Last week I was invited to the annual Toy Fair in London to check out what was new at Playmobil.

There were loads of toy buyers and exhibitors and a great buzz about the place. Playmobil had a large enslosure upstairs with all the upcoming products for 2012 on display.

Here are my highlights;

Future Planet

Designed for older kids – 7-12yrs – I could quite happily sit and play future planet myself. It’s based on a war of sorts between the ‘E-Rangers’ and the ‘Darksters’ set in the year 2113. They’re fighting for control of red energy crystals which basically power all the lights, vehicles etc.. It’s all very futuristic and ‘mad scientist’! I love the concept and the way everything works of the energy crystals, the headquarters even has a generator that works off solar panel – shine a torch to get the generator going! Very clever, a sure hit when it’s released in July this year


Summer Sports Playmobil

There was a definite Olympic flavour at the Toy Fair this year and Playmobil had their own range on display. The Summer Sports series features a number of Olympic eventers including gymnasts, weightlifters and swimmer.

Harbour Playmobil

For Erin’s age this is my favourite of the ‘New for 2012′ stuff. The harbour range includes a ferry, a catamaran, a cafe and more… I particular like how they double as bath toys. This range is out in February and aimed at 4-10yrs age range – I’m predicting that it will be very popular!

Football Frenzy!

Out in June football frenzy is a complete football stadium that folds neatly into a case. Complete with footballers with moving legs, goalies and footballs this little game is going to be really popular and I can see the kids being pushed aside by their over competitive dads!

So that’s what’s coming from Playmobil in 2012 – I can’t wait!

Wooden Balance Bike

I was kindly asked to do a toy review by WoodenToyShop.co.uk.

This site has some wonderful wooden toys on it, my daughter loves the wooden food!

We where lucky enough to choose one item off of the site to review and I can tell you it was a very hard decision. In fact the only thing that really swung it was that my husband had recently ran over my little man’s balance bike and we where about to replace it when we saw that these where on this site.

We chose the BigJigs Wooden Balance Bike in blue . I fell in love with it as soon as I saw it, it looks just like a little vesper! Well, this item was extremely easy to put together, it took literally 5 minutes. It is extremely well made and my little man absolutely loves it. He has found it very easy to use and can already balance on it.

Balance bikes are a great way to develop your child’s balance and minimise the amount of time they will need stabilisers on their bikes. My daughter had a balance bike and after only two months on it she could ride her big bike without stabilisers at the age of 4!

I absolutely love this site, Hours of fun in the world of wooden toys.

If you are looking for a gift or a toy that is well made and looks great, definitely visit this site, you won’t regret it!

I’d like to thank Jon for send us the bike, my little man loves it so much he has even tried to take it to bed with him!

By Guest Writer Kizzy

This is the last week of the reading challenge and we got to choose one of the short vowel books to review. The one we chose was my daughter’s favourite, On The Go.

These books are different to the other character ones as they are designed more for understanding and reading the text as opposed to playing with the character as such.

Tag - Learn to Read

These books helped to impact upon the word boxes and tricky words my daughter has to learn from school. They are still fun and have games but they seem a bit more structured and formal that the other books.

Having completed this challenge I would definitely say that the Tag system has helped my daughter with her confidence when it comes to reading, which is half the battle.

Thank you very much for giving us the opportunity to try and review this fantastic product and I would recommend this to anyone wanting to help and encourage their children with literacy. It has really help my daughter and also has made my little man more interested in books!

Read more from me on my two blogs Pampered Mummy and Mummy Needs.

By Guest Writer Kizzy

My daughter was lucky enough to be sent a copy of this new Peppa Pig Theme Park game for the DS. This is actually the first game she has played on the DS as my eldest is normally the main game player in the house (followed closely by his dad!).

Peppa Pig Theme Park Fun

As soon as it arrived my daughter wanted to play on it. So after sweet talking her brother, she sat and played on it for half an hour. The game was easy enough for her to negotiate without having to involve me. Once she had put the console down, my little man picked it up and he was even able to play the games with minimal assistance from us.

They really liked the fact that they had to get Peppa and George washed and their teeth brushed before making their picnic! The games have a choice of level, such as eye spy you can choose colour or sound of the thing you are spying. You can also choose to do tasks against the clock or not.

