I bought a 12 pack of these Barrel of Monkeys Mini Keychains at a local party store for around $7.00. I bought them to use as party favors for his last birthday party. I have also seen them sold as a single keychain. I thought they were really cute and figured the kids would like them.

Barrel of Monkeys Mini Keychains

The barrel keychains are about 2 ½ inches tall. The pack that I bought came in an assortment of colors of blue, yellow and red. The monkeys were all the same original color of red no matter what color barrel they were in. There are about 12-15 monkeys per barrel. I can't remember the exact amount because we had a few left over and both of my older kids have played with them all and I don't think they ever put the correct number of monkeys back in the barrels.

The little monkeys are only about an inch big and the monkeys and the barrel they come in are all made of a durable plastic. The chain on the barrel isn't very long and it's fairly sturdy. If you want to use one of these as a keychain, the ring easily slides onto another key ring.

For me, adding this to my keys just doesn't work for me. I find it to be a little bulky for that. That really doesn't matter to me though because that wasn't the reason I bought them. I wasn't sure if the kids would be able to play with them as well as the regular size Barrel of Monkeys though but to my surprise, they seemed to be easier to play with. To play with them, you have to link the monkeys together by their arms. Seems simple enough but you have to link them with the next monkey that you have on your chain of monkeys. I remember when I was a kid; I would get frustrated with this game.

My Thoughts

My kids play with these little keychains all the time. Most of the time, they use all the monkeys from all of the ones that we have left together so that they can make longer chains of them. They will play together for quite a bit of time trying to see who can make the longest chain. I think this is great for kids because it uses coordination skills. My daughter is almost 9 but she has coordination and some gross motor problems and these seem to help with that. She is also on the mild end of the autism spectrum and along with her other problems; she can get a little out of control sometimes. For some reason, playing with these monkeys can help take her away from that. I don't know why exactly but I think it's because she has something else to focus on.

My 4 year old son loves playing with these too and he does pretty well with them. He usually can make a longer chain of monkeys faster than I can. I also think that the monkeys can also be a great tool for counting. Since we have a few of these keychains, we have a lot of monkeys. We have used these to help our daughter with math homework since she is more of a visual learner and they have been helpful. Even our 4 year old is getting into adding and subtracting with them himself.

For kids to play with, I think these are great. As a keychain? Probably not in my opinion. Like I said, they are a little bulky and if you are one that puts their keys into your pants pocket, it may not work for you. The chain isn't on the lid of the barrel which I appreciate because if it were, I would think the lid could come off easy if the chain got caught on something. The lid does stay on pretty well. In fact, it's a little tough to take off. I'm not sure what the age recommendations are but in my opinion, I would think they are suitable for about 3 years and older. The monkeys are pretty small though so I would use your best judgment on that one.

Overall, I think these make great party favors and the kids loved them. I would definitely recommend them but not sure if I could say they are a great keychain.