Casdon Christmas Gifts - Hetty Cleaning Trolley

Holly and Lara received a surprise Christmas present from Casdon, home of our favourite role-play toys. The girls were very excited to find out what was inside, so much so that I missed the opportunity to catch their faces on camera before they'd ripped off all the paper.  Who knew that my two girls could get so excited about cleaning products???

The Casdon Hetty Cleaning Trolley is a complete cleaning role play set for children of around 2-6 years old. The trolley has everything you need to pretend to be a professional cleaner! A modern style floor mop, a dustpan and brush, a broom, a pretend bottle of cleaning fluid and a bag to put all your rubbish in. The set is all branded with the Hetty imagery that we know from the Henry hoover cleaning range.  The girls just love it!

Lara who is now 7 is really too tall for using this play set but Holly who is 4 is just right for it. She can pull the trolley down the hallway complete with all its accessories. Given how rarely Holly sees me do any housework (!) I'm surprised at how well she manages this role play!!! I just wish she'd show a little more interest in genuinely cleaning up after herself!  The toy steam mop is a hit, it even comes with a replaceable cloth to place on the end of it, just like the real thing. In fact, there are so many little parts of this toy that it offers plenty of different ways to play; sweeping, mopping, brushing and scrubbing as well as tidying it all away.

For Holly, any toy that encourages her away from the TV is a good toy in my eyes! This little trolley encourages her to move around the house and explore different places that need a good clean; it's so realistic that she does actually manage to get the hard floors clean with the brush. It's good old fashioned role play and it is good to see both Lara and Holly happy to play together as part of their imaginary games.

Lara recognises the bright pink Hetty branding but I am not sure it resonates much for Holly other than a bright colour and a funny face. It's pink... and that's enough for her.

At just £14.99 in Toys R Us the Hetty cleaning trolley from Casdon is great value. It feels like a big toy and has lots of play options. I'd recommend it as a role play gift for a budding chores helper this Christmas!

Shimmer and Shine Pony Tail and Wish Come True Purse Review

Shimmer and Shine is a TV show that Holly and Lara have both enjoyed - it features two young genies-in-training and there is a brand new collection of Shimmer and Shine toys out now which allows every little Shimmer and Shine fan to dress up like their favourite genie and role play until their heart's content.

Look at this sparkly blue genie's pony tail - Holly is so immensely proud of her "new" hairstyle. The Shimmer and Shine pony tail is available to buy in both pink (to be like Shimmer) and blue (to be like Shine).  It is a long pony tail that you attach to your own hair using a comb and an elastic.  It took a bit of getting used to before I could put it into Holly's hair without it falling straight back out, but that may be because I'm not much good at putting Holly's hair into a bun, and not much good at putting in hair combs!  Anyway, once you've managed to get the hair comb to stay put, you flip your head back down and voila, one beautiful genie hair style!

The pony tail comes with a sparkly band where it sits on your head and it has a big sparkly "gem" in the centre. This matches wonderfully with the gemmed arm bands that you'll find in the Shimmer and Shine Wish Come True Purse Set.

The purse set includes a hard plastic purse in the shape of Shimmer or Shine's favourite pet, either Tala or Nahal. It also includes two gemmed arm bands, a necklace with a magical amulet, a hair brush (handy for brushing your pony tail!) and two small sheets of stickers.

The set is aimed at Shimmer and Shine fans from age 3-6 but we found the arm bands to be a little bit tight for Holly who is 4. Holly loves the purse and has tried to sneak it to school already filled with all sorts of stuff such as hair clips and pencils!  The necklace is also fun; it looks like a little magical pot and when you twist the lid, one of three different pictures is shown on the front.  Holly likes the necklace because it feels like it completes her outfit.  There is definitely a big dressing up theme with these new Shimmer and Shine products and Holly LOVES LOVES LOVES dressing up.

The two sticker sheets were a little disappointing - they're very small and Holly found them hard to peel off so I had to do it for her. The stickers lasted a couple of minutes as Holly stuck them mainly onto my T-shirt.  The purse however is much more of a hit. It's a very sturdy hard plastic purse that opens up like a butterfly. There is a sparkly gem and reflective eyes to give it a bit of bling and Holly seems very taken with it.

The combination of the pony tail, the arm bands, necklace and purse makes Holly feel very glamorous and she is enjoying the feeling of looking very different to normal when she wears these.

The Shimmer and Shine Wish Come True purse set costs around £14.99 and you can find it in both Tala and Nahal designs. The Shimmer and Shine pony tails cost £9.99 each and you can find them at Toys R Us.

