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Sisters in Partnership- The Toy Barn at Millstones
Rachel Fallows originally worked within Finance and Admin at a Children’s Centre based in Millom, Cumbria. Whilst having a cup of coffee at Millstones Barn Cafe, Rachel and her sister noticed a ‘For Rent’ sign within part of the Millstones Barn Establishment and began to ponder upon future possibilities within the retail sector. Soon enough Rachel’s pipedreams became reality and ‘The Toy Barn’ began early development stages.
Rachel and her sisters Andrea Fleming and Karen Stewart came together as a partnership to run the business, each taking a significant role within The Toy Barn. The Toy Barn was officially opened in October 2010 and has since had an excellent trade record, being popular with local residents and tourists within the Lakes.
Originally a Bakery, The Toy Barn occupies a large section of the Millstones Barn Buildings. Millstones Barn also houses two other businesses: ‘The Millstones Barn Cafe’ which focuses primarily upon healthy, nutritious foods which are homemade, locally sourced and served within a beautiful restored barn house setting, and ‘The Millstones Barn Food and Gifts Shop’ which sell an eclectic range of locally sourced goods. Together, under one roof these three businesses compliment each other through their common goals of retailing unique, locally sourced, natural products.
Open Tuesdays- Sundays (also open on Mondays during the school holidays and on bank holidays), The Toy Barn at Millstones sells a wide range of quality wooden toys and gifts for babies from manufacturers such as
Big Jigs - Moulin Roty
- Lanka Kade (a Fair-Trade company that deals with products made in Sri Lanka)
- East of India Baby Gifts
- The Puppet Company
Rachel actively encourages local residents to put forward products to sell which they may specialise within such as fine arts, jewellery and woodcraft. The Toy Barn currently stock a range of locally sourced products which are original and beautifully designed, making the ideal gifts for special occasions.
Wooden toys are not only traditional but far more robust and reusable, as wood tends to last therefore can be handed down from generation to generation.
The Toy Barn sell a wide range of wooden toys and gifts including personalised name plaques, jigsaws, dolls houses, train sets, rocking horses, puppets, soft toys, children’s jewellery, hobby horses, traditional books, and baby gifts to name a few.
The Toy Barn supports local charities such as ‘Haverigg Nursery’, by 
providing retail parties in order to raise funds for the nursery and to enable local residents to access the Toy Barn’s products. The Toy Barn also attended the local Millom Christmas Market, The Haverigg Kite Festival and have recently joined Egremont Fair-Trade Markets which take place once a month (usually on the first Friday of each month). Rachel and her sisters plan to continue holding local parties and events within the future which you can access information upon through The Toy Barns Facebook page.
Although The Toy Barn is currently based within The Lakes (Bootle, Millom), there are future plans to open an online shop (during Summer 2011) which Mums Baby Magazine will keep you posted upon!
Mums Baby Magazine would like to wish Rachel, Andrea and Karen all the best for the future of The Toy Barn and we look forward to hearing more upon it’s development and progress.
Music Matters, Put the Fun into Multifunctional with the Marbel ‘Melody Mix’ Wooden Instrument Set.
Music is an incredible tool for learning which links to all other subject areas throughout life in some way or form. Even before your child is physically born they are exposed to the steady beating of your heart, as babies develop in the womb they are able to hear sounds from the outside including Music. Research has shown that Music played during a pregnancy can influence a child’s mood later in life. If a child becomes familiar with a particular pattern of rhythm or a particular set of instruments during early development, this can become soothing for them as they progress throughout life.
Recent research has found results that show that listening to Mozart’s Music can aid short-term improvement upon the performance of certain mental tasks known as ‘spatial- temporal reasoning’. It is therefore said that exposing your child to classical Music has a beneficial effort upon their mental development.
You can never introduce your child to Music too early, Music can be a soothing and therapeutic form of creative expression for your little one. Music can also be an incredible tool for learning, linking closely with mathematical skills. Activities such as clapping and beating a drum can be turned into learning opportunities for counting, by introducing tuned instruments such as xylophones or keyboards children are able to understand how pitch relates to ‘up and down’ and parents or carers can introduce physical games such as jumping and squatting.
As well as being beneficial for developing motor skills Music also helps to build understanding upon how to treat and respect particular materials and objects. For example, children must learn how to hold a drum stick and how to use it safely.
Musical Instruments are quite expensive to buy separately and can be easily mislaid or lost when tidying after a day of play with a toddler. The design of the Melody Mix Musical Set is based upon a single frame on which many instruments can be stored and held together. This Multifunctional, Simplistic, Musical Frame features ten instruments: a drum, a triangle, a set of chimes, a xylophone, a cymbal, a set of bells, a shaker, a double guiro, castanets, claves and a set of beaters for each aspect of this set.
Made from wood, the Marbel ‘Melody Mix’ Musical Set is colourful and easy to assemble. There are holes around the frame in which instruments can be placed. The four feet are sturdy and are symmetrical so that the frame can be flipped from the side featuring a xylophone to the other side which features a drum without removing or adjusting the feet.
