ethical toys

Our Toadstool Wishlist

By in Gift Guides & Seasonal 25 Comments Tags: , , , , ,

toadstoollogoThe Toadstool is an independent toy shop selling a variety of beautiful and educational toys. The Toadstool specialises mainly in Wooden toys and ethical toys, and has some really lovely things which you won’t find on the high street.

Over the past year, The Toadstool has been working with several ToadTester bloggers to try out and showcase some of their range of toys. I’ve enjoyed reading these reviews, and it hasn’t been easy to choose the final toys for my Toadstool wishlist as there are so many I love the look of! But here are some I think my boys would enjoy:

Toadstool Wishlist
  1. Janod – DIY My Workbench – I chose this as it looks such a cut above from any of the basic plastic tool sets the boys have had in the past. I think this is something that would span all of their age ranges well (from 2-5 years) and be suitable for playing together. All the extra details like the clock, the chalkboard, and the magnetism would give them more to explore. As well as fuelling their curiosity about making and building things, it would also help with their fine motor skills as they work with the tools.
  2. Hape Bamboo Geomix Puzzle – This is such a beautiful toy. I love the colours of the wood and I can see this being quite relaxing to play with. Again, it’s something which could be used by all of the children in different ways depending on their stage. Mr Z (5) loves maths, he loves making patterns and he could use this to experiment with patterns and shapes. Mr T and Mr R (3 and 2) would be able to use it for colour matching and making basic shapes and pictures.
  3. Wonderworld Trix Tracks – This is something I had noticed a while ago after seeing the reviews and always loved the look of. My boys love any kind of marble runs or ball tracks, something about it just seems to have them captivated! We do have marble runs already but this seems quite different. I think they would love the cool features like the stairs for the marble to travel down.
  4. Plan Toys Chalet Dolls House – I chose this as a dolls house is something the boys have never had, but I think it would provide a lot of play value and really doesn’t have to be a girl’s only toy! I love that the dolls houses on The Toadstool website are all very gender neutral which offers a much better solution to me than the totally pink versions you see in many stores. What I particularly like about the Plan Toys Chalet house is that it looks very open and it seems like there would be space for two children to play there together. I can picture Mr R (2) and Mr T (3) playing and it would be good to help develop their role playing skills.
  5. Hape Bamboo Pallina Game – This is something that would be great for Mr Z (5) and Mr T (3) to play. I used to love playing Kerplunk when I was little so I was really interested when I saw this as it seems like a similar but much more beautifully made and eco friendly version. We already have some Hape toys at home and it’s a brand that I would trust. This game would be great for concentration, fine motor skills and concentration – as well as being fun of course!
  6. Brio Metro Set – This is something I know that all the boys would love. We have a lot of Brio already and our wooden railway is without a doubt the most used toy in our house (see here for some of our past Brio reviews) I love that Brio sets tend to be more innovative and different from all the others. I’m actually still torn between this one and the Monorail which is equally as cool – I’m thinking of buying one of these for Mr T’s birthday which is coming up in December.
  7. Haba – My First Feeling and Touching Game – Haba is another brand that I really like and trust. One of Mr R’s favourite toys is the Haba Fire Brigade Playset (review here) This game looks like it would be a great first game for him as it is suitable for 2+. I like the look of how tactile and interactive it is.

What do you think of my selection? Is there anything that stands out to your the most, or what would your child like from The Toadstool? Have a look on the website and let me know your ideas in the comments!

Also check out my Pinterest board, if you want to pin any of my suggested toys (I may have got a little carried away and added a few more!)

This is my entry for the Toadstool Christmas Wishlist. To find out more about the competition have a look here.

The Fairy and the Frog
Post Comment Love

Lanka Kade Alphabet Dinosaur Puzzle from Junior Scholars

By in Toy Reviews 10 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , ,

lanka kade dinosaur alphabet puzzle from junior scholarsIn case you missed it, I recently posted about our day at the Junior Scholars blogging event in Watford. The children were given the chance to take an item each to review at home. Mr T did not hesitate to make his choice: The Lanka Kade Dinosaur Alphabet Puzzle.

This is a wooden Fair Trade product made from sustainable rubberwood and painted with safe non toxic paint. You can definitely tell that it is a good quality product and very well made. Each piece is thick and chunky and there are no rough edges, chips or imperfections anywhere on the puzzle.

We do have a couple of Lanka Kade products already and it’s a company I really like, as our family is half Sri Lankan its nice to support great ethical Sri Lankan companies like this so I was pleased to see Junior Scholars stocking a wide range of the Lanka Kade puzzles. (See the full range here)

Mr T chose the puzzle due to the dinosaur design as he is keen on dinosaurs and he seemed to like the large size of the puzzle. Once we got it home, all 3 of the boys have enjoyed playing with it (age 2, 3 and 5)

Lanka kade dinosaur puzzleMr T and Mr R don’t yet know their alphabet but by working out where the pieces fitted together they were able to complete the puzzle, and Mr Z (5) was able to complete it very quickly as he does know his alphabet. He enjoyed using the puzzle to teach some of the letters to the younger ones. I can see the younger two (age 3 and 2) getting more play from the puzzle over time as it challenged them more.

lanka kade dino puzzleIt’s a lovely puzzle to help familiarise them with their letters in a fun way.

