 |
Melissa And Doug Cutting Food
by Coffeetiere
I picked up our Melissa and Doug cutting food from a charity shop a few years ago. I suspect there may be a few items missing, however for £3 it was a great buy.
The set comes in a lovely wooden tray with a wooden knife and chopping board. There is also wooden food - a baguette, a slice of watermelon, a carrot, an apple, a ... carrot, a tomato and two slices of bread. All are very smoothly finished off and the food is nicely painted.
The best thing about this food is that you can "cut" it! The food is stuck together with Velcro and using the knife on the chopping board you can separate the segments of food. Each piece of food is realistically segmented, the baguette can be sliced into about five slices, the tomato into three, the carrot in two and the apple in half down the middle. I think this is a really clever idea and both my son and daughter love this, I think because it is so real - just like mummy does.
After being cut apart the vegetables can be stuck back together again ready for their next slicing. The only problem we have had is sometimes if the pieces of food are stuck back together with too much force it can be difficult for my children to get the knife in between the slices to cut them again. A little adult intention sorts this.
My children also like to be silly with this food and creat made-up food items using various different bits of food. I think it's quite sweet and we then give them silly name like "tapple" for a tomato and apple or "Baggot" for baguette joined with carrot. My son is coming three early next year and he still loves this food, my daughter who is five is just growing out of it, so it's had a few years of use between them. My friend son who is 18 months old loves to play with this when he comes around and as there are no small bits, all the food is chunky it's perfectly suitable for toddlers too, although they will need a bit of assistance.
I'm going to give this toy a five as it promotes coordination skills, helps them learn about cooking, can be create and is great fun to play with.
Read the complete review |
 |
Dora the Explorer Talking Backpack
by MsTricia
Sadly for me, my daughter loves Dora the Explorer. This means lots of chanting "where are we going?" and "I'm the map!" and numerous other songs as she can literally watch episode after episode! I also took her and my niece to see Dora at the theatre and they both loved it! So it was only a matter of time before she ... acquired an amass of Dora related toys! This backpack is actually a hand me down (more like stolen from my mums house) toy which used to belong to one of my nieces who went through a Dora phase but now at 6 years old she keeps harping on to me about the backyardigans instead lol.
Anyway, the Backpack is an excellent replica of the backpack which Dora uses in the cartoon, which has the map inside (for directions) and other tools for whatever mischief she is facing in each episode. The backpack is made of purple plastic but is really durable purple and has the fun face of backpack on the front. It has a handle up top, and lid which opens backwards to reveal the opening to the backpack. in colour and is made from a very thick and sturdy plastic. It also has a rather chunky lid which is secured shut using a little clasp.
Inside the bag is actually rather small, but my daughter tends to use it more for her toys and putting balls (see different early learning centre playballs review!) inside. The backpack toy originally came with a a telephone, a friendship bracelet, a plastic hair brush, a friendship bracelet, and a map. Between her and my niece they already lost all these additional toys but they were good little tools, ideal for girls playing with this toy.
The main functional aspect of this backpack is that if you press the big red mouth, the backpack talks and says "Hola Amigos! I'm Backpack!" and "Let's go exploring!" It also sings the backpack song which drives me mad, but luckily with this toy the volume isn't incessantly loud and it literally only says anything once the button is pressed, which fortunately my daughter is not interested in doing anymore but more using it as a storing device lol. We have had it at least 2 years and it still speaks perfectly clearly and has the authentic voice of the backpack on the cartoon. It requires 3 x AA batteries which it comes with and it still works perfectly so these do go a long way! It opens at the bottom with a small screwdriver to change these, but we have not had to do so yet.
Overall, this is a fab toy and will be a hit with any kids who are avid Dora fans! It is a backpack more to be used as a toy rather than any practical use as a backpack but my daughter loves it. It can be bought from around £25-£30 on Amazon and other retailers which I think is actually a bit much, but if you're looking for a christmas present for a child aged around 3 then you may be onto a winner!
Read the complete review |
 |
Little Tikes Kitchen and Laundry Centre
by Elaineee
Little Tikes has always been a stand out brand for me, over the years the kids have had all kinds of toys from them. I have always found their longevity and quality to be good, so good infact that the condition of the toys are still great after my kids have finished with them thus making it easy to sell or pass on.
Nearly all ... my Little Tikes purchases have been made in Toy r Us. The double up Kitchen was on sale in there a few of years ago, at the moment it's selling at £89.97. I think this an okay price for the quality and play value. ELC have it selling at the same price as are Argos.
The kitchen/ Laundry Centre came in large box. Inside the box there was the kitchen, which includes microwave, refrigerator, double oven, sink, play phone and loads of other bits like cutlery. On the hob are pretend rings for saucepans with knobs to turn them 'on' and 'off'. The sink is small and has pretend taps. It doesn't make noises or anything so doesn't need batteries. The Laundry centre has a washer, dryer, an ironing board and a plastic iron.
The whole thing is plastic, with stickers on the doors. These open and close snuggly. The kitchen has hinges which allow the laundry centre to fold onto the kitchen to make a 'round' kitchen, this makes it smaller to store, otherwise the laundry and kitchen are side by side.
It's dimensions are thus- 114 (l) x 43 (w) x 114 (h) cm so a fair size. It does seem quite tall but the microwave and coffee maker were reachable by the kids when they were little and by my friends 3 year old grandson- 3 being the age suitability. The kitchen is good quality and sturdy with no sharp edges- no-one's been injured by it!
The kitchen looked impressive on Christmas morning, Santa had set it up and opened it out to it's full size. It did need some assembly but this wasn't difficult.
The kids used this loads. It did take quite a lot of space but I just put up with it because the kids really liked it. They filled the cupboards (not really cupboards I should say oven) up with their bits and pieces rather than play food though!! The cupboard (again I should say oven but the kids used it as a food cupboard as there isn't one!) space isn't the biggest but adequate as is the fridge though this is slightly larger. The laundry part is smaller than the kitchen but had equal play, the kids put small clothes' items in the 'wash' then 'dried' and ironed them.
More recently my friends grandson has been given the kitchen and it's still in good condition even though it's kept outside, it's just faded abit in the sun.
I would definitely recommend it 5 stars from me.
Read the complete review |