Casdon Morphy Richards Toy Microwave, Kettle and Toaster Review

This Christmas I was lucky enough to receive a new microwave as a gift.  Our previous microwave was approaching 18 years old but was still going well.  Holly and Lara are both intrigued by our shiny new microwave and have been getting to work in their own toy kitchen trying out their own toy Morphy Richards microwave from Casdon.

This set of Morphy Richards toy kitchen accessories is another role play hit from Casdon.  The girls have been cooking and defrosting until their heart's content!  Holly even made me breakfast in bed one morning - all be it plastic breakfast in bed.

The toy microwave is the biggest hit.  You can rotate the display to say you are cooking, defrosting or even using the "potato" setting which is probably our most used setting on our real microwave so the girls feel at home with this!  The buttons on the front feel like real buttons - they beep as well, just like the real thing!  The door opens and their is a tray inside which is very realistic, especially when it rotates. Press the start button and the light comes on and the tray rotates; it's quite a bit noisier than our new real microwave!  Holly enjoys putting her plastic and wooden toy food items in and out.

Also in the set is a Morphy Richards kettle which is a very modern shape and can be thought of as either an electric or traditional kettle (in a play kitchen, you can do anything you want to do!).  The lid comes off the kettle so that you can pretend to refill it.  With the Morphy Richards branding it looks just the part.

Finally comes the toaster which the girls enjoy because you can pop the toast up by twisting the dial  It comes with two slices of plastic toast.

This three-piece Morphy Richards play microwave, kettle and toaster set is recommended for children aged 3-5 years old and costs around £30.

Bayer Chic Baby Dolls Pram and Sleeping Bag Review

I've been having a bit of a clearout of my own baby products recently - making space as we redecorate parts of the house.  I'm currently trying to find new homes for a pushchair, a cot and a safety gate now that Holly no longer needs them.  Interestingly enough, as I wind down my baby products, Holly is building up a collection of her own!  Holly and her friends at nursery are very much into role play at present and Holly loves to play Mummies and Daddies (and sisters) with her baby dolls.  Prams.net sent Holly one of their baby dolls pushchairs to encourage her imaginative play, along with a baby doll's sleeping bag.

It feels like just yesterday that Holly herself was snuggled in a baby sleeping bag.  This Bayer Chic 2000 sleeping bag is designed for dollies and Holly loves zipping her different dolls up in their sleeping bags as it feels so real - somehow, a little bit more real than tucking them in under a blanket. Prams.net mainly focus on baby products for human babies but I LOVE the fact that you can buy a matching sleeping bag for your doll too and Holly thinks it is wonderful.  The zip is easy for her to do up with her small hands and the bag is slightly elasticated so that it is easy to take on and off a doll with very rigid arms.

Of course, no game of Mummies and Daddies would be complete without a doll's pram, pushchair or buggy; would it?  Prams.net sent Holly a Bayer Chic 2000 dolls buggy which has the same fabric as the sleeping bag (they also sell a changing bag and mat set too to make the full role play experience!).

At a little under £26, this toy pushchair is quite a lot more expensive that the previous equivalent that we used to own but then it is a very different quality of toy - this Vita dolls buggy feels and looks as real as any of the full-sized pushchairs on the Prams.net site.  It looks like a real pushchair and it folds and operates like a real pushchair; it also has the sturdiness and quality I'd expect of a genuine pushchair, not a toy!  The only problem with this is that both Lara and Holly expect it to be just like a grown-up's pushchair and have both been seen attempting to get into it - at 6 years old, Lara is faaaarrrrrr to big for a baby doll's pushchair but it seems to have survived so that baby John (aka Tiny Tears) can still make the most of it.

One of the biggest hits on this toy pushchair has been the detachable carry net at the base of the buggy for putting your shopping in.  Holly and Lara think this is fabulous and love finding more and more things to carry in there - one such thing is the sleeping bag which gets taken off when baby John gets too hot!

There are lots of different designs of dolls pushchairs and prams to choose from, and loads of different fabric options too.  I knew Holly would love this hot pink design with concentric circles.  I love seeing Holly play imagination games like this - it is something Lara didn't really do much of.  I can see a very gentle, caring side of Holly comes out when she is looking after baby John; this makes me realise that Holly isn't just about chaos, noise and rushing around... there really does exist a softer and less chaotic Holly.

