I am so overloaded with toys that my children have had for christmas's and birthdays and I will admit I am also a bit of a hoarder. I will say though that on this occasion it is a good thing that I have kept so much stuff from my eldest daughter because it has come in for my new daughter and when my daughter has grown out of it my friend has just had a little girl so I can now pass it all on so she has got no expense to pay.

This lovely soft play brick was bought for my daughters first birthday and I think that my sister had lots more fun with it than she did and she was 17 at the time.

The toy is is a large soft brick that is made of different colours, there is a red fox square that has a small soft fox attached that goes in and out of a pocket., a purple square with a moon on it which is like a mirror which the child is able to see their reflection, a white square with a polor bear that slides accross the square, a blue underwater square that has pictures of underwater animals with a shiny piece on a fish and a picture of a green frog snorkling, a green square which I think is very interesting because it is covered by green material leaves to hide the picture of a parrot, these leaves stay closed with velcro and the last square is a yellow one and the most important square on the block, it has a picture of a lion which it's main is a shiney material which stands out on the square, on the bottom of the square there are three circle buttons which are actually inside the block but you are able to press that part of the brick to either switch it on and off, sing rhymes or play music. On the red square is a velcro opening that is where you are able to get inside the brick to change batteries or turn it off alltogether. This is securely fitted inside and the child would not be able to get in there to do any damage because they would find it too fiddly.

The amazing thing about this block is the way that it works. Once you have switched it on if you pick the rhymes button this will then sing a rhyme to the child, but this is the interesting part now depending on what side of the brick is showing to the child depends on what rhyme it sings, each square has its on ryme and music as you turn the block the song will change, if you press the music button this is the same just that it plays music rarther than singing a song.

This is a toy that is from birth but could not be played with at that age, my daughter is now 9 months old and she is just able to push the brick over because she has got some co-ordination and some strength to do so. Although a child from birth can not hold the brick they will be able to enjoy listening to the music if the parent moves the brick. As the child gets older the game starts to change they are able to turn it themselves and learn how to hold the brick while listening to the music and by the time the child is 3 the game changes drasticly from rolling it to eachother or catching and throwing while it still plays music. My eldest daughter who it was originally bought for loves to roll it on the floor to my other daughter now. This toy has been around now for over 2 years and the batteries have not had to be changed yet which I think is a very good thing due to everything that is made for children has batteries and they tend to run out quickly.

I think this is a worthwile toy that is great from birth to 4 years old and even the 6 year olds like to play the catching game with it. I think that it is a good toy that helps parents and children interact and teach them the basic things that they need to know. I would recommend this to all parents with young children i think it is amazing.