We are huge fans of the Bigjigs road and railway sets. The beautifully crafted wooden pieces are the tools to unleash a child's imagination as they create their own miniature world complete with tracks, roads and vehicles. Like tiny town planners, children can make a fully functional transport network, add houses, shops, zebra crossings, bridges, roundabouts and even recycling plants!
Freddy received a Bigjigs Trackside Accessory Set to test out for his latest Play Patrol mission. The set contains 34 wooden pieces such as workers, shoppers, farm animals, vehicles, houses and trees. It makes the perfect addition to his road and railway sets, as he can use the figures and vehicles as props for adding an extra element of story telling to his games. The fireman, the policeman, the nurse and the builder become the everyday heroes in Freddy's little world, while the cars, ambulance, fire engine and police vehicle whizz around the roads on their travels. An imaginative story unravels as he explores the day to day adventures in his Bigjigs town.
Freddy used the accessory set alongside his figure of eight road set. The extra people, buildings and vehicles added to the play value, allowing Freddy to make an elaborate set up. He enjoyed making up a story involving a pig that got run over by a car that came flying over the bridge (typical Freddy). The policeman, the nurse and the fireman came to the rescue so it all ended well!!
The wooden accessories develop a child's dexterity and coordination and spark creativity and imagination through play. The figures and vehicles are also great tools for counting, matching, comparing and for encouraging conversation. A child's vocabulary can be enhanced by discussing the various animals, the jobs done by the characters, the shops and the types of vehicles. There is so much to look at and talk about in the busy town set up.
Freddy's verdict on his new toy was that it was "awesome!" He loved being able to extend his play and enjoyed arranging everything exactly how it wanted it. The scope for imaginative play was increased by having the extra accessories to use in his games. He made a tower block out of the individual shops. He used the people as skittles, knocking them down with his cars! He made some of his characters into superheroes flying over his town and he raced the cars against each other. He had so much fun!
The Bigjigs Trackside Accessory Set is available on the Bigjigs website for £20.49 and is compatible with all road and rail sets from Bigjigs and other major wooden railway brands. It's a great add on set to engage young minds for hours of imaginative play.
Freddy's latest Play Patrol Mission from Bigjigs was to put the fun of the Magnetic Theatre to the test, helped by his big sister Kizzy. So it was time for them to raise the curtains and let the drama begin!
The Magnetic Theatre comes complete with a theatre, decorations, 15 figures and 2 magnetic sticks. The theatre is constructed by slotting the thick cardboard curtains and scenery into slots on a wooden base. The scenery and decorations are interchangeable, giving the backdrop for four exciting fairy stories.
The assembly of the theatre was very straightforward and Freddy was able to build it himself. The 15 figures provide all the characters needed to put on plays of Pinocchio, The Three Little Pigs, Cinderella and Little Red Riding Hood. There is a story sheet included so children can remind themselves of the stories.
The hand painted wooden figures each have a magnetic base, which allows them to be controlled using the magnetic sticks from underneath the stage.
The characters were quite easy to control once Freddy got used to how to use the sticks without knocking down the whole theatre. (It took a little while but he got there!) He really enjoyed the fact he could make the little figures move around the stage using the power of magnetism! Magnets always fascinate Freddy and it was good to see him understand how the movement of the figures was controlled from underneath the base of the stage with the force going through the cardboard. He had some fun experimenting with the movement both on and off the stage.
Using the magnetic sticks and moving the characters around the stage helps develop a child's dexterity as it requires quite a deft touch. Constructing the stage and matching up the backdrops with the stage decorations is also something that children could do independently.
The figures and the stage scenery help unleash a child's imagination and they will soon be immersed in a world of storytelling, as they act out their own plays. They can stick to the traditional tales or make up their own exciting tales featuring princesses, wolves, piggies, old grannies and handsome princes! The stage direction is in their hands!
Freddy and Ella decided to keep it traditional for their big performance as they acted out the tale of the Three Little Pigs. Piggies 1, 2 and 3 are really cute with their snouts and beady eyes. Mr.Wolf has a long snout and pointy ears, perfect for starring roles in both the Three Little Pigs and Red riding Hood!
Here is a 30 second theatre performance demonstrating the fun of putting on a play with your big sister!
