My son loves time spent outside but as an only child he often gets bored and asks an adult to go out and play with him. At home this is fine as we have things both inside and out which we can play together but at my parents they don't have many things for my son to play with and so I was pleased when my Mum told me that she had picked up a Chad valley catch a ball set from Argos as part of a three items for ten pounds promotion which was running. My son has the tobar set somewhere at home and loved to play with it so I knew the concept of it would be a hit.

The catch ball set comes packed very simply in a net bag much like you get a bucket and spade wrapped in at the beach or something! It looks basic and simple but to be fair for the £3.99 price tag I wouldn't really expect a whole lot more anyway! Inside the netting you get two catchers and a tennis ball with which you can play the simple catching game. The catchers are covered with a green and purple coloured Velcro and so they are very neutral looking and I am sure both boys and girls would be happy to play with them.

The idea of this game is that you attach the catchers to the hand in which you would be most comfortable catching a ball using the strap at the back and we have had no issues at all in making these attach to my son's hand or an adults hand and so they are good for everyone really. Players can then take it in turns to throw the tennis ball which is a bit fluffy and so will stick to the catcher pad if you manage to get it to land on there. The game is simple but I think a fun one for people of all ages and it is good for some exercise too if you play it in a good sized area such as a park or beach as you can spread out even further and have a real good run around and not even notice that you are even doing any exercise.

My son has had this set at my parents house for a couple of months now as my Mum bought it during the unseasonably hot weather early on in the year. We do spend alternate Sundays at my parents and my son also goes on some nights for his tea if I am working and so he has had plenty of play out of this set. My only issue with it is that we have already had to use superglue to stick the Velcro back down to the plastic base of the catcher as it was lifting up with the tennis ball and was in danger of coming off completely. Now we have used superglue on it is does seem like new again and there is no difference in terms of enjoyment playing the game and such like but I suppose you can tell that it is a cheap product with the fact that the Velcro began to come off in the first place.

My son enjoys playing this game and will play it on his own sometimes at my parents, throwing the ball against the wall with one hand and trying to catch it with the catcher and as such he has got better at judging how to catch the ball using the catching pad. It is always a bit hit and miss as to whether anyone will catch it during a proper game with my son but it is fun all the same and so I would recommend it!

As I said the set costs £3.99 from Argos and for a toy which encourages outdoor play, exercise and will help improve hand eye coordination I think it is a good buy, just be mindful of the fact that you are never going to get wonderful quality for the price.

Thank you for reading my review!