Casdon Little Learners Toy Post Office Review

Postmaster Holly is in the house!  Holly is absolutely loving this toy post office from Casdon Little Learners - it is a chance for her to boss us about and play the boss!

Role play and imaginative play is a very big part of Holly's day right now.  Every evening when I pick her up from nursery I see her playing 'mums and dads' or 'babies' or 'teachers' with her friends.  At three and a half, this is the stage in Holly's life when she will learn simple life skills through mimicking others and so we are more than happy to let her boss us about.  One of Holly's favourite activities at the weekend is to come with me to the post office at the end of our road and then run home again so she was super excited to own her own post office counter!

The Little Learners post office toy contains everything Holly needs to run her own post office including basics for sale from her own little shop.  The set comes with a set of postal consumables such as stamps, air mail stickers, envelopes and paper as well as a couple of small parcel boxes.  There are newspapers and postcards for sale too!  It is fair to say that Holly worked her way through the consumables very quickly - the envelopes were all "written" on and the stamps and stickers all used within a couple of days.  Even the postcards had been written and posted!  Thankfully the set includes spaces big enough for full-sized notepaper, postcards and envelopes so we have been able to top up with our own stationary from home and Holly has raided her stash of stickers to use as stamps!

The set includes a simple weighing scale onto which you can place parcels and look at the indicators on the scale.  Holly has great fun when I bring her all sorts of items from around the house that she can weigh and tell me how much she wants to charge me.  The toy post office comes with pretend money - both notes and coins that Holly likes to exchange with me and count out my change.

There is, of course, a miniature post box as part of the set, into which the postcards and mini envelopes can be posted.  I'm not sure Holly has yet worked out what is intended to happen once the letters are posted...magic, I think!

The part of the post office set that Holly most enjoys is the pretend stamp pad - every letter we take to her for posting needs her stamp of approval before it can be posted.

I'm really pleased with the way Holly has embraced this set - I always enjoy seeing Holly take things seriously (it doesn't often happen).  I find the set to be a bit small and fiddly but it is the perfect size for her little hands to practice fine motor skills and it also means that the whole set is compact enough to sit on a coffee table or workbench.

Holly and Lara love playing post offices together and they take it turns to play the customer or the postmaster.  The Casdon Little Learners Post Office costs around £12.

  

ASDA George Home Wooden Toys - A Wooden Kitchen Review

There is nothing that my girls enjoy more than pretending to cook me dinner! Despite the fact that they join me in the kitchen most days to cook their own food, there is something magical about kitchen role play that ignites the imagination of almost all children. This beautiful ASDA wooden play kitchen from George Home is such a neat little role play area that my two girls can enjoy together away from the hustle and bustle of our main kitchen!

ASDA have a fairly impressive range of wooden toys now, our enormous doll's house has pride of place in the playroom and now this red and cream kitchen has become our number-one played toy with both Holly and Lara finding many hours of entertainment from cooking, washing up and storing their wooden food supplies in their own mini kitchen. Yes, there are sturdier wooden toy kitchens available, and yes, there are bigger, grander designs to be found but at just £40 this wooden kitchen really is fantastic value for money.

When Lara was two Lara was given a plastic kitchen which, soon after her baby sister was born, succumbed to the pressures of childhood - it wasn't built to last. In contrast, this ASDA wooden kitchen would take some serious effort to destroy and so I expect it to withstand the Holly test - this is where wooden toys really come into their own because they last so much longer.

Our toy kitchen came as flat pack and it took Mr. B. a good hour to build it but, towards the end he discovered that one of the pieces was incorrect and that meant we has to improvise - it means we have a screw-hole on display which we probably shouldn't and that we can't use the dinky little red and white gingham curtain over the "window". I would say that the incorrect piece and the ever so slightly wonky MDF doors are a reflection of the price of the ASDA George wooden play kitchen BUT I still think it presents great value for money. With a drawer, cupboard, microwave, hob, sink and oven as well as moving dials and hanging space for utensils, this play kitchen has all of the basics I'd look for in a play kitchen, plus more.

The kitchen comes with a set of wooden kitchen utensils for use in your role play games. My girls also happen to have a set of metal pots and pans which work perfectly with the kitchen and Holly loves putting on her chef's hat and apron to cook me up "carrot stew" or "omelette" for my dinner.

Disclosure: We were sent the wooden kitchen for the purposes of our review.