I love that the Bigjigs Magnetic Theatre is a prop to imaginative storytelling and role play. Both help a child's communication skills and boost their confidence. Putting on a show is always fun to do and having the figures from four different stories adds to the variety of plays that a child can perform. There are no scripts, so little ones can act out plays from memory or just invent their own tales.
Freddy absolutely loved putting on a show! He particularly enjoyed the fact that I filmed it and he can watch his performance as the rather terrifying big, bad wolf whenever he likes.
The Bigjigs Magnetic Theatre is suitable for ages 3 and up and retails for £16.99, which is great value.
It all packs back into the slimline box once showtime is over, making it easy to store away.
My little Play Patrol Agent Freddy was delighted to be picked by Bigjigs to carry out a series of secret missions over the coming months, where he will be trying out a selection of their toys and putting the fun to the test!
His first mission was to test out the Bigjigs Magnetic Weather Board. On Sunday we had a wonderful family barbecue to celebrate Freddy's 5th birthday, which is next week. Once everyone had left, Freddy put his new toy to the test in the garden. Donning his new uniform of baseball cap and T-shirt he took on his Play Patrol Agent role very seriously. Being outdoors was the perfect location to see exactly what the weather was doing.
The Bigjig Magnetic Weather Board is a lovely, educational toy, perfect for the bedroom, playroom or classroom. The large wooden framed structure helps children to learn about the seasons, the weather, time and dates, all within the context of a yearly calendar. The wooden magnetic pieces can be positioned into the relevant spaces, allowing children to record what they did, when they did it and what the weather was like. A clock face with moveable hands also allows little ones to record the time.
Each of the date, year, season, day, month, activity and weather pieces are made of wood with a magnetic back allowing them to be stuck onto the board. The colours and designs are appealing making this a fun activity for children to enjoy. The clock face has words as well as numbers to assist the learning of terms such as half past, quarter to and o'clock. Freddy has always enjoyed playing with toy clocks and seeing how the hands go round. This will hopefully help him to take his time-telling to a new level!
Being magnetic allows little ones the chance to be creative and explore the different combinations of dates and times through play. They can learn letter and number recognition, practice counting skills, enjoy colour matching and also learn the spellings of the days, months and seasons of the year. Older children will enjoy filling out the daily record, making them more aware of time, the weather, seasonal changes and the calendar.
It is a great starting point for discussions about weather and time related things. For example it prompts children to think about why it rains or what causes the wind to blow, sparking their quest for scientific knowledge. It also gives them an opportunity to understand how days, months and seasons fit together within a year.
Freddy has been enjoying having his Weather Board to record his days on. It is a lovely toy to go alongside his enquiring mind. It has the potential to last for years (and as it includes pieces for the years up to 2020 it will literally last until then!) It will grow with him as his ability to tell the time and read the words improves.
The handle allows the Weather Board to be easily carried, while the magnetic pieces stay safely attached to the board. So Freddy had some fun in the garden putting the fun to the test up the slide, on his climbing frame and on the grass. This proves that Bigjigs Play Patrol agents can have fun anywhere!!
Using his Weather Board up the slide!!
I love the traditional and highly educational toy. It aids concentration and dexterity in children aged 3 and over. It's a real classic piece with lots of play value. As with all Bigjigs toys it is made using responsibly sourced materials and conforms to EU safety standards.
Telling the time out on the lawn!
I'm sure that Freddy will enjoy this for years to come in lots of different ways. He has already invented his own game which involves throwing the pieces at the board to try and make them stick. He thinks it's a great laugh...but what he doesn't realise is that he is learning all about magnetism too!!
Carrying his new toy on his climbing frame!
Filling in the 'Today' section on the Board together is a chance to chat about the child's day with them, which is a lovely way for them to recount what happened and consolidate memories. Communicating with children is vital for their language development, and boosts their self-confidence too. It's a lovely activity to share at the end of a busy day.
Our Bigjigs Play Patrol adventure is coming to an end, and we have one mission left. Freddy was sent the Seaside Slope to play with to put the fun to the test!
The Bigjigs Seaside Slope is a beautifully made wooden structure featuring four angled ramps on which the colourful wooden fish roll down. Starting at the top, they travel to the end of one ramp before dropping down onto the next and so on. Passing the centre point they ring a little bell. If you time it right you can have all fish rolling down the ramps at the same time.
