With Christmas coming up I am certainly not planning on purchasing any new toys for my daughter, especially since it hasn't been long since her birthday, however, I do like to visit my local charity shop which sometimes sells some brilliant second hand toys. One toy I picked up a couple of weeks ago for £2 was a bag of these Early Learning Centre woodne building blocks, and given the price, I decided to buy this as a one off before Christmas.

Unfortunately we do not have a local Early Learning Centre so I don't get much chance to have a look at their range of toys, except for online. After looking online, I found that these bricks currently cost £12 on the ELC website (although at present on offer for just under a tenner) for a pack of 75 bricks. I think I have slightly more bricks in the pack that I bought my daughter, so this may be an older version of these bricks.

These bricks offer a combination of different colours and shapes that can be used to create a huge amount of things. As well as cubes and cuboid shapes, there are triangular and semi circle shapes. I much prefer toys that are non electronic as I know they will stand the test of time, and I vaguely remember having a somewhat similar product growing up without it being so colourful.

From what I read online these this box of wooden shaped bricks are suitable for children from 12 months plus and I think that is a good recommendation. My daughter was just over 12 months when I purchased these for her and she showed interest in them straight away. Sometimes she likes to simply take them in and out of the cardboard bucket they came in, and sometimes she likes to hit them together, but with a bit of guidance from me, together we have built houses and bridges and robots etc. I think she finds stacking these bricks slightly harder than her mega bloks as they can slide off each other if she doesn't take her time, but I know that will come with time and that is another reason why I like these bricks as I know they will grow with her and last her quite a few years to come.

Obviously, these bricks like other construction style bricks are great for helping a child work on their motor skills as well as there coordination and creative skills. I think there is also a lot of learning potential with these bricks as you can discuss shapes and colours as well which should encourage language development.

All in all, I love the brightly coloured different shapes that these wooden bricks offer. There is endless potential for building with these blocks and although they are suitable from 12 months plus, they are a toy that should endure for quite a few years as a child develops. Even though I picked up this pack second hand, given the quality and the versatility of the product I would happily of paid full price for these. A great toy for boy or girl!