At the pre-school I work at we have tap tap art as we have done for years. I absolutely hate this toy. Children love to tap them with the hammer though.

Tap tap art includes 126 wooden shapes (not that i've counted, i'll have to trust the box), 100 tacks (which is a little strange as there is more shapes than tacks), 1 cork board, 1 wooden hammer and 14 ideas cards.

The shapes come in a variety of shapes and colours. These include circles, squares, triangles, rectangles, semi-circles and in the colours of red, blue, yellow and green. They each have a hole in the centre where the tack goes, this is plenty big enough for the tack.

The shapes are a variety of sizes and when put together on the board can make many different pictures. You just put the tack in the hole and tap it with the wooden hammer. The hammer is about the size of a pencil which is the right size for childrens little hands. There are idea cards for children to use with different pictures on which are easy to follow.

The problem I have with this toy is the tacks. I wouldn't give a child pins to play with so I don't know how this passed as safe for a child's toy. The tacks are just as sharp as pins and are made from brass. We always make children play with this on a table as the pins are sharp, we never leave the toy unsupervised. Despite this they always get them on the floor. The floor under the table has a long furred rug so the tacks get lost in it and you can't see them. As children always play on the floor we always wear slippers and nowadays they don't always have hard soles so if children or adults stand on them you don't know until you've done it. The amount of times I have nearly stood on one is too many to count. The other day when I was putting slippers away I noticed one tack had gone right through a rubber sole on a slipper, luckily it was a thick sole and only just came through on the inside but if it wasn't it could have gone into the child's foot. Ouch. This is why I hate them so much. I am also always getting them hovered up as you can't see them but you hear as they go in the hoover (hopefully one day I will have hovered them all up!)

This toy is recommended for ages 5+ and can be bought for around £10.

They may help with fine manipulative skills and imagination but they are dangerous and there are other toys which are safer and teach the same skills.