Freddy couldn't wait to try out the new toy as soon as he got home from school. He loved the colour and the design of the toy. He instinctively knew what to do and soon had all four fish rolling and ringing the bell. It is a lovely gender neutral toy with appeal to both boys and girls.
At four and a half years old he is a bit above the recommended age (36 mths +) and the Seaside Slope didn't keep him fully engaged once he'd mastered how it worked. Unlike his trains or cars, the concept of rolling fish didn't lend itself to any role play or imaginative story telling from him. I guess aquatic creatures just aren't his thing!
He was initially quite mesmerized by the friendly faced fishes rolling down the slopes. I could see him thinking about the timing of setting the fish go and he showed great dexterity as he positioned them on the slopes. He was very interested in how it worked, watching the fish fall onto the next slope and travel down it in the opposite direction. The science of the motion was clearly of interest to him.
I took note of some of the comments, questions and observations he made while playing:
The bell rings when the fish hit it. I'm not sure why there is a bell in the sea though?
I love the blue colour. Blue is my favourite colour.
The holes look like bubbles.
Why do the fish get stuck if two go together?
The fishes roll down the track. They roll and fall, roll and fall.
They go in the other direction when they get to the end.
I wish it was a car racer instead of fishes.
The whole fish spins around and not just the wheels.
I like it when they all go down together.
I want to show this to baby Ted because I think he'd like it. (Ted is his 15 mth old nephew.)
The build of the toy is excellent. It is strong, stable and well made and perfectly designed for the job. At 4 and a half, I think Freddy was just a little too old to be kept enthralled by this toy for very long. However, I was impressed by his scientific reasoning as he worked out the Laws of Motion without even realising it! And he recognised the play value the Seaside Slope would have with a younger child, as he wants to show his nephew how it works. I'm sure that if fully supervised, a little one would be mesmerised by the constant motion of the colourful fish. Then the toy would grow with the child giving it more longevity.
I do wonder that if it had been a toy with racing cars or construction vehicles whizzing down a sloped road, if it would have sparked more of an element of role play and he would have had the vehicles rushing to the rescue of some disaster to save the day. (Yes...I know he is very gender stereotypical when it comes to cars and trucks!)
For a slightly younger child, or one with an interest in fishes, this toy would tie in beautifully with a play session involving reading some themed books like The Rainbow Fish. Or with a musical tie in with the song about the three little fishes who "swam all over the dam!" Fishy craft activities such as a collage made using shiny paper for scales would also be a lovely way to extend playtime and explore the theme further.
You can find the Seaside Slope on the Bigjigs website and it costs £29.99. They also have a huge selection of gorgeous wooden toys including their rail and road collections and other top quality toys.
We have loved every minute of being Play Patrol agents for Bigjigs. The toys that Freddy has tested have all been beautifully made and he's enjoyed each and every one of them. I love the fact that long after he has outgrown them, they will be handed on to the grandkids. We still have wooden toys that belonged to my eldest son from 25 years ago. That's the beauty of buying such great quality toys...they last a lifetime and they are timeless classics that never go out of date.
When you are a 4 year old, playing make believe games is a big part of what you do! One minute you can be a superhero fighting crime, next a train driver en route to the seaside. Role play games can be inspired by using props, which help bring to life the games that are born from a child's imagination.
Bigjigs sent Freddy a box of wooden groceries featuring solid wooden blocks, beautifully painted to represent a range of familiar food tins and packets. Each one has the product name and an image on them, and make perfect creative stimuli for role play games involving shopping, cooking or kitchens. From budding chefs to little shopkeepers to busy mums and dads, the scope for pretend play is as big as the child's imagination itself.
Freddy arranged his groceries to create his very own grocery store. He loved 'selling' the cans and packets to his sisters, his dad and to me and shouted out "Come buy your food here!" like a seasoned market trader. We enjoyed going to Freddy's shop and we paid for our shopping in his currency of choice... chocolate coins!! Playing shopping games is a great introduction to understanding money, although Freddy's prices were super inflated...£101 for a cornflakes, tomato sauce, cookies and orange juice! I know prices in the shops are expensive, but thankfully they aren't this bad yet!
For children, playing games based on the things they see grown-ups doing, helps them to make sense of the world around them, encourages empathy and teaches important social skills. Role play exercises children's minds, allowing them to grow and develop while having fun.