Leapfrog Musical Rainbow Tea Party Review

When Holly was sent the Leapfrog Musical Rainbow Tea Party set to review, I knew that it would set her imagination alight and I was right - I get served a cup of tea by Holy every evening now!  I hadn't quite expected my older daughter Lara to be as inspired but even she has enjoyed playing with the teapot to listen to the little ditties that it plays!

Leapfrog Musical Rainbow Tea Party

The teapot is accompanied by two small tea cups and a plate with a cake that is made up of six pieces of pretend cake, each with a different colour of icing and a small picture on top of a different fruit.  But really, the teapot is the star of the show.  Just watch this video to see why Holly loves it so much!

There are 7 different learning songs and over 50 different combinations of phrases and chants which means that it takes a while to drive you around the bend.  Holly for some reason loves the music more than any other musical toy we have ever owned!  The lid of the teapot opens and closes and inside there is a reflective mirror cover to add a bit of sparkle.  We love the fact that when you pretend to pour a cup of tea, the lights on the front change so that it actually looks like the level of the water has gone down!

The Leapfrog Musical Rainbow Tea Party set at first glance seems very similar to another pink children's teapot, cup and cake set from a big brand of toys that may or may not have the initials F.P.  But, I would say that it goes that little bit further - we particularly appreciate the English accent on the Leapfrog teapot and the fact that interaction is encouraged - each time the teapot sings a song it references a different colour or fruit on the cake to inspire your child to fetch the right piece.  For Holly this is a nice early introduction to words and colours and she eagerly rushes off to fetch the right piece of cake.

The Leapfrog teapot changes colour depending on which colour of cake she is singing about.  We love the sound effects and the fact that she tells you when she has run out of tea and needs you to press her buttons to refill her.

The Leapfrog Musical Rainbow Tea Party set is recommended for children aged 1-3 years old and costs around £19.99.

Creative Play - The Dolls House

You may remember that shortly before Christmas the girls became the proud owners of a beautiful, traditional dolls house that now takes pride of place in the brand new play room.

The dolls house has been used on and off by a series of teddy bears but it was looking a bit bare and lonely in there.  For Christmas, Lara and Holly received a couple of Le Toy Van themed Budkins dolls and fairies who took up residence in the dolls house but it was still lacking character.

In my Christmas break I decided to teach Lara how to use the sewing machine.  We knocked up a few set of curtains for the dolls house and a carpet or two made from old fabric scraps and curtain trimmings and this suddenly brought Lara's imagination to life... she wanted to furnish the entire house.

More recently we were lucky enough to be asked to review some of the wide range of wooden dolls house furniture available from the Big Game Hunters Dolls House website dollshouses.co.uk.  And now the dolls house has really come alive.

The girls were sent a set of furniture for the living room - a Loganberry coloured lounge suite from Sugar Plum.  Lara loved the fact that there was a television and even a surround sound system as it made it feel very much like our home.  Immediately Lara started sitting the dolls down to watch television and was bossing the fairy children about!

We now also have a Sugar Plum dining room suite and a set of wooden Pink Bathroom furniture so the house is really coming along well.

I loved the fact that the Sugar Plum wooden furniture sets had addressed lots of the details.  Lara had great fun deciding where to stick the arty pictures on the dining room and living room walls and spent quite some time arranging cookie jars on the sideboard!

Since we first set up the furniture in the dolls house both Lara and Holly have been in to play each morning.  Holly's Happyland characters seem to have moved into the house.  I love hearing Lara's voice boss her big sister around as they move the dolls throughout the different rooms.  It will never cease to amaze me how creative their imaginations can be when left to their own devices.

You know, a dolls house is so far away from many of the other toys the girls have.  It is simply crafted.  Makes no noise (other than Lara's voice as she chatters on to herself and to Holly) and requires no batteries.  And yet the value we get from it in terms of hours of play is endless.  We love it... and I can well imagine a few more choice pieces of furniture being added to the dolls house over the coming months!

Disney Princess Ariel's Vanity Set Bathroom Toy Review

I have been on the lookout for a fun bath toy for Lara for what seems like an age (aka 2 years). I have also been resisting letting Lara anywhere near make-up... but then she raided my own make-up drawer and I think we probably encountered a turning point. The new Disney Princess Ariel's Vanity Set is a harmless bit of make-up fun... I say harmless because, unlike the day when Lara caked herself in my own mascara and lipstick, this make-up set is specifically designed for use in the bath and all the make-up products wash straight off. Phew.

