Being my mums only grandchild, my daughter does get spoilt quite a lot and often comes from nannies house with a new toy or book in tow. One of the toys she brought home with her one day was this set of balls from Early Learning Centre.

The set includes 3 soft balls, each one in a different shape. There is a football, a rugby ball and a basketball included. There are two different coloured sets available, this pink, girly orientated colour scheme, or a neutral more lifelike colour scheme.

Each of the three balls is a scale version of the ball in there normal size. The rugby ball being the ball with the not so normal sphere shape, is oval like a rugby ball and has all the marking around the edge that you would find on a normal sized one with added detailing of small flowers. The football and basketball are both round, the football has pink pentagons going around the entire ball, replacing the black you would find on a normal football. The basketball is a pale blue colour with pink stitching.

As the name suggests, the balls are quite soft and squishy. Some soft balls are just made entirely of foam, that isn't the case with these balls. The outer material of each ball is made from a water resistant type material, I don't know for definite what it actually is, but it isn't soft nor is it hard. It is soft enough to throw around indoors without worrying about smashing the mirror or television but hard enough for the balls to be thrown without them flying away due to being so lightweight.

My daughter is almost 2 and a half years old now and is beginning to understand what she needs to do to catch the balls. I think the softness of these balls is great as I can throw the ball towards her without worrying I'm going to knock her out if it doesn't go according to plan and land in her hands. The softness also means that she can grip the balls well and they aren't too slippery and just fall out. The only problem with using these balls to throw and catch is that the rugby ball isn't ideally shaped for beginners at catching balls, that's not really a huge problem because the other two balls are fine.

We've had the balls for a few months now and they are still in a perfect condition, the outer material makes it easy to wipe any marks off with a wet cloth. None of the stitching has come undone, and the balls still have the same shape as they did when my daughter first got them, despite being kicked, thrown and chewed!

I've just had a look to see how much my mum paid for these, £7. This does seem quite expensive when you first see the price, but with most Early Learning Centre toys, the quality is amazing and the rough and tumble these balls can handle will definitely make them last longer than cheaper soft balls. I would recommend them!