My children adore Peppa so this game was going to be a hit regardless of how accessible it was, but they have definitely got the game play right. My little man is nearly 3 and he was able to play it properly.

I’d like to thanks the Ban for sending us a copy to review, it is a really good game for little ones to introduce them to this type of learning and interaction.

To read more from me, visit my other two blogs, Pampered Mummy and Mummy Needs.

By Guest Writer Julie

Meccano Play Sets

At the ripe old age of seven and a half small boy is definitely at the top of the age range for this toy. I was able to leave him to it with the instruction book whilst I got on with some baking and he only needed help in a couple of places where several parts had to go together at once. He played happily for about 30 minutes putting the model together but if I know my boy there?s no way he?ll pull it apart to make the other two variations. He?s like that with his Lego too ? once a kit is made he gets very annoyed if one of his friends pulls bits off!

Build and Play

I have to admit that once it was built small boy lost all interest in the model and hasn?t actually used it for imaginative play at all. This would probably be different for a younger child as the look of the product is definitely more appealing to the lower end of the age range.

With prices starting at ?7.99 for the new mini Build and Play kits we thought the range was pretty good value for money and also a good quality option for an affordable birthday party gift.

You can see the full range at www.meccanouk.co.uk

We?ll be trying out the Space Chaos kit next which is aimed at 7 to 14 year olds, Daddy is looking forward to helping with that one!

Today’s guest toy reviewers are… Connor (4), Laura (10) and Alex (35)

Snazaroo Face Paints ?9.99

Connor loves it and says it’s his favourite. Comes with a booklet with easy to follow steps to show you how to do some of the designs and a gallery with others for you to try by yourself. Colours are nice and bright and easy to apply. I preferred to use make up sponges/brushes rather than the brush/sponge provided as they were softer. Great buy though. We have used them quite a lot and there is still lots left to use.

Tipover ?12.99

All 3 of them spent an hour playing this on the first go. Instructions weren’t as clear as they could be but it was quickly figured out once we went through one of the solutions. Although it’s for ages 8+, Connor managed to do quite a few of the beginner ones. There are 4 levels of difficulty to work through. Laura found some of the intermediate ones quite hard (2nd level of difficulty) but kept at it. Great if you like logic puzzles. Keeps the kids (and adults) quiet for quite a while.

Disney Princess Shaker Maker ?9.97

Connor enjoyed making these although he did need help to make sure that it was shaken enough for the plaster to mix properly. Once set, Connor and Laura painted one each. Laura thinks it was quite good but it needed some more paint as the pot were quite small. Comes with one brush but is a better quality brush than expected.

Out of the 3, the kids decided they liked the face paints best.

PlayMais is a children’s modelling material made from corn, water and non-toxic dye.

On opening the box and finding several sheets of cardboard cut-outs I was less than impressed, especially as said cut-outs weren’t marked so I was left to figure out which bits went where, not good when you’re suffering with ‘flu-like symptoms’.

Nevertheless after a bit of husbandly help we were well on our way and it wasn’t long before we had the main structures built.

Armed with a plastic knife and a wet cloth we began to fashion roof tiles, walls and even a hen.

On the box there were pictures of pigs and cows too, we didn’t try them. The pieces of playmais looked like packing peanuts but smelled like those wotsit type crisps, very odd.

I was pretty sceptical if I’m honest but once we started to get into it, it was actually quite fun and Erin (4) managed to do lots of bits herself and thoroughly enjoyed it.

The results weren’t as good as the examples but we had a few successes like the roof and the well, and a few fails like the window surrounds. I’ll leave you to decided which category my hen falls into

A standard box of PlayMais starts from around ?6.99.

I arrived back yesterday to an excited daughter, a relieved husband and a large box. What could it be? Mickey Mouse? No, too small plus he has a really nice pad in Disneyworld. I’ve become accustomed to lovely treats over the past week so I immediately thought it would be something good and it was.

We’ve been sent two sets of Lego Duplo, a police themed set and a polar bear set with penguins and a slide! Erin doesn’t have anything Lego-like so she was thrilled with it all, she particularly liked the light and sound police van and the polar bears complete with iceberg-style bricks.

At the moment we’re playing with the sets seperately and her imagination is running wild with stories of police chases and penguin playgrounds, can’t wait to see what happens when we mix the sets together, naughty penguins spending a couple of nights in the slammer? Policemen skiving to go play with the polarbears at the zoo? I’ll let you know.