Role play is just one of the ways that the Bigjigs Groceries can be enjoyed. Little ones can practice colours, counting, 3D and 2D shape names, letter recognition and reading the 'food' related words. Freddy also loved stacking the similarly shaped blocks into towers and organising them by shape and size.
Bigjigs range of role play toys includes a wonderful range of gender neutral products including kitchens, market stalls and village shops along with a host of food accessories, fruit, vegetables, bakeware, scales, tills, shopping baskets, kitchen appliances and cookware, all beautifully crafted in wood.
Taking an interest in food through role play provides an opportunity for parents to talk about healthy eating with their little ones and lets future budding chefs cook up a (mess free) storm in the playroom!
This week I have received some lovely goodies from some lovely people and here is a round up of my favourites. Andrex sent the kids some cute Andrex Puppy themed items including these adorable slippers, which has reminded me to stock up on some Andrex Loo Roll for Christmas. With a house full of guests, the last thing I want to do is run out of toilet paper!
The cute little Andrex Puppy toy will look fabulous peeping out of Freddy's Christmas stocking this year and the magnetic whiteboard will be for all my festive listing!
Forever Friends, the lovable cute and cuddly bears, have launched a brand new magazine out in stores now.
Love From… Forever Friends is made up of two 16-page
magazines. The main magazine includes content such as stories, puzzles, quizzes, posters and competitions,
whilst the second craft-focused magazine, is packed full of creative content such as
colouring, collage, recipes, drawing and doodling. Both come packaged together
in a bag, which also contains a character sticker sheet, a craft kit and free
collectable stationery and accessory gifts. The magazine is available at retailers
including The Co-operative, Martin McColls, One Stop, Tesco, WHSmith,
Morrisons, Sainsburys, Asda and Hobbycraft priced at £3.25.
Little girls will love the colourful magazine, which is packed with fun activities and other goodies. The Forever Friends theme is just lovely and this magazine is perfect for little ones who enjoy arts and crafts. It will keep them entertained during the quiet moments of the Christmas holidays.
I've had a little bit of luck on the advent competitions on Facebook this year. I was really happy to win this Bigjigs Wooden Train based on the Virgin Pendolino. It will be a fabulous addition to Freddy's Bigjigs train collection. He is going to be delighted to receive it on Christmas morning! Bigjigs trains are made to a really high standard and with great detail. We love them!
Another prize I received was from Mark Hill on Facebook. I won a wonderful goodie bag containing four MiracOILicious products. My hair is going to enjoy using these goodies!
My winning streak continued when I won £40 cash at Kizzy's school Christmas Fair in the raffle. It's unheard of for me to win a raffle so this was a lovely unexpected treat which we are using to fund a cinema trip to see Frozen! I also won a Dove Gift Set on the tombola. Go me!! I'm on a roll :)
Now Freddy is four years old, the way he plays has developed to become much more focused on role play and imaginative games. Acting out different scenarios allows him to explore emotions and feelings, develop social skills and learn more about his environment. Language skills and communication are practiced and creativity is exercised. Through these games, there is scope to learn and develop knowledge about different topics. And all this is cleverly disguised as play!
Bigjigs sent Freddy the Zebra Crossing Set, which is part of the Bigjigs Road range, an interconnecting range of toys that fit together to build exciting environments for imaginative play.
The set includes three connecting road pieces, one with the Zebra Crossing markings, two pedestrians, a car, two Bellisha Beacons, a lamp post and a School road sign.
Straight away Freddy started a dialogue about what he could see and what things he recognised from the 'real world'. "There is one of these at my school," he said whilst holding the School road sign. "Does it mean 'No Running'?" he asked. I explained that it was to warn cars to slow down because there might be children crossing the road.
He also recognised the Zebra Crossing and 'the big yellow lights' as something he had seen outside his big sister's school. He was very interested and it allowed me to explain to Freddy all about road safety, the Green Cross Code and how to use a zebra crossing.
Then it was Freddy's turn to try out what he had learned using the little wooden pedestrians and the wooden car as props to demonstrate how to cross safely. He wheeled the car to the zebra crossing and the boy and girl checked to see if it had stopped before crossing over. Perfect.
