else!
The clock is rather hard to set exactly, so it's fine if you want them to stay in bed until around 7am, but difficult if you need an exact time. The 12-hour timer can be a problem, say if your children go to sleep before 7pm and you want to them to wake at 7am. In these cases, you’ll have to reset the clock once your child’s in bed, which is a bit of a pain.
Some parents have found that the mechanical click when the bunny wakes up has actually woken up sleeping children.
Who is the Bunny Clock Children’s Alarm Clock best for?
Parents of early risers who can’t tell the time yet.
The Bunny Clock Children’s Alarm Clock is designed to encourage early risers to stay in bed, or in their room, until a suitable time in the morning. If your toddler or child can relate to the bunny, it can work well. However, the 12-hour timer and the allure of playing with the bunny means this certainly won’t work for all families.