Mums Baby Magazine put the Melody Mix to the test with a toddler. The chunky handles of the individual instruments are ideal for little fingers, our toddler found great pleasure in rattling and banging the instruments to create marvellous Music! Upon turning the frame over, our toddler was amazed to see that there was more to the Melody Mix than met the eye initially and she was excited to explore the differing pitches which she was able to create using the xylophone.
After creating a musical masterpiece, our toddler moved onto the shiny, cold, metallic chimes. Initially she didn’t understand that there was a need to use a beater and therefore found interest in using her fingers to move the chimes in order to create sound. After being shown an example of how to use the chimes correctly using a beater, she began to create melodic chiming and 
her learning could be seen before our eyes.
We were more than impressed with the Marbel ‘Melody Mix’ Music Set. We would like to suggest that not only is this an ideal instrument for little learners but the Melody Mix would also be an excellent classroom resource as each and every child could have access to all the ten instruments featured upon the Melody Mix frame without the usual ‘squabbles’ which take place when the Music Trolley is brought into the classroom and children are asked to choose particular instruments.
Mums Baby Magazine give the Melody Mix 10/10 for multifunctional, educational, creative learning for little ones. Suitable from three years upwards, the Marbel Melody Mix is avail
able from http://www.emutoys.com for £38.93. The Melody Mix Wooden Instrument Set combines a number of instruments together and is the ideal starting point for building ‘Musical Minds’.
The Healthy Eating Kitchen & Market Stall, The ONLY multifunctional Wooden Kitchen & Market Stall!
Role Play is a vital part of growing up. By mimicking the actions of others, children are able to learn how to conduct themselves and how to do everyday activities in order to build life skills and independence.
Popular toys to encourage and aid Role-Play include:
- Kitchens
- Shops
- Doctors/ Nurses Sets
- Gardening Tools (such as buckets, garden forks, spades etc)
- Cleaning Tools (such as washing machines, sweeping brushes, mops, ironing boards etc)
- Dressing Up Clothes and Accessories
- Toy Cars
- Miniature Prams/Buggies and Baby Dolls
- Puppet Theatres
Many of the toys listed above are available from www.kidstoyworld.co.uk. Most modern children’s toys are made using materials such as plastic, plastic is not particularly durable and can be easily broken thus isn’t built to last. The ideal material for durability and longevity is wood. Wood is a natural material which has a particular feel and smell which is far more attractive than plastic and stimulates the senses of young children more so than plastic. Wooden toys are heavier than plastic and children have to learn to respect the material and in turn learn how to handle materials safely which is a beneficial life skill. Many of the plastic, noisy toys tend to limit children’s imagination whereas wooden toys are more basic and require children to use their imagination in order to play.
Toys tend to take up space which is why many people choose to buy plastic as it is generally cheaper and therefore easier to throw away once used without the worry of a wasted cost. However, this leaves tons of landfill per year filled with mass produced, unwanted or damaged, cheap plastic toys which is environmentally damaging. Ideally, a toy should be multi-functional, therefore reducing the amount of toys and space required.
Suitable from ages three and above, the Millhouse Healthy Eating Kitchen & Market Stall is a prime example of a multi functional, wooden toy which promotes natural and healthy Role Play. Before this item was launched Marbel Toys produced the Cook, Shop and Play which was another example of a multifunctional wooden toy. 
However, this product has sadly been discontinued and therefore ‘The Healthy Eating Kitchen & Market Stall’ is the only multifunctional kitchen and market combined which is made from wood available on the market.
This award-winning kitchen and market stall is made from Beech melamine MDF and is painted with non toxic, child friendly paint. Millhouse specialise in the creation of innovative, sustainable wooden children’s toys and furniture. Made in the UK, their products are built to last and during the past year Millhouse have been award up to twelve industry awards!
Mums Baby Magazine put the Millhouse Healthy Eating Kitchen & Market Stall to the test. Firstly, upon opening the package we began to assemble this kitchen. The instructions were clear and overall this product was pretty easy to put together. This product was built from a flat pack in just under an hour and the finished product was stunning.
Simple in design, this toy has two alternative sides (one being a kitchen and the other the market) which can be used and easily turned around using wide carry handles. It is suggested than only adults should ever move this product as once built it is quite heavy.
The Kitchen features a beautiful green hob with two black hob tops on which to place pans and two buttons/ knobs which can turn so that children can adjust the temperature (using their imagination!). Underneath the cooker top there is an oven, the oven door has a carrot motif and is transparent 
so that children are able to check upon the progress of their cooking. The door has two safety features to prevent any accidents in the 
kitchen. Firstly there is a wooden stopper to ensure that the door has finger space when shut thus preventing any little fingers from being trapped. Secondly, there is a black strap between the door and the oven itself to prevent the oven door swinging open and causing an accident.
Inside the oven there are two shelves on which trays or 
wooden crates (which are provided with the ‘Healthy Eating Kitchen & Market Stall’) can be placed.
On the left hand side of the Healthy Eating Kitchen & Market Stall there are shelves on which food, cans, cooking utensils, or anything your little one wishes can be placed upon. These shelves are also wide enough to fit the two crates onto which are provided with The Healthy Eating Kitchen & Market Stall.