However, he also discovered that is was fun to mow down the pedestrians, the lamp post, school sign and Bellisha Beacons in a scene reminiscent of something from GTA5. But that's the fun of play time - anything goes!
Playing with the set also gave rise to some counting as Freddy counted the stripes on the Zebra Crossing, the number of freestanding objects and the number of times the pedestrians crossed. Colour recognition was used as he named every colour he could spot.
Dexterity and co-ordination are enhanced as little hands manipulate the pieces and fit the road pieces together (Freddy insisted on having a long run up to the crossing rather than having it in the centre.)
As with all the Bigjigs Road and Rail wooden toys, this toy will grow with your child, giving them the tools to unleash their imagination, learn about new things and develop their creativity to build exciting new worlds to play with.
I love a toy that can introduce a child to something that is really important in the real world. That can open their eyes to a serious issue through the medium of play. That teaches them about something that can make a big difference to the world that we live in. Something like recycling. Hats off to Bigjigs for doing just that with their Dockside Recycling Centre. Fully compatible with other leading wooden rail systems, children can add an environmentally friendly activity into their playtime, teaching them about the importance of recycling and helping them to learn more about the process in a fun way.
Freddy, my little Bigjigs Play Patrol Agent, was very intrigued by his new toy. The recycling centre comes with a colourful sign, a barrier gate, two working cranes with magnetic ends, a barge, a recycling truck, a train carriage, two recycling skips and two container loads of recycling. As the recycling arrives by road, rail or sea it needs to be picked up by the cranes using the pulley system, swivelled into position and deposited into the skips.
The play value of this toy is great. It leads the way to imaginative games where your child becomes the harbourmaster, deciding where the recycling is going and by what mode of transport it will travel by. Little fingers show great dexterity as they wind up the pulleys on the crane to pick up the recycling with the magnetic end. All the while they are learning about recycling and this opens up an opportunity to discuss this issue in a fun and engaging way, asking what they think can be recycled, getting clues from the colourful pictures on the sign and the containers.
Learning through Play
Freddy loved the magnet and quickly realised that it could pick up more than just his toy recycling containers. He raided our real life recycling bin to find a sweetcorn can and experimented with how best the magnet would stick to it. He discovered that concentrating the magnetic force on the edge of the rim, created the best hold to pick up the can. He wielded it about like a fisherman with a prize catch on the end of his rod! Freddy tried the magnet against lots of materials to see which ones would stick. This opportunity for scientific discovery is another great aspect of this toy, enabling little ones to learn through play - exactly how it should be done!
Our Play Patrol Mission Captioned Photo!!
As the set is fully compatible with Bigjigs Roads and Rail toys (and other leading wooden rail systems) it can be incorporated into a world of your child's creation. I love toys that can grow with your child and which can be added to on birthdays and Christmases. Each new addition brings a new lease of life to the play experience, adding its own touch of excitement and enjoyment.
The Bigjigs Dockside Recycling Centre is priced at £20.79 over on the Bigjigs website. Take a look at the huge range of wonderful wooden toys they have on offer. I could browse for hours!
Freddy won the opportunity to be a Play Patrol agent for Bigjigs and received this toy to complete his latest mission!
The Wooden Construction Set from Bigjigs Toys gives kids aged 3 and over the tools to unleash their imagination and create whatever they can think of using the 51 pieces of beautifully made, colourful wooden nuts, bolts, wheels and panels. Freddy's latest mission as a Bigjigs Play Patrol Agent was to review this set and unleash the fun!
He was very excited to test out his new toy and make some fantastic model vehicles using his tub of wooden bits! It was lovely to talk to him about what he wanted to create. He chatted about cars, trucks, helicopters and aeroplanes animatedly. His imagination was fired up!
At first Freddy made 2D models from the pieces but quickly progressed to creating 3D vehicles with a little bit of help. He was soon using the bolts to attach the pieces together. This improved his dexterity and honed his fine motor skills.
There are enough pieces in the set to make some quite elaborate vehicles, but you can only do one project at a time as you run out of bolts and wheels quite quickly.
Here is a video of Freddy and the journey of imagination he enjoyed when playing with the Bigjigs Wooden Construction Set!
The construction set costs £21.99 and is for children aged 3+.
