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Traditional Toys With A Personal Touch From Peekboo Pets
Peekaboo Pets produce a wide range of soft toys designed specially to encourage role play and to give children the tools to create imaginative settings whilst being emerged within a World of make believe. Peekaboo Pets produce a range of unique and individual plush toys which include a personalised poem.
Mums Baby Magazine was sent Buttons the Rabbit, a beautiful cotton plush ‘Peekboo Pet’ which we gave to a toddler tester for review 
purposes. Whilst our toddler seemed rather taken with cuddling this beautiful rabbit, we found that the elder generations present were also very impressed by the simplistic and traditional design implemented by Peekboo Pets.
Peekboo Pets use material varying in a wide range of patterns and styles. However, many of their products tend to make use of simplistic, block and stripe patterns which tend to appeal more so to younger children due to the contrasting colours and shades.
Measuring approximately 43cm x 23cm, Buttons the Rabbit is made from soft cotton material usually used to produce socks. Many toys available on the market these days tend to be mass produced and lack originality whereas Peekboo Pets are completely unique and with the added personalisation, through the form of a poem (printed upon natural card using stylish fonts) Peekboo Pets provide the ideal gift solution for special occasions.
Mums Baby Magazine give Peekboo Pets 9/10. Buttons the Rabbit retails at £16.50 from www.peekaboogifts4kids.co.uk along with a wide range of other plush toys and gifts.
The Ideal Alternative to a Dolls House:The Pin Toy Fire Station & Accessories
Our World is fast paced and over complicated, our children are now exposed to endless interference from modern technology which can leave little time for imaginative play.
It is important that as parents we encourage and take part in imaginative play with our children in order to aid the development of their creativity and problem solving. By offering our children simple toys such as dolls houses to play with, they are able to participate in non restricted, imaginative play in which they can make up their own scenarios, stories and games in a personalised, miniature World.
Manufactured, plastic toys are often made to be over complicated in design and tend to have defined purposes which detract from enabling your little one to personalise their play. When selecting toys to encourage imaginative and creative play try to ensure that they are simple in design, sturdy (to 
withstand heavy handed, excitable toddlers) and large enough to allow contents to be moved around as your little one personalises their preferences for play.
Strive to nurture your child’s ability to engage in creative play by offering your little one your time and support as they play, this will also help to build their confidence and self belief. Try to spend time with your child as they play, listen to what they have to say, observe and try to understand what is happening, give your child plenty of reassurance through positive gestures such as nods and smiles, try talk to your little one and discuss the ideas that they present throughout play.
Dolls Houses are the ideal, simplistic toy for creative, imaginative, role play. Although dolls houses can be used by either gender sadly, many boys tend to miss out on the opportunity to use dolls houses to stimulate their imagination as dolls houses are generally aimed more towards the young female gender stereotype. Mums Baby Magazine found the perfect solution to this problem: The Pin Toy ‘Fire Station’ is a beautiful, simplistic, wooden fire station which offers young girls and boys the chance to get involved in alternative ‘dolls house play’.
The Pin Toy Wooden Fire Station is sturdy and large enough for a range of contents (which are included in the set). The Pin Toy Fire Station is open plan and can be played with from either side, this fire station set is roomy, enabling space for several sets of little hands to get involved in creative play.
The Pin Toy Fire Station can be picked up and moved easily (although it is quite heavy and therefore should only be moved by an adult) using the carry handle featured in the roof of the fire station.
This beautiful fire station features two floors which are connected by a ‘fire mans pole’, an archway entry door on the bottom floor for firemen to come and go and two large ‘flip’ doors for fire engines to exit promptly during an emergency.
A wooden ramp is also included with the Pin Toy Fire Station which can be placed against the emergency doors for fire engines to exit smoothly.
The accessories included with the Pin Toy Fire Station include:
- Table and two chairs
- Computer Desk and Swivel chair (this chair actually turns!)
- Bunk Beds and two red pillows
- Small shelving unit
- Locker (each locker can be opened)
- Satellite Dish which can be placed on the roof of the Fire Station.
Mums Baby Magazine put the Pin Toy Fire Station and Accessories to the test with a toddler that greatly enjoys creative play. Within minutes of presenting our toddler with this item he was emerged in imaginative play. We gave our toddler space to explore the Pin Toy Fire Station and Accessories and were fascinated as we watched him move the contents to his desired location, personalising his play.
We noticed that without characters to represent particular roles (the firemen) our toddler was a little frustrated and therefore we introduced four firemen figures and a fire engine. Although the figures and fire engine that we used weren’t specifically designed to accompany this set, our toddler didn’t seem to notice or mind. The beauty of imaginative play with young children is that they often chose to include items which aren’t necessarily designed to accompany the item in use. Our toddler choose to include his farm set whilst using the Pin Toy Fire Station & Accessories. Soon enough there seemed to be a fire in the barn which needed attending do at once!
Pin Toy have designed and produced firemen characters and a fire engine to accompany the Fire station & Accessories. The Pin Toy Fire Engine and Fire-fighters can be purchased separately from www.toysdirect.com
Our toddler seemed to be mesmerised by the Pin Toy Fire Station & Accessories and has since spent many hours creating endless differing scenarios and stories, building his imagination and problem solving skills.