In the meantime you can check out the Lego Duplo Blog for
more reviews.

The Giveaway

I have two sets of Lego Duplo to giveaway. All you need to do is sign up for my newsletter and you’ll receive an automatic entry.

Once you’ve signed up, leave a comment on this post for an extra entry.

Giveaway is only open to UK residents.

Random draw will be made on Sunday 10th May 2009.

Oh! and if you win, you too can have a box to play in, kids and boxes eh!

Wall:E is the latest ‘kid’s’ movie from Disney Pixar.? The plot, from what I’ve gleaned from the game seems to be: The world has been gripped by consumerism which has resulted in it looking like a rubbish dump.? Wall:E a kind of rubbish crunching and sorting machine has been sent to Earth to sort out the mess.? The aim of the game is to move through the levels and save the world, i believe there’s also a little romance later on.

Unfortunately we didn’t get to ‘later on’.? Wall:E is a platform game, for those not in the know, it’s the kind of game where you move through the game via levels a bit like Sonic or Alex the Kid (showing my age).? Once upon a fifteen years ago I was OK at these type of games, not now, I suffered from extreme lack of patience and as would become obvious, problem-solving skills.? I gave up during the first level, yes, the FIRST level when I couldn’t figure out how to get up on a ramp…

Alex took over, which gave me a chance to see the game ‘from a distance’.?? It’s a decent game, challenging and fun with a good background story (it’s whetted my appetite for the movie).? The graphics are amazing, unlike the cockroach which is just plain irritating.

Thanks to Hill and Knowlton for sending me a copy to test out.? I’d recommend this game for 7-10 year olds.? In fact we are going to give our copy to a friend’s son who is seven, he’ll definitely give it a more rigorous testing than us!

Last year I did a short round up of what I thought were the most appropriate gifts for a one year old. Here is my new version, especially for two year olds. I realise that I only have a girl’s eye view on the subject so jump in with extra ideas, especially for boys.

1. In the Night Garden Characters & Figurines

One commenter recently had a go at me for promoting these items, arguing that there was nothing educational about a babbling character toy. I beg to differ.

The said commenter argued that children in Erin’s age bracket should be learning colours, shapes and numbers. Indeed they should, however, one of the most important (and undervalued) types of play is ‘imaginitive play’. This is any game which involves the child using their imagination to act out scenarios through toys or themselves. This can include playing ‘house’ with cups and saucers, ‘mummies and daddies’ with dolls, or various scenarios with in the night garden characters. This sort of play is highly creative and helps children deal with a variety of emotional situations.

2. Vtech Laptop

This winnie the pooh version is ideal, there are about a dozen games including spelling, basic maths and finding the odd one out. Erin isn’t using it to it’s fullest potential yet, but come the summer I think she’ll understand it a lot more. However, I have heard her imitating the phonics game which is encouraging.

3. Books

It’s old but true, you can’t go wrong with a nice book, or if it’s a special occasion a book collection. We’ve both bought and received the Angelina Ballerina set, which is lovely.

4. Paints

Erin loves painting. I like to find new and interesting (read: CLEAN) ways for her to exercise this hobby. These paint wands are good fun.

5. Play Doh

A big tub with play doh and all manner of tools is a great choice for a two year old. Santa bought one for Erin at christmas and she loves it.

6. Tent/Wendy House

I love watching kids playing ‘houses’ or ‘mummies and daddies’, it’s the cutest. Any tent or wendy house can act as home/shop/vets clinic/doctors office/army bunker/and anythingelse our kids care to think up. You can’t beat imaginitive play – we’ve had plenty of use from our ninky nonk already.

7. A Play Phone

Heard yesterday ” ehlo….yes……kay…..juice….toys…..byeeeeee”. My two year old daughter taking a phone call from whoever…iggle piggle perhaps??

8. Baby Dolls (and accompanying paraphenalia)

Two year olds make suprisingly good parents…until they accidently drop baby, while trying to carry two balls, a boat, a handful of play food and a tombliboo.

9. Personalised plates, bowls and cutlery

If you want to buy something ‘sensible’, plates, bowls and cutlery are always handy.

10. Musical Instruments

This is a long standing favourite. A piano and stool have been the latest addition to the collection.