Stacking Cups Of Joy! (The First Years Stack'em Up Cups)

Member Name: xjemloux

Product:	The First Years Stack'em Up Cups
Date:	12/12/08 (88 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great fun for your little ones

Disadvantages: None!

These are such simple toys, but great to get yours and your childs imagination going. Most toys these days you don't need any imagination as it does everything for you. You have to make your own fun with the stacking cups though. Majority of toys now have buttons to press so it sings, zooms along the floor, claps, dances. But these simple stacking cups do nothing unless you do something with them.

I think they are great for your little ones to get their own minds working, and also for you to interact and play with them. You can buy these from most toy shops now, all different designs and colours and they are always a good sturdy plastic so not easy to break. I bought some from Boots for my twins birthday. The general theme is there are are a variety of sized cups, which all fit into each other neatly (hence why they are called stacking cups), they are usually all different colours and maybe have patterns on them. Probably the best thing about the stacking cups is because when put tidyil into each other they are so compact and easy to store. Also sometimes on the bottom there is a picture of an animal, or a shape. So not only are they simple they are great for your child to learn basics to.

My twin boys who are now 1 love it when I sit with them and play with them, and its paid off as now they will sit there for a while and play with them on their own.

I play allsorts of games with them, i count them which is a good way to teach them their numbers. I tell them the colours of each cup, and if there are any pictures at the bottom I will say the name of either the shape or the animal. They had about 3 sets of stacking cups for their birthday so all of them are different. I've helped them put their smaller toys inside them. We sit and stack them and take them all apart, which they sit there amazed by. My boys have made their own fun with them too though. They've realised they are noisy so despite my best efforts to help them have a bit of quiet fun for my poor ears, they love to bang them together, this is when I decided to lay them in a line give them plastic spoons and try show them how to hit them all as if playing music. Great fun! Not so great for my ears though, but if it keeps them happy I'm happy. Jayden my youngest twin has also worked out that when he blows in it it echoes and his voice changes a little. He is contantly blowing, shouting and singing Bob the Builder into them "Baa Baa Baaa". Beautiful! Cordell hasn't learnt the music magic about the cups yet hes a slight bit rougher and just loves to stack them and knock them over, which makes his brother laugh uncontrollably sometimes.

We even have messy time, I will fill the cups with jelly, or sweets (naughty I know), their favourite fruits or crisps, playdough as well but thats only when I'm sitting with them as I don't want them chewing on it as if it's some tasty food of theirs. We fill them with water and pour it into the other cups. I've only done this in the summer though out the garden don't fancy swimming in my living room or kitchen. But again they had great fun doing this. It's great now to see them filling them with toys, even their socks they will take off and stuff into them. They really do have great fun with them and I can see their little eyes lighting up when they realise they've learnt something new to do with them. Who knew such simple cups could be such a joy.

I love buying the boys new toys etc, and yes I do go for the expensive ones which do everything for them, has a few buttons and plays a little music, so easy. But the stacking cups I swear by. Although they had a few sets bought for them for their birthday they had a set which I bought when they were about 3/4 months old, Bit early for big kids toys I know but they are quite a good size. So I figured whilst they were growing and learning to grab and reach out using something colourful and safe like the cups were perfect. I obviously didn't use the big ones as their hands were so small, nor the tiny ones in case they were to choke etc but they were so tiny then and amazed by the bright colours and the feel of them. So simple, you can get them cheap enough in most shops these days, and they do provide literally hours of fun, O.K so not all in one go! But a little imagination goes along way sometimes.

Summary: Ideal for a little Imaginative Play