Mums Baby Magazine give the Pin Toy Fire Station & Accessories 10/10. The Pin Toy Fire Station & Accessories are the ideal simplistic, imaginative play stimulus which enables young children to be creative on a large scale.
Suitable for children three years and over, The Pin Toy Fire Station is a fantastic alternative to a dolls house. This beautiful, naturalistic toy is designed to offer hours of entertaining, creative play for both girls and boys.
The Pin Toy Fire Station and Accessories are available from www.toysdirect.com for £58.54 (including VAT).
Getting crafty with money!
Money for many is a little tighter than usual with the current ‘credit crunch’. Recycling needn’t mean simply sorting your trash into separate bins for disposal, why not make use of those empty tins, bottles and boxes by making them into something useful which can provide endless hours of fun for your little one.
Here are some ideas for getting crafty and saving some pennies in the long run.
Kitchen Rolls and Toilet Rolls
Save used kitchen and toilet rolls, stick them together to create a super long tube and then allow your little one to sit and decorate this with stickers or paint. Not only does this give you and your child one to one time but it encourages their creativity and demonstrates physically to your child how to turn trash into toys!
Once your tube is complete, select a small ball or match box car to roll down the tube (we used wooden eggs!). Tilt the tube by placing it upon an elevated object such as a table. Heights of the tube can be altered thus increasing or decreasing speed of the rolling object. You could make this even more interesting for your little one and cut holes into the tube so that they can then see the cars/ objects rolling.
Empty Boxes
Cardboard boxes can provide unlimited fun for the imaginative child. A cardboard box could become a car, a boat, a dolls house, a garage, a castle, , a mailbox, a jigsaw, a train, a pair of whacky shoes, a small kitchen hob or even a puppet theatre. Simply use some tape, some paint and some creativity to create something which your child can use. Ensure that you involve your child in the ‘messy work’ as they will love this probably just as much as playing with the end result. We transformed a simple cardboard box and an old tea towel into a colourful puppet theatre by adding paint and some wool on which to hang the curtains.
Empty Bottles
Bottles can be used in allsorts of ways to provide entertainment for your little one. Perhaps you fancy making a ‘lava lamp’ with your little one. Simply fill the bottle with lemonade, the food colouring of your choice and some sultanas/ raisons. Screw the lid on tight and watch as the raisons travel up and down just like a lava lamp would.
Alternatively why not create some bottle characters. Simply decorate your bottle as a person using as many different media types as you fancy. If the end result isn’t perfect then why worry? It was all fun in the long run!
Perhaps you could make something for ‘Mum’’. Why not design a bottle vase? Bottles can be cut and used to create rocket ships, chimneys, paperweights, bird feeding stations, scenes in a bottle…or anything your imagination allows! We found some really good ideas for crafting using bottles here .
Baby Food Jars
Baby Food Jars needn’t be thrown instantly into the recycling, they could easily become an air freshener, a snow globe, a candle holder, a desk tidy, a coin box or perhaps a sand jar (using colourful sands).
Plastic Bags
Although many of us tend to reuse plastic bags within shops, if you find that your bag is no longer in good condition for this purpose then why not turn your bag into a flag or a windsock?
Newspaper
Newspaper has so many uses other than for reading, it is worth keeping a box of used newspapers handy, especially if you have little ones. Firstly newspaper can be used to protect table tops during painting or crafting sessions. Secondly newspaper can be cut and made into outfits, hats and many other accessories.
Newspaper can be shredded and mixed with wallpaper paste and water to create papier-mâché, this can be spread onto surfaces such as balloons or cardboard pieces to create papier-mache masks or scenes which can later be painted once dry.
Rather than regarding your rubbish as just that, consider what it could be and get creative with your little one. Not only will you spend quality time creating items but you will in turn educate your child upon how items can be recycled alternatively, create items which can be used for play which could alternatively cost money and most importantly you and your little ones will have great fun in the process.
Driving children’s imagination with the Le Toy Van Le Grande Garage and London Car Set.
Suitable from three years upwards, Le Grande Garage from Le Toy Van is a fine, three storey garage combining traditional materials with a modern day design.
Mums Baby Magazine put the Le Toy Van Le Grande Garage and Le Toy Van London Car Set to the test with an imaginative toddler.
Firstly we began by putting the Le Grande Garage together (this item arrives as a flat pack). It took us just under one hour to fix together. We found the instructions 
to be clear and easy to follow. However, we would suggest that if you are considering purchasing this item as a gift for your little one, then it might be worth spending the time putting it together beforehand.
Included in the Le Toy Van Garage set is one car, one helicopter (with spinning blades) and one petrol pump all of which are wooden. The petrol pump includes two pumps which are similar to wooden pegs which can be inserted into a hole featured upon the car. This particular feature is one which our little tester really seemed to be captured and impressed by.
