- Why We Bought -
We bought my son a set of Asda Play & Learn Stacking rings for Christmas when he was six months old. I wasn't looking for these but as they were a good price they were put in the trolley with a selection of other toys.

- The Rings -
The set consists of five brightly coloured hollow plastic rings and a stand on which to put them which is made from the same hollow plastic. The rings ascend in size from the smallest being the orange ring, then blue, purple, green and finally yellow being the largest. The blue and green rings are smooth while the orange has little round nobbles on it, the purple has diamond shaped nobbles and the yellow has star shaped nobbles. The stand is red in colour with a square base with rounded corners and a pole coming from the centre of the square where you can put the rings. The rings slide easily onto the pole but as the pole is wider at the bottom and narrower at the top you need to put the rings on in the correct order, largest first and smallest last, otherwise they won't fit on properly. It looks colourful and so appeals to babies. It doesn't look as good as a beautiful wooden version but the quality is fine, especially considering the price. The advantage over the wooden versions is that this set is very light making it ideal for taking with you when staying away from home. We picked this as one of the toys to take with us on a recent trip to a hotel on the coast. I would never choose to take my son's lovely wooden shape sorter or hammer set for a trip away as they would be far too bulky and heavy.

- Playing with the Rings -
My son instantly loved these rings at six months old. Mostly he liked to chew on them, throw them from his highchair, bash two rings together or watch us stack them. He also found it hilarious if we inserted the rings over the head of his soft toys. He is now nearly 13 months and his favourite new game is to take a toy and put it into something, usually his ball pit or my washing basket. These rings suit his purpose perfectly. It is possible to stack the rings on top of each other without the stand. My son loves it if we do this for him and as we put the last ring on top he will suddenly crawl towards them at great speed, sending them all flying! Of course the main purpose of these rings is for the baby to stack them on the stand and my son has got the hang of this now, although he hasn't worked out that they have an order to be placed in. They are a great toy to have around as there are so many games to be played with them and they are an easy shape for babies to hold onto. As they are light they don't do too much damage if they are thrown around. They are educational as they help improve motor skills as the baby learns to place the rings on the stand. They can be used to help teach babies about colours, sizes and completing a task. The textured rings are also good for stimulating baby. I'm not sure what the age recommendations were for this toy but I would suggest 6-18 months is probably when most babies will be interested in this.

- Price and Availability -
These stacking rings are available from Asda and I have seen them in store on a number of occasions since we purchased ours. They are priced at £2 which is an absolute bargain, I certainly haven't seen stacking rings cheaper anywhere else.

- Would I Recommend? -
I would definitely recommend these stacking rings as they are reasonable quality, lovely bright colours, can be played with in many ways, are educational, are light for travelling with and all at £2. You can't go wrong.