Freddy has had a very busy week. With birthdays, parties, family visits and nursery picnics going on, his schedule has been fully booked. So today, it was lovely to finally relax and introduce him to his latest Bigjigs Play Patrol Mission, to review the BIGJIGS ROAD Figure of Eight Roadway. The 36 piece set is suitable for children aged 3 and over and is part of the Bigjigs Road range. The set comprises of roadway pieces that interconnect to form a figure of eight road, part of which goes under a bridge, along with cars, trees, traffic lights, a road sign, buildings and pedestrians. Children can make a busy little town and play imaginative games to bring it to life!
Freddy got stuck in straight away, delighted to have a new Bigjigs toy to play with. As ever, the quality of the wooden pieces is excellent and the pieces of the road fitted together easily. I always love the feeling, natural look and smell of the wood. The traditional wooden toys are just so aesthetically pleasing!
Freddy needed a little help to make the figure of eight shape, but was equally happy making his own road layouts as he explored the set, putting the pieces together.
The pieces and accessories are perfect for little hands, being chunky and robust. The cars are freewheeling and Freddy loved whizzing them around, rolling them over the bridge and making them have races.
I loved listening to his ongoing dialogue as he played, narrating the story of the three cars. At times the cars were naughty and bashed over the trees and buildings! At other times they came to the rescue of one of the people in a race against time. I love how Bigjigs toys fire his imagination and give rise to some wonderful role play opportunities.
A child's dexterity and co-ordination is developed as they play, manipulating the pieces and building the tracks. There are opportunities for further learning as children count objects and recognise shapes and colours. I was particularly impressed with Freddy who put two roof triangles together and said "Look Mummy, it's a diamond!"
I really like the idea of having a roadway range that is compatible with other Bigjigs roadway sets and also the train sets through additional Road and Rail link items. Other accessories such as roadsigns, vehicles and parking spaces add to the play value. A child's collection can be built up over birthdays and Christmases to create bigger city scenes and expand the fun.
Our only criticism is that the people are so much bigger than the cars, the buildings and even the bridge! They seem a bit out of place when everything else is more or less scaled. That said, they were still fun as Freddy pretended they were giants!
The Roadway set costs £31.99 and is available on the Bigjigs website here.
A brand new Bigjigs Roadway website is coming soon. If you want to be notified when it's up and ready, register here: www.bigjigsroad.com.
We are so thrilled to be Play Patrol Agents for Bigjigs Toys. We love their wonderful range of ethical, traditional, environmentally friendly, wooden toys. Freddy is so excited about putting the fun to the test by trying out some of Bigjigs Toys best offerings.
His first assignment was to test out the Carpenters Bench, a 15 piece workbench and tool set, suitable for children aged 3 and up.
The toys comes minimally packaged in a cardboard box with the accessories contained in a single plastic bag. The bench itself is constructed from solid, varnished wood with pre-drilled holes for storing the tools and hammering in the nails. The tools and accessories are very colourful.
Children can learn about shapes and colours as they sort through the pieces. Number skills can also be practiced as children count the pieces.
Motor skills and dexterity are developed as little fingers pop the nails and screws through the holes and manipulate them with the tools.
The work bench gives opportunities for role play and unleashes a child's imagination as they pretend to be a carpenter or copy a parent's DIY skills. Perfect for all those little jobs around the house!
Children's vocabulary is expanded as they learn the names of all the different tools and their functions.
Freddy (insistently and enthusiastically wearing his Bigjigs Play Patrol T-shirt and rucksack combo) was immediately drawn to the workbench. He is a boy who enjoys hitting things so he set straight to work hammering the wooden nails into the bench. Using the screwdriver he turned the screws and used the spanner to twist the nuts and bolts.
The nails hammered in completely into the holes in the bench. Freddy was mostly able to pull them out using the claw side of the hammer (which catapulted them into the air much to his amusement) but sometimes they were just too firmly in. I showed him how to turn the bench over and hammer them out from the underside.
The tools are solid and could cause damage if used on anything other than the bench. In the wrong hands they could be lethal! But teaching kids to use them properly and appropriately is a great lesson in itself.
The Carpenters Bench is a compact and self-contained toy that takes up little space compared to the full-sized workbenches available on the market. It may be small in size but it has lots of scope for play with the assortment of holes and accessories to explore. It's a good size for taking away to the grandparents or on holiday to keep children entertained, and it all fits back into the box after use. Priced at just £10.99, it is a well priced toy that little ones will really enjoy playing with.