The only improvement I would say with Lanka Kade puzzles is that it would be good to have a storage tray or box to come with them. We do have a turtle one, which we got from a relative who bought it in Sri Lanka, which comes in a tray so its easier to keep all the pieces together but with the ones you find in the UK you do need to find your own way of storing them. We keep ours in a basket, but any storage boxes or even zip lock bags could work.

The large dinosaur puzzle is £14.99 from Junior Scholars which I would say is good value, and you can get the same puzzle in the number version if you prefer. Junior Scholars also have some really cute small Lanka Kade puzzles which would be great for stocking fillers at Christmas:

Lanka Kade Puzzle Stocking Fillers from Junior Scholars

Lanka Kade Puzzle Stocking Fillers from Junior Scholars by intheplayroom on Polyvore

Have you tried Lanka Kade puzzles before? Let me know what you think in the comments.

Brainbox ABC – Review

By in Toy Reviews 9 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , ,

We were recently sent ABC from Brainbox games from the Green board game co. This is a ten minute brain challenge game recommended for age 4+, so it was ideal for my 4 year old to test out and he was very excited to get started.

brainbox abc

The Brainbox ABC box contains a sand timer, 1 die and 53 cards. There is a card for every letter of the alphabet plus others for two letter combinations producing the same sound at the start of each word – like “ch” “sh” “cr” “sl”

On every card the letter or sound is written prominently and there are several pictures of things starting with that sound. You use the sand timer and look at the pictures until the time runs out, then turn over the card and roll the dice. There are six questions on the back, so if you roll 1 then ask question 1, roll 2 for question 2 etc. It is quite simple and my 4 year old very quickly and easily picked up these rules. The questions on the back test how much information has been retained from looking at the card.

As as example, the card “Dr” has pictures of a dress, a drink, a dragon and a drum. The child could be asked

  • What’s the main colour of the drum?
  • Does the dress have short or long sleeves?
  • Is the glass less than half full?
  • What colour is the straw in the glass?
  • How many words beginning with “dr” are shown?
  • What is the main colour of the card?

brainbox abc

The first couple of cards my son didn’t always get the answers but he soon realised he has to pay a lot of attention when looking and he quickly managed to improve his skills with it and he did really well and retained loads of the info so he was getting most of them right (and feeling pretty pleased with himself too).

This activity helps to improve children’s concentration, memory and recall skills, as well as reinforcing the letters and sounds. I like that the cards feature the combination sounds, as that is something it took my little boy slightly longer to get than the single letters and when sounding out words which do have two consonants at the start, it is easy for them to miss out the 2nd letter – eg snake, and he would miss the ‘n’. I have been told this is quite a common problem so focusing on these combinations is brilliant. It all helps develop their phonological awareness.

I also found this game quite handy for getting my little boy to practise his reading without him really noticing and feeling that he was doing a lot of work. After he had taken quite a few turns with the cards, I suggested that we should take it in turns so I ask him a question then I will roll and he asks me a question. Of course he then has to read the question himself. Although he is progressing quite well with his reading, he can be slightly reluctant at times. At first he did say “you read it mum” but after explaining to him that if I read it then I will be cheating because it’s my question and I must not look at the card then he was more eager to make sure I don’t see it and read it himself.

This was a great game for him, and definitely ideal for his age and stage. He found it fun and I was very happy with the educational benefits of it, so a win-win situation. I also really like the box, its very compact and handy and snaps closed with a magnet in the front fold of the box.

brainbox abc

I also found the cards good for my 3 year old. Not to play the game in a structured way as he is not at the level to do that yet, but he was quite interested in the cards and wanted to look at the cards and attempt to repeat the words. (For any readers not aware of my family, my 3 year old has very delayed speech due to Verbal Dyspraxia and Autism). Anything which encourages him to vocalise and make an attempt at more speech is a definite thumbs up from me and he was quite interested in seeing what his older brother was doing with these cards. I was able to use some of the questions with him, not using the timer or expecting him to memorise, but just using them as a prompt while looking at the card, and he was then able to point at his answer or try to say the word he wanted. I was actually very impressed with how well he did with these!

I would say the game is pretty versatile and flexible in this way. It can be used and adapted for the stage your child is at and they will still get benefit out of it. If your child is slightly older and more advanced, then they can play as a written challenge where after turning over the card they have to quickly write down the answers to all 6 questions and see how high they score.

This is the first game we have tried from BrainBoxGames, and I am very pleased with it and will definitely keep them in mind for the future. On the BrainBoxGames website you can actually play some of the games online! This is a very interesting feature to help you out if you are not sure which one to buy, so well worth having a look.