The Little Mermaid vanity set from Jakks includes a display unit which you stick to the side of the bath, or to the bathroom wall. The unit features a little mirror and four spaces for the individual pieces of the vanity set. The set includes a pretend perfume sprayer, a minature lipstick, a seashell-shaped cream blusher and a cream eye shadow. Lara thinks this Disney Princess set is the single most awesome thing on the entire planet!

The first time that Lara used Ariel's vanity set she was reluctant to wash the make-up off afterwards but once she realised that she could do it all again the next time she had a bath, Lara seemed really happy. We had been struggling a lot with Lara at bathtimes (hence why I wanted to buy her a bath toy) and this bath time Disney Princess vanity set has really helped her behaviour in the bath.

My only small gripe with this toy is the fact that the plastic mirror came with a protective coating which I found hard to remove (you can still see small bits of it around the side of the mirror in the photos).  I was really pleased with how easily the pretend make-up came off in the bath... which is handy because I think Lara needs a bit of practice.

Little Tikes Role Play at ASDA

Little Tikes are well known for their simple, chunky outdoor toys for preschool children but who knew they also make a fab range of indoor toys for preschoolers too? ASDA have teamed up with Little Tikes to launch a new and exclusive range of kids toys for toddlers and preschoolers and they all look AMAZING.

Lara and Holly have been trying out this Little Tikes Doctors Set which is perfect for both of them right now as Holly is just discovering how to mimic others around her and Lara's imagination runs wild every day so role play toys suit them both.

The Little Tikes Doctors Set from ASDA has all the qualities that I expect from Little Tikes. The set features about 10 doctors tools inside a big plastic box which has a transparent window so you can see all the pieces inside. It is the most comprehensive doctors kit that I've ever set eyes on... with a toy scalpel, tweezers and calipers alongside the more traditional pieces. It is also the best quality that I've tried - Lara's received a similar set for her second birthday and many of the pieces broke within a couple of weeks. To me, the difference that Little Tikes toys show is in the build, I expect these to last considerably longer as they simply aren't constructed in the same way.

The Little Tikes range at ASDA features a number of other role play toys such as a cash register, laundry set and vacuum cleaner as well as DIY toys which are all characteristically bright and bold. There is also a massive range of more traditional baby toys such as a wooden shape sorter, baby walker, rattles, stackers and push alongs.

Holly has this fun monkey high chair toy also by Little Tikes at ASDA. He sticks to the tray of a high chair to provide entertainment during meal times... these days Holly gets all the entertainment she needs from the food on her plate but in the early days when we wanted her to sit with us even though she wasn't weaning, this toy would have been good fun. The monkey spins and rattles and has a small mirror on one of his feet. It isn't the kind of toy I would have expected from Little Tikes but, just like the doctors set, it has the same great qualities - well shaped, brightly coloured and very sturdily built.

These Little Tikes toys are available exclusively at ASDA.

Love My Street? Love Lara's Cottage!

As I type this Lara is sound asleep on our sofa after a busy jubilee celebration with her Grandparents. OK, so the planned BBQ turned out to be a 'grill' instead and all of the garden toys had to be brought inside to avoid the rain showers but who cares? We had fun!

Yesterday Lara made bunting for her playhouse - the Sweetheart Cottage from the new Love My Street range from Worlds Apart which was launched just in time for the jubilee.

Earlier in the week we did manage to get out in the garden with Lara's new playhouse.  Sweetheart Cottage is more than just a wendy house, it really encourages imaginative play with the accompanying cooker that comes as part of the set.  The cooker also comes with an apron, baking tray, cookies and servers.  My budding chef Lara was in her element and within minutes of first laying eyes on her cottage, Lara was cooking for us all.

The Love My Street range by Worlds Apart is a little girl's dream - if you can afford the complete set of four playhouses (Little Miss Boutique, Cupcake Corner and Penpal Post Office) then you can join them all up with their flowery bunting and have a street party all of your own!  How's that for role play?

I found the Sweetheart Cottage incredibly easy to construct and the beauty of it is that when the weather turns, or when we run out of space in the house I can collapse it and store all of the pieces inside the cooker and it will still be usable as a toy cooker!  Genius. The decoration is so detailed and I love the fact that the shape is something more than just a simple square - it has a shaped roof!

In a little over a fortnight's time our garden will be packed full of little girls (and boys) celebrating Lara's birthday and I think this play house is going to be ideal for letting them all run away with their imaginations.

The Love My Street range is available exclusively from the Early Learning Centre at present. Sweetheart cottage costs around £39.99 and some of the smaller playhouses cost £29.99.