Toys and Games 3-5 Dance Star Mickey
Manufacturer: Fisher-Price Web:
www.fisher-price.com/uk Price: £69.99 Age range: 2 years +
Description: Dance Star Mickey comes to life in front of your eyes as he walks, talks, and dances to four different songs – he even does the moonwalk! With songs and two interactive settings, pre-schoolers will have hours of entertainment with Mickey, he is perfect for group play as well as individual fun. There will be lots of dancing, laughter and fun with Mickey!
Score: 85.8%
What the testers said: “The children loved this and played with it a lot! They enjoyed dancing along with Mickey and took turns to press the buttons. They got much pleasure from playing with the toy, and it encouraged a lot of laughter. The only problem was that it gets used so much it might be expensive to keep buying batteries! It was easy to use and young children soon worked out how to switch it on and off. Very entertaining!”
Tonka Strong Arms Collection
Supplier: Funrise Tel: 07809 760676 Web:
www.funrise.com Price: £20.99 Age range: 3 years +
Description: The Tonka Strong Arm collection offers children five collectable real-life vehicles to play with and build their own Tonka Town. The collection includes a Dump Truck, Bulldozer, Garbage Truck and Cement Mixer. Tonka Strong Arm vehicles are freewheeling and entirely kid- powered to provide hours of interactive imaginary play.
Score: 84.6%
What the testers said: “The vehicles immediately appealed to all the children, we loved that both boys and girls played with these together. We thought they were excellent toys for role-play and stimulating conversation. The light-up effects really got the children excited and the appeal of the toys has not worn off – they are still played with every day.”
Silver Award Scribble and Write
Manufacturer: Leapfrog Web:
www.argos.co.uk Price: £19.99 Age range: 3 years +
Description: Leapfrog’s Scribble and Write is designed to help children shape and develop their lower and upper case letters. With four interactive learning settings, Scribble and Write features step-by-step guidance and fun educational games to teach phonic skills, letter formation and pencil control.
Score: 83.8%
What the testers said: “This ticks all the right boxes – it is ergonomically designed for small hands, it is robust but not heavy and the
instructions are clear
enough for children to use the toy
by themselves. Supports learning
across lots of different areas: language,
literacy, fine motor skill
development and hand-eye coordination. It easily maintained the child’s interest
and they enjoyed playing while learning.”
Geometrie
Supplier: Colemoi Web:
www.colemoi.com Price: £15.00 Age range: 4 years +
Description: Colemoi Geometrie is made of 25 red pieces printed with yellow geometrical shapes on the front side, which stick on both sides, and are permanently removable and washable. It is also possible to play vertically on all smooth, rigid, clean and dry surfaces (windows, mirrors, whiteboards and so on).
Score: 83.1%
What the testers said: “Bright and appealing and of a lovely texture. Good value for money. Overall, children liked the product and they enjoyed connecting, matching and making the shapes. The patterns were appealing, though they were a little difficult to copy for some of our younger ones. A useful resource to introduce the concept of pattern.”
Brik-a-Blok
Manufacturer: Halilit Tel: 01254 872 454 Web:
www.halilit.co.uk
Price: 26 piece set: £120.00 46 piece set: £199.99
Age range: From birth to 5 with adult assistance 5 years + unassisted
Description: The ingenious Brik-a-Blok is a modular construction toy system that allows children to use their imagination to build their own play area, either indoors or outside. Easy to connect; primary coloured waterproof polymer panels are safe and simple to use.
Score: 82.7%
What the testers said: “It was easy to snap the panels together in this modular system, giving the children plenty of scope to build large dens, forts, tunnels and spaces for imaginative play. As the panels were 16” by 16”, they made impressive structures quickly. After following the sample instructions a couple of times our children could design and build their own structures with little adult help. Light enough to lift up if a child needs to get out in a hurry, it packed up neatly and easily zipped into a bag for storage. Covered many areas of the EYFS.”
Velcro® Jungle Animals Masks
Supplier: Dacta Ltd Tel: 01978 664 966 Web:
www.dacta.eu.com Price: £14.99 (exc VAT) Age range: 3 years +
Description: Velcro Masks come in a pack of eight face masks with a variety of different design elements to enhance children’s imagination and role-play time and time again. Designed for independent use, there is no cutting or gluing required. The elements can be repositioned and mixed and matched to create a variety of animals including a tiger, elephant, giraffe and monkey.
Score: 81.7%
What the testers said: “The children enjoyed wearing the masks and looking at everyone else’s. They also enjoyed changing bits on each mask so they could make mixed animal faces! They had some excellent conversations about the masks while pretending to be animals. These were simple to use and fitted in with lots of topics. Some of the children did lose interest towards the end of the trial period.”
Practical Pre-School Awards 2011 25
Toys and Games 3-5
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