ELC have been selling these Jingle Bells for years, I first bought a set around ten years ago for my eldest two children and have added to the original two over the years when Hollie (and now David) decided how much they liked them. The design hasn't changed much over the years, the only difference being that the handles on the Jingle Bells I bought most recently are slightly more streamlined and ergonomically styled.

They are an extremely simple concept; three largish tinkly silver bells attached to a thick plastic handle, to 'work' them you simply pick them up and give them a shake. It's as easy as that - no batteries required and not a flashing light or robotic sound in sight, just a lovely creative little toy that has provided my kids with a surprising number of years entertainment.

The shape of the handle is perfect; ELC state the minimum recommended age for the Jingle Bells as three years, but that's madness in my opinion. Three of my four children have played with these from under twelve months old, to create such a stimulating toy like this and then give it such a high recommended age is bizarre - they're without exception made to such a high quality that not so much as a chip of plastic has ever come away from one of ours, even the older ones are still in amazingly one piece. The bells aren't big enough that if your toddler puts one in their mouth it's going to have a cue ball effect, I just can't understand why these shouldn't be suitable for younger babies. There's one thing I suppose, the obvious eventuality that one day your baby is going to bash themselves with the bells - umm, that's not going to kill them but maybe ELC are covering themselves in case of freak accidents?!

I love the sound of these. They tinkle and sound beautifully musical even when they're being slung around by a miserable seventeen month old, David actually isn't as enamoured with them as his sisters were but then he's 'one of those' kids who would rather crash a saucepan onto the tiled floor than do something that's actually aurally pleasing. At five (and being a real girly poser) Hollie likes to prance around the house and garden shaking them gently, it can be much more relaxing than you'd think due to the high quality and generally 'nice' sound of the bells - you can tell ELC haven't palmed the little people off with cheap and nasty bells. Much nicer than listening to Hollie on the recorder <shudder> anyway...

The simplicity of this toy is fantastic, it's a hark back to the days when you didn't need a degree to get a toy working and is so basic that it didn't even come with an instruction sticker let alone a sheet! £3 each (I'd recommend buying two) means it's reasonably pricey for what it is, but for me that fact that it IS what it is makes the Jingle Bells worth every penny. I'd say ours are played with three times a week on average by one of the kids, I suspect they'd be used more often if they didn't slide to the bottom of the toybox so easily as sometimes it seems that they're only played with when Hollie happens to come across them underneath mounds of Peppa Pig and Disney Princess toys!

I recommend them 100%. They encourage the kids to be creative (to a point, it's only bell shaking!), will stimulate younger babies even if they're not big enough to hold the bells themselves and have so far lasted brilliantly! The decade old Jingle Bells are visibly older in condition, the plastic has faded slightly on the handles but in a patchy manner which is very aging. They're still as sturdy and tight as the newer ones and sound just as Christmassy and fabulous!