At four, Hollie is a huge fan of the Disney Princesses. It doesn't matter which princess it is, as long as she has long beautiful hair and a stunning dress Hollie doesn't seem to mind. So when I spotted this Disney Princesses Fun Set in Toys R Us it fell into my trolley seemingly on its own power as I just knew she'd love it, not least because of her newly found love of skipping.

It's a lovely little set and well worth the £4 I paid for it. For your money you get a skipping rope, bat and ball set plus a sweet little yo-yo featuring Hollie's beloved Belle on the front. The set has been designed in such a way that all the components 'match', it's all very pretty and girly - absolutely perfect for a child like Hollie in fact!

The skipping rope is the thing that's had the most use and it's lasted pretty well. It's not the most durable skipping rope I've ever seen due to the fact that the handles are 100% (very thin) plastic and the Princess picture appears to have been printed onto a sheet of sticky-backed plastic and stuck onto the handles - and has not-too-helpfully started peeling off in such a way that it makes the skipping rope look about 50 years old! The rope (being a 'knotted' type) has frayed slightly, although this happened while it was still pretty new and hasn't really gotten much worse despite being played with on a very regular basis. Unfortunately the rope looks really dirty now, because of it being such a pale pink/purple colour but again this isn't something that can really be helped. The length of the rope is ideal for Hollie, it's fairly short in relation to other skipping ropes she owns but is perfect for the average four year old.

The small rubbery ball is attached to the bat with a short piece of elastic, this is great and an idea I haven't seen for years! It prevents the ball from becoming lost (as balls do!) and although supervision is required, the elastic string isn't long enough to pose a strangulation hazard. One thing Hollie has learned to watch out for is the fact that the ball hurts like a bugger if it catches you in the face while being bounced on the bat - she actually had a semi-black eye through it the first time she used it so you maybe need to teach your child to be a bit more careful than Hollie is!

Whenever we've had yo-yo's in this kind of set before they've been cheap, plasticky and completely rubbish so I wasn't expecting much from this one. I had a pleasant surprise though as although it is without doubt cheap and plasticky, it's not rubbish in the slightest and spins beautifully up and down the string. There's been no kinking in the string and the small loop is perfect for a small kiddie to slide her finger into, Hollie has learned the art of using a yo-yo using this and I can't see any reason to purchase her another one as although this is fairly basic that's all she needs.

Overall I think this play set is fantastic value and wouldn't hesitate to purchase again. Yes, it's amazingly (nauseatingly, some might say) pink but it features all the Princesses that Hollie loves and isn't a quick-buck set put together to extract cash from the purses of the mums of little girly girls. The minimum age range of three years is probably about right from both a safety point of view, and also because smaller children probably wouldn't be able to make full use of the set.