Toddlers love to imitate their parents and a toy telephone is one of the first interactive toys that will appeal to sociable little ones.

We already have a collection of toy phones for babies but I couldn't resist snapping up one of these classic Fisher Price pull along phones, well in advance of my youngest son's first birthday. I paid just £2.50 for this in the annual Sainsbury's half-price toy sale.Even at the full £5 selling price, this is a really inexpensive but lovely toy for toddlers, which is well worth the money and readily available from most toy stockists.

One of the reasons that I was drawn to this toy was because it is such a classic toy that has changed little from its original 1960s design. It is based on traditional rather than modern handsets, complete with a rotating dial to turn and select the numbers using your fingers. I suspect the reason that this toy continues to be so successful is that so many adults who were growing up in the 1970s and 1980s will have fond memories of this toy from their own childhoods. The nostalgic retro appeal was certainly part of the charm for me.

Luckily, as well as bringing back fond memories, this is actually a well-loved toy too, as far as my toddler is concerned. I did wonder whether the retro styling would be quite as effective and attractive to a modern toddler, as this bears no resemblance to the phones that we use nowadays. My son has no difficulty in recognising and using this as a phone. He picked up the receiver instantly when he first received this and gave a cheery 'hiya' into it. He often sits happily by himself chattering away in nonsensical but contented babbling. To be fair, he does use any random object to use as a phone, from the TV remote control to his own hand but this is by far his favourite instrument for chatting to his 'baby friends'!

I gave this to my son on his first birthday, at which point he was crawling and had started to take his first few wobbly steps. With a recommended minimum age of one years plus, I did find that the toy really came into its own after a few weeks. Once my little one was a confident walker and could master both walking without falling over as well as pulling this or carrying it along, this has become one of his favourite little toys. The wheels on the phone turn easily and the main lead to pull this about with is of a decent length. My little one tends not to drag this about in this fashion very much, however, preferring to chat and go - this is very much a mobile phone as far as he is concerned!

Another cute feature is that the eyes on the phone actually wobble about slightly as the phone is pulled about. Sadly, this isn't a feature that is really noticed or appreciated by my little one but it does add to the charm and the character of this classic toy, as far as I am concerned.

The main drawback to this phone is that, for obvious health and safety reasons, the cord that attaches the handset to the body of the phone is very short. This means that the phone itself dangles around my son's body as he walks around chatting into this. This is one of the reasons why a toddler needs to be fairly confident and steady on his feet before being comfortable using this. Fortunately, the phone as a whole is fairly lightweight and my son is able to cart this about without too much trouble.

With no need to add batteries and a very small price tag, this is a lovely old-fashioned toy that still manages to capture the imagination of a modern toddler and comes highly recommended by me.