Buying toys for an infant can be a nightmare, do you go for the new fangled toy with lots of extras which looks amazing but fills your entire garage, do you go for the expensive toy which mumsnet claims will make your baby smarter than Mozart, but means you have to live on Tesco value jaffa cakes until your baby can talk, or do you try something simple, old fashioned but something which you remember enjoying in your childhood.

We've mixed things up, but have found that some of the old classics are so for a reason, it isn't sentimentality or the cheaper price, they have remained popular because they have all of the elements which appeal to a very young child.

Appearance:

The Fisher Price Rock-a-stack, is bascially a white fisher price hook, with the company moniker on the bottom, on top of this is a large blue ring, a slightly smaller green ring, a smallery yellow ring, an orange ring and a top ring which is red and clear with three little balls inside it.

The Rock-a-stack isn't beautiful but it is bright, colourful and stylish in a slightly old fashioned way.

What does it do:

It doesn't come with instructions but as far as I can tell from use, it helps your little one develop their grabbing reflex, in grabbing and holding onto the semi-hard plastic rings, it stimulates through colour and it is useful for teething as the rings can be gummed and bitten. Once baby gets a bit older they will hopefully develop an understanding of putting the rings on the hook in the most obvious order to allow them all to fit, but right now, the grabbing and the gumming is proving popular and i'm enjoying trying to throw the rings to land on the hook.

Where can you buy it:

We found Argos and Amazon the most obvious places but any good reputable toy shop should have these. Ours cost us £6.99 from Argos with free collection, which seems expensive but we expect this to last our baby another 12 months and then hopefully also entertain any siblings.

Overall:

It is colourful, hard wearing, looks good and does seem to entrance our little one, the rings are beautifully contrasting, just the right consistency to teeth with and the top ring does really entertain our little one as they try to move the little balls around the ring. I'm glad we bought this, it is simple, doesn't take up too much space and is used regularly and will continue to be.

The item doesn't need instructions it is so easy to use, it isn't heavy at around 150g in total and is totally safe, each ring has a small hole in, they are too big to get fully in an adult mouth let alone a childs one and the design is smooth plastic, meaning no jagged edges to cut baby.

It isn't fancy, isn't too expensive but does a good job as part of a set of toys designed to be both fun and educational.