The crates provided with the Healthy Eating Kitchen & Market Stall are fairly big and can fit a wide range of items onto. They too have carry handles to enable safe carrying. These trays 
could be used for a number of things:
- Fruit/ Veg Stall Trays
- Trays to serve customers in the cafe food/ drink from.
- Trays to place in the oven when baking.
- Trays to place washing up/ drying onto.
Above the shelves there is a large Belfast sink which is deep enough to fit lots of 
‘washing up’ or even clothing to hand wash into. The tap can be set to be turned or it can remain stationary, this can be set during assembly of the Kitchen & Market Stall. On either side of the tap there is a red/ blue circle to symbolise hot and cold, another important lesson for children to learn.
Also provided with The Healthy Eating Kitchen & Market Stall is a Healthy Veg Growing Kit and Plant Pot Holder. This Healthy Veg Growing Kit contains four bags of seeds (lettuce, tomato, sweet 
corn and pepper), four plant pots, four compost soakers and 
four plant labels. However, the plant pot holder is only made to hold three plant pots which seems rather unusual considering that the kit comes with four pots and four plants. Many of the photos of the Healthy Eating Kitchen & Market stall available on the internet show the plant pot holder placed behind the kitchen hob and it does appear that it is connected to the kitchen. Actually the plant pot holder is not connected in any way and can be carried easily using the sturdy handle so children are able to take their plants into 
suitable places for growth (such as a greenhouse or upon a windowsill).
The Healthy Eating Kitchen & Market Stall is designed to promote a healthy life style, enabling children to learn where their food comes from and how to grow i
t independently. This is a skill which seems to have got lost over the years of ‘convenience and fast foods’.
Upon turning the Healthy Eating Kitchen & Market stall around there is a blackboard which can be used as a price list for items for sale, a menu for items in the cafe, a news board for the newsagents shop or simply as an area for drawing! The two shelves featured on the Kitchen side of this item can also be used as market shelves, as previously mentioned the two wooden crates which come with this item fit nicely onto these shelves.
We put the Healthy Eating Kitchen & Market Stall to the test with an active toddler who loves to play. Our toddler was instantly intrigued by the oven and began to explore the possibilities of this toy. She enjoyed lifting and carrying the trays, building motor skills, balance and general confidence through exploration and practice. Our toddler began to pretend to wash the pots and seemed to be instantly transported into a world of her own playing contently and independently.
Our only safety suggestion is to supervise children as there is a small risk of smaller children using the shelves to climb upon (thus this item is suggested as suitable for three years and above)
Whilst the Healthy Eating Kitchen & Market Stall comes with a wide range of added extras, we suggest that it may be worth looking into adding the following items to make role play even more realistic for little ones:
- a simple wooden till (available from www.kidstoyworld.co.uk)
- Shopping Trolley (available from www.kidstoyworld.co.uk)
- children’s money/ coins (or if old enough real money!) available from www.kidstoyworld.co.uk
- small pots/ pans (preferably metal than plastic) these are available from www.kidstoyworld.co.uk
- wooden spoons
- cups/ saucers (available from www.kidstoyworld.co.uk)
- empty washing up bottle
- rubber gloves (children’s size)
- tins/ bottles (available from www.kidstoyworld.co.uk)
- wooden or material fruit/ veg (available from www.kidstoyworld.co.uk)
- wooden weighing scales (available from www.kidstoyworld.co.uk)
Handcrafted in the UK, the Healthy Eating Kitchen & Market Stall conforms to the European safety standard EN 71.
Measurements: 63cms (H), 33cms (D), 77cms (W), 51 cms (Worktop H)
Available for £110 from www.kidstoyworld.co.uk, the Millhouse Healthy Eating Kitchen & Market Stall is a superb example of a multifunctional toy which 
promotes ‘natural role play’ for children and supports the six areas of the EYFS (Early Years Foundation Stage). The Healthy Eating Kitchen & Market Stall is robust and likely to be used for many generations of children, providing fun and learning for many years! Mums Baby Magazine give the Healthy Eating Kitchen & Market Stall 9/10.
Peg it! Encourage little ones to learn with stacking pegs.
Stacking pegs are available in a range of materials, sizes and designs. Stacking Pegs offer little ones a learning aid for creation, patterns, sequences, motor skills, patience and enjoyment.
Stacking pegs are a simple concept featuring a board with holes in to place pegs and a range of coloured pegs. Initially little ones are able to build critical motor skills by placing pegs accurately into holes, from there they may begin to create simple patterns and shapes using the p
egs. Pegs can be stacked in order to build more complex arrangements as little ones progress and begin to extend their skills.
Available from www.amazon.co.uk for £11.40, the ‘Big Peg Board’ is ideal for little ones to build a love for learning. Featuring 25 1cm deep holes and a range of large pegs for tiny hands, the Big Peg Board can be used to simply stack pegs or alternatively pegs can be used to help create block graphs, sequencing and 1 to 5 abacus work. The pegs also feature a hole so that these pegs can also be used for threading work. An ideal activity for bright little minds on a rainy day!
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