Find out more on the Bigjigs Toys range and purchase them online at the website:
We are so excited to be in the final phase of applications for the Bigjigs Play Patrol!
We loveBigjigs, who are a fantastic toy company specialising in wonderful, traditional wooden toys for children of all ages.
We love the ethics of the company which strives to keep its environmental impact minimal.
We love how the toys enhance children's development and learning through play, and how each top quality toy is beautifully and thoughtfully designed.
We love the tactile feel, warmth and smell of the wood, and we know that each toy will last for generations (especially important now I am a granny to my baby grandson Ted who will one day inherit some of his Uncle Freddy's toys!)
Bigjigs Farm House Sorter
We received a lovely surprise through the post from Bigjigs for the final stage of the Play Patrol applications. We were challenged to put the fun to the test in a review. Three year old Freddy is always ready to have fun!
Now, being the McDonald family, we are particularly fond of farm toys as they give us the opportunity to sing one of our favourite songs "Old McDonald Had a Farm" so this was the perfect toy for Freddy to test, ably assisted by his big sisters Ella and Kizzy who are always on hand for some fun play time with their little brother. In this video, Freddy demonstrates the Farm House Sorter accompanied by his musical sisters!
The Farm House Sorter is a lovely toy for ages 12 mths+ that will appeal to both tiny tots and pre-schoolers alike, as it can be played with in different ways according to the child's age and ability. This gives it great play potential for years to come as it grows with the child, making it a great investment to the toybox.
It came boxed in recyclable cardboard, with only the shapes wrapped up inside for protection, so the waste was minimal. The Farm House Sorter consists of a colourful, wooden barn with shapes cut into the sides, a removable roof and a handy carry handle, along with nine cut out shapes (eight animals and a tree).
Firstly, children can post the shapes through the holes, which will help develop their fine motor skills, spatial awareness and dexterity.
But this isn't all! Each of the animal and the tree shapes are individually painted. This helps children learn their colours.
The shapes can be counted in and out of the sorter to help children learn their numbers.
Little ones will enjoy chatting about the animals which assists their language development. The colour, the position, the animal noises, the size etc. all lend themselves to having conversations with Mummy or Daddy about what they are doing.
The name of the animal/object is written in lower case on the back of the each shape so pre-schoolers can learn letter and word recognition whilst playing, which is a step towards mastering their reading skills.
The shapes also allow for imaginative, farm yard role play as they are free-standing and can be 'walked' around their farm house home. It is a shame that the tree does not stand up as it could add another dimension to a child's storytelling with the animals.
The shapes can be drawn around and used as templates as an arts and crafts resource which will help mark making skills to develop.
All this learning comes through having fun and playing, which is the best way for little ones to develop!
Freddy loves his Bigjigs Farm House Sorter. He is able to post the shapes through the right holes, even though he sometimes has to think quite hard about it and turn the house round to find the correct space. He likes that the whole roof comes off so he can retrieve the animals easily to play over and over again. The roof parts have also doubled up as steering wheels in a very imaginative game of racing car drivers with his sister! I love how a good toy inspires so many ideas in a child, way beyond those of any adult! It is a well designed toy that Freddy enjoys carrying around with a real sense of ownership. He is happy to explore the toy independently or will happily show off his skills to us, chatting and engaging us in his discoveries. It is well made, solid and robust enough to withstand years of play. All the pieces fit inside for storage and the roof attaches securely, but is easy to get off and on. There is nothing fiddly or frustrating to contend with, so it's smiles all the way from 3 year old Freddy.
In a world of technology with garishly coloured, plastic, battery-operated toys with lights and sounds, it delights me that my son is so thrilled with this toy. I love him having traditional toys which provide him with an alternative to the brands that inundate the toy shops today. Fuelled only by his imagination, his natural curiosity and a yearning to learn new things, Freddy brought this shape sorter to life in ways I hadn't even thought of. We have had dancing and flying farm animals with superpowers flying into their farm house home. We've seen racing cars zooming around with rooftop steering wheels. We've sung songs together and chatted about pigs and cows and ducks and geese. He has told me stories, he has counted, he has recognised letters and he has done all this in the process of having fun and playing!
Find out more about Bigjigs by visiting their website at bigjigstoys.co.uk
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