I'm sure you're now all aware of my 20 month old granddaughters obsession with In The Night Garden, she has so many of the toys that the entire house is becoming overrun with Iggle Piggles, Upsy Daisys and Makka Pakkas! So what does any thoughtful Nanny do when she sees yet more toys in the sales? She buys them, of course!

I was due to have all three of my granddaughters' over the half term break but the baby came down with a nasty cold on Friday so it was decided that she'll join her older sisters here on Wednesday when hopefully she's feeling a little better. When I picked the girls' up yesterday I decided to take Hollie's new In The Night Garden figures with me so she would have something to take her mind off being poorly.

These are basically six plastic figures; Iggle Piggle, Upsy Daisy, Makka Pakka and the three Tombliboos. The figures seem to be very durable and made of the kind of thick plastic which almost seems rubberised, although these are actually solid plastic with a nice glossy finish.

The figures don't move and put me in mind of the small Care Bear plastic collectible figures that my own daughters' used to play with when they were young, only these modern ones are certainly more expensive than those ever were! The idea of them is to help your child use their imagination and create a story to correspond with the character and it's pose, my granddaughter is rather too young to do this but she does like to line them up and make them 'talk' to one another.

The figures stand between 1 1/2 and 2 1/2 inches tall and are very good representations of the characters in the show, the sizes all seem fairly accurate in that Makka Pakka stands quite a bit smaller than Iggle Piggle and this is good because it helps even very young children to notice about differences in height and makes it seem all that more realistic.

They are suitable for children from 18 months, presumably because of the small size of the figures although they would in no way cause a choking hazard for younger babies. My granddaughter finds them easy to grip and because they are stable figures she has no problems with standing them up herself, they don't fall over at the first breath of wind either which is good as my older granddaughter plays with some horse figures and these are so frustrating as you only have to open the lounge door and they all drop onto their sides!

These In The Night Garden figures are suitable for all kinds of play; in the house, outside in the garden and even in the bath! They are the perfect size to take out with you as they are so small they fit into my pocket, although be careful if you do take them out as they would be easily lost.

I paid £7 for them in the sale which I think is reasonable, although I have seen the pack of figures in Toys R Us costing up to £15 which is disgracefully overpriced considering these are tiny toys which do nothing at all other than guide your child's imagination!