I'd never thought of buying my daughter any kind of threading toys when she was younger, it was only until earlier this year when she started going to nursery and took a keen interest in these types of toys that I thought it would be a great idea. The first threading toy I purchased was this cotton reel set from Galt.

I purchased the cotton reel set from Amazon for around the £4 mark. I haven't seen it on sale anywhere else so I'm not sure if Amazon is the only place you can purchase it.

The set includes 20 cotton reels and a piece of string to thread them on to. The cotton reels come in four different colours, red, yellow, green and blue and there are five reels of each colour. They are around 4 centimetres long and a few centimetres in diameter, although they are quite big and solid looking they aren't very heavy at all. To me when I am holding these reels they just feel like I'm holding air, obviously for children they will feel a little heavier but they aren't heavy in the slightest. The piece of string has a nice thickness to it so there is no need to worry about it snapping or anything through vigorous play or putting too many reels on it. The string is between 100-110 centimetres long

The cotton reels have a hole down the middle and several holes around the edge too so there is a variety of different places children can put the string through. I got this for my daughter when she was around two and a half years old and she had no trouble in threading the reels onto the string, at first it was a little fiddly for her but now there is no stopping her. I'm also using the reels to teach her colours as she struggles quite a bit with these but the bright colours of the reels are engaging and hold her attention for a little while.

I think perhaps these cotton reels would have been a good toy to play with from an earlier age too, despite the recommended age being three years as it can help with fine motor skills. I can see how the toy can be a danger if children were left unsupervised with it as the string could easily get stuck around the neck or something along those lines but if children are fully supervised I see no problems in younger children playing with this too.

For only a few pounds my daughter has had great enjoyment from these cotton reels from Galt and for that reason I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them. Not only are they fun but they are educational and multifunctional too.