Toy Reviews

Lite Brite is a classic toy with so much fun and creativity. This nostalgic toy is available in the classic large size, and also now in a mini format which makes it easy to take your Lite Brite fun on the go. Both sizes are something that can be enjoyed by all ages, from my 4 year old up to my eleven year old. It is traditional open ended play, and it is so relaxing to take some time out and create a beautiful light up design – whether you follow some of the suggested templates included, or go freestyle with your own ideas.

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Do you remember Moon Shoes from your childhood? This fun and active outdoor toy is back, and is now available from Smyths Toys so that you can introduce your kids to the crazy fun of mini trampolines for their feet.

Moon shoes are something a bit different, and can be used in all kinds of creative ways – if you have a pair each, you can have a moon shoes jumping race, or try skipping with moon shoes on. Jumping forwards, backwards, and defying gravity.

The original Moon Shoes were created in the 1950, and became the Iconic anti-gravity device powered by kids! With Moon Shoes, kids have incredible fun as they jump with anti-gravity effects while developing balance and coordination.

Original 1950s Moon Shoes were made with metal, of course time has moved on and today’s moon shoes are a much more updated version made from quality, high-density plastic, with adjustable VELCRO brand nylon closure straps. Moon Shoes feature a self-centering shoe platform with non-skid grip surface for sure-footed, high-bouncing thrills.

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Cheeky Monsters is a brand-new series of pre-school storybooks and cuddly toys. Each Cheeky Monster has an illustrated storybook telling a story of adventure, fun and mischief, and a soft cuddly toy for kids to bring the stories to life and to create their own Cheeky Monsters tale, unlocking their curiosity and creativity.

This new pre-school character brand was created by children’s brand specialist and former Disney Marketing Director, Anna Breese-Davies. Anna was inspired by her daughter, with her purple glasses, fabulous ginger-coloured hair, and continual curiosity of the world, and is the little girl featured in the Cheeky Monsters storybooks.

There are five different Cheeky Monsters to collect and each new Cheeky Monster has their very own distinct personality, colour, hobbies and horns! With Violet the Superstar, Drago the Super Scientist, Rocky the Road Racer, Spike the Expert Explorer and Glitter the Disco Dancer, all the characters have one thing in common…being Cheeky Monsters!

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Spring is here, and toysandbears.com have some brilliant toys and games available to keep the children busy, and also help with their development and learning. We tried out the Life Cycle Wheel, which is very different from other toys I’ve seen before. It is a unique idea, which makes life cycles really easy for children to understand in a hands on simple way.

The set is made up of a wheel, with a magnifying window, and six sets of five cards which take you through all the life cycle stages of various organisms like caterpillar to butterfly, the stages of a puppy growing into a dog, an apple into an apple tree and more.

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Orchard Toys have so many brilliant games to help support children’s learning and development. Over the years, I have played many of these games with each of my children as they are such a fun and simple way to help reinforce all of the learning concepts that they need as they go through school.

We were sent the following games which have all been ideal for my 4 year old daughter N. She loves playing games and doesn’t even realise that while she is having fun playing, she is also practising so many important skills.

All four of these games from Orchard Toys are ideal for working on numeracy skills and are perfect for children like N who will be starting reception in September.

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Rainbow Colours is a brilliant educational tool which introduces children to the concept of playing music in such a fun and accessible way, while also keeping them active. We were sent the Giant Piano to review, and this has been great fun for the kids both indoors and outdoors.

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We love the Magicube range from Geomag. My 4 year old daughter N has enjoyed many products from the Magicube range over the past couple of years, and they are toys which are continuously pulled out and played with again and again by N, and her friends. We recently tried the Magicube Animal Shapes set, which is something a little different from our other Magicube sets but just as fun.

Smart-playing has always been at the heart of the Swiss-based brand, Geomag, who promote learning by playing activity through ingenious magnetic toys.  It’s common sense that learning by playing is necessary for our children but making it fun can be challenging! Currently unable to play with friends and with screen time most likely to be dominating their daily lives, a variety of developmental skills and their ability to partake in exciting experiments is limited. But with parents spending more time at home too, the new Magicube Shapes magnetic construction toys are a powerful tool to develop those skills together.

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Playmobil is a fantastic toy for imaginary play, allowing children to explore different worlds and get lost in stories and their imagination. My 4 year old daughter N loves Playmobil, and her brothers also used to love these toys when they were younger. We were sent a couple of products from the Playmobil Zoo range to review, and these are already well loved in our house, so we were not disappointed.

The toys from the Playmobil Zoo range that we tried out, are the Lion Enclosure (above left) and the Zoo gift set (right). As with all Playmobil, these can be easily mixed and matched and combined with any other sets you want to get from the range, to expand your playful world.

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