The Galt soft blocks are an excellent buy. You get 6 soft foam cubes covered in bright, colourful fabric, and they come in a clear plastic carry case, which keeps them neat and tidy. The label however, states that all packaging must be removed before giving the blocks to a child, so we have found it easiest to keep the blocks in a toy box.

As with many basic and traditional toys there are numerous makes available, and we have a Mothercare set as well...but Galt are best.

Both sets can be piled up and knocked down without the chance of any damage to Baby. They are very lightweight and easy for Baby to lift and throw. A favourite game we have had is to build a small wall using both sets of blocks and play peek-a-boo. Another activity previously was to pile these all around Baby CrazyEgg while she sat in her nest very still, and then she could knock them all out by flapping her arms about crazily, as is the CrazyEgg Way.

At first I thought the Mothercare set was best because the blocks make a scrunchy, crunchy sound when squished, and one has a bell. In the Galt set there is no scrunching, but similarly one block has a bell. I like the fact that it is only one that has this: it makes it more of a surprise. But as time wore on I came to the opinion that more thought had gone into the pictures and designs on the Galt blocks. They provide more to stretch baby's powers of deduction that the Mothercare set.

The Mothercare blocks function fine as individual blocks, but are lacking in team spirit and in longevity in terms of play. You can look at the pictures and words for sure, and try and sequence the numbers, but it's fiddly, dissatisfying, disparate.

The Galt blocks however, can be lined up in a row to form a jungle pathway: one side of each has a yellow path running through it with a jungle animal on. They can go in any order, and they make a line of jolly animals all heading off together as in 'follow-the-leader', apart from the monkey who is facing outwards and has both hands over his smiling mouth as if he has just played some kind of trick on the rest of his jungle chums.

But that's not all! On another side, each of the cubes features a number from 1-6 and then the appropriate number of a chosen creature is shown, for example six bees, two caterpillars where the numbers six and two are shown respectively. You can sequence them and have something to point to and count.

WAIT! I'm still going. As you twist and turn the blocks you realise that there is some repetition of the various animal depictions. So you match them up. YES: the blocks also provide a pair matching game. There are twelve animal pairs in total. And all of them are extremely happy.

The blocks are fully machine washable and do not shrink. The colours remain bright after washing, but they have not been frequently washed.

Adults may find them useful as stress-cubes, they are a bit easier to squeeze than a traditional stress-ball, but maybe this will release tension in itself. Also, they are so bright and jolly that one perched on an office desk would be sure to cheer the dullest of days.

A great set of blocks from Galt.