Orchard Toys have been one of our favourite toy brands since the boys were young. The games and puzzles are so good for helping children learn and pick up valuable skills while they play, and it’s great to be able to revisit some of the their toddler and preschool range again with N. She is the perfect age at 2.5 to get started with more of these kind of activities, so I was excited to try out some of the new Orchard toys games and puzzles with her.
We were sent a great selection of Orchard Toys products, including newly released game Let’s go Lotto, an alphabet game, and puzzles for the older and younger kids in our family.
Look and Find Shape Puzzles
This is a really cute set with two 12 piece puzzles. One is set out with a grid showing 12 different shapes, and the other features an underwater picture which incorporates all of these shapes for your little one to find once they have put the picture together.
This is a great concept, to keep the fun and learning continuing once the puzzles have been completed, and give you lots to talk about together with your child. The picture puzzle is easier to put together because it’s one big image whereas with the shape grid puzzle we found it helped to copy the image on the box, or you can play a game where you ask your child “can you find me a square” or a triangle or heart and so on, to help put it together as a team.
Its a great way to reinforce learning shapes in a fun and playful way, and N enjoyed matching them up between the two puzzles.
Alphabet Lotto
This is a great game with many different layers as it can be played in four different ways. You can either match picture to picture, letter to letter, picture to letter, or letter to picture. This enables you to tailor the difficulty level appropriately to your child, and to extend the game once matching picture to picture or letter to letter becomes easy for them.
Within the game, you get five colourful boards, and these are double sided so one side has a selection of letters as you seen below and the other side has a variety of pictures. Along with these, you get the letter and picture tiles to match up which are colourful and thick strong quality cardboard.
You can play this game in a structured way by taking turns, or with younger toddlers it can be done as a less structured activity. N goes to a Phonics Stay and Play sometimes, near to our home, and they use this game in the class so I knew it was a good activity to try at home. She is only 2 so I have preferred to play this in quite open ended way with N, letting her pick up cards and try to match them while we discuss together. It also works really well to take just a smaller selection of letters, and one or two boards at a time to work on.
Let’s Go Lotto
Let’s Go Lotto is brilliant as a first game to get young ones understanding how to take turns and follow along with the concept of a game. This game is a bit easier than the Alphabet Lotto above, as the children only need to match the pictures so it’s more manageable for N to focus on the process of playing the game, and following the rules. She really enjoyed this game, and each round is quite short so it’s really suitable for children of her age.
The concept is really cute, each player gets their form of transport and has to correctly pick up the right passengers (the are4 upside down during play) to match and fill up their transport – whether that’s plane, train, ship or bus. Then they need to get the correct ticket, to be the winner of the game.
Map of UK and Ireland 150 Piece Puzzle
Although Orchard Toys have a strong focus on the younger children, there is still something for the bigger ones too. Z (10) really enjoyed putting together the map of the Uk and Ireland, and there are other 150 piece puzzles available too.
As well as helping with logical puzzle skills, this is a great educational puzzle to help children refresh their UK geography. It has a colourful design with local landmarks, foods, animals all shown. A different colour is used for each part of the UK, and Ireland, to help with putting it together and recognising the borders.
It also has some sections around the edges with extra images for each country, to help break up the expanse of the sea. Once finished the puzzle is quite large, and is great quality as with all Orchard Toys puzzles. 
Visit OrchardToys.com to find out more about these products, and the others in their huge range!
Anna Marikar, mum of four and seasoned blogger, has spent over a decade sharing her parenting journey and passion for kid-friendly crafts and free printables.
Her easy-to-follow craft ideas and practical parenting advice have transformed In The Playroom into a cherished resource for parents.
I love how Orchard Toys continue to provide educational and enjoyable games for kids of all ages. The Look and Find Shape Puzzles sound like a fun way to reinforce shape learning, and the Alphabet Lotto seems like a versatile game to adapt as kids grow. The Let’s Go Lotto is perfect for teaching turn-taking. Great choices!