The Le Toy Van Le Grande Garage uses bright colours to clearly outline car parking spaces, roundabouts and roads which cars can be manoeuvred around. Each storey of the garage is connected by plastic, ridged ramps which children are able to push cars up and down. Le Grande Garage also features a fully working lift which can be moved easily by turning a wooden cog attached to the side of the lift shaft. Cars tend not to fall out of this lift as a small ramp is situated in the centre of the ramp to hold cars securely in the lift box.
A helipad has been clearly painted onto the roof of the lift shaft, providing the ideal space on which to place the helicopter when not in use.The garage level signs (included on the upper levels of Le Grande Garage) and price sign all use a ‘wooden peg insert’ which children can easily remove and move around during play. However, we would recommend suggesting that these signs are played with carefully as too much movement can cause marking upon the wooden insert.
Le Toy Van also manufacture a range of cars which are designed specifically to accompany the Le Toy Van Le Grande Garage. Each vehicle within the London Car Set also features the hole in which to place the Le Toy Van Le Grande Garage petrol pump. The London Car Set features seven vehicles:
A Taxi Cab- A Fire Engine
- A Police Van
- An Ambulance
- A Mini Cooper
- A Double Decker Bus
- A Red Race Car
The vehicles move smoothly upon the Le Toy Van Le Grande Garages surfaces and roll nicely down the ramps featured upon the garage. However, a few of the vehicles are a little ‘top heavy’ and fall off when rolled down the ramps. Our little tester actually found vehicles becoming unsteady rather exciting, suddenly the helicopter came into action to ‘save the day’ and the Le Toy Van Le Grande Garage became the perfect setting for a toddlers imaginative rescue scene. We were a little disappointed to find that the wind screens of these vehicles were actually stuck on and could easily be removed during play.
The Le Toy Van London Car Set completes the Le Toy Van Le Grande Garage, making it seem more realistic and relating directly to children’s recognition and understanding of common transport vehicles. However, the Le Toy Van Le Grande Garage can be used with other makes and models of toy vehicles. Although, in our opinion it would simply be a shame not to have ‘petrol pump’ compatible vehicles to accompany this beautiful garage.
Although both the Le Grande Garage and the London Car Set are both made using wood, they each feature aspects which Mums Baby Magazine feel could be improved. As previously mentioned the London Car Set vehicles make use of stickers (for the windscreens) and the ramps and barriers featured upon the Le Grande Garage are made from plastic. It is a shame that these aspects aren’t wooden therefore making these products 100% wood.
Measuring 570mm (width) x 430mm (depth) x 340mm (height), the Le Toy Van Le Grande Garage is an impressive toy which encourages hours of imagination driven play. Le Toy Van also manufacture rugs featuring roads and buildings which the Le Grande Garage can be placed upon, extending play further.
Due to the Le Grande Garage and London Car Set’s robust design and materials used, these toys are built to last and therefore can handed down from generation to generation. Mums Baby Magazine give the Le Toy Van Le Grande Garage and Le Toy Van London Car Set 9/10.
The Le Toy Van Le Grande Garage and London Car Set can be purchased separately or as a package from many stockists, all of which you can find at the www.letoyvan.com website.
Traditional Toys From The Toy Barn at Millstones: The Big Jigs Sorting Blocks Lorry
Suitable from ages two upwards, the Sorting Blocks Lorry is the ideal wooden toy for developing dexterity, hand-eye coordination, motor skills and understanding of first shapes and colours.
The Sorting Blocks Lorry is chunky, thus great for little hands to push around and put together (using the tow bar) . The roof of the lorry features four cut outs in which shapes (a circle, a triangle, a square and a plus sign) can be inserted.
The roof easily opens with a smooth hinge so that little ones are able to extract the wooden shapes and start all over again.
Mums Baby Magazine put the Sorting Blocks Lorry to the test with an active and knowledgeable two year old. He was instantly able to sort the shapes into the correct slots, as it is something that most children of two years have been practicing for some time using alternative ‘infant age recommended’ shape sorting toys. Therefore, we would like to suggest that this toy is actually suitable for ages nine months and upwards. However, due to the weight of this toy we recommend that a parent supervises at all times.
Our toddler greatly enjoyed opening and shutting the lid of the lorry to remove the 
shapes. He also took pleasure in lifting the back of the lorry from the cab and replacing it back onto the tow bar, in turn practicing threading/ stacking skills.
The Big Jigs Sorting Blocks Lorry is made from 100% varnished wood, including the wheels which turn easily and drive smoothly on most surfaces. Each corner has been smoothed and the cab itself features a curved windshield. Although this product is fairly simple in design, there has been thought put into the detail of the cab by including a 3d character to drive the lorry. Windows, doors, lights, grills and hub caps have been painted onto the lorry using non-toxic child safe paints.
Mums Baby Magazine were impressed with the quality and detail of this product, we especially value it’s multipurpose educational values thus give the Big Jigs Sorting Block Lorry 7/10.
The Sorting Blocks Lorry is just one of literally hundreds of traditional wooden toys on sale at The Toybarn, Millstones. Ecommerce sales are available from Summer 2011 so be sure to bookmark the site ready for gift shopping!
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