Bigjigs Seaside Slope

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.

Here is a round-up of all our reviews:

Bigjigs Groceries Set

Bigjigs Wooden Construction Set

Bigjigs Road Zebra Crossing

Bigjigs Figure of Eight Roadway

Bigjigs Carpenter's Bench

Bigjigs Farmhouse Sorter

Bigjigs Dockside Recycling Centre

Do Your Kids Have Pets?

I've not had good experiences with pets in the past.  In fact, my childhood exposure to animals should probably have scarred me for life...and to be honest it very nearly did!

The first pets I remember were our tortoises.  Back in the day when they were not considered exotic pets, we kept them in our garden, in a home made run and boxed them up for winter according to the annual Blue Peter hibernation tutorial.  Many tortoises came and went.  Osmo was an escape artist, Gemini got crushed in the shed mid hibernation and Crusty Pie failed to survive over winter. It was always heartbreaking to lose them.

We had fish who faired no better.  As a very young child I decided to feed the goldfish who inhabited the little bowl in our front room, with a pint of full cream milk.  Needless to say, it didn't go down well.  Another time, whilst having their tank cleaned, a fish made a break for the sink and ended up going down the plug hole.  My dad grabbed a net, ran to the drain cover in our garden and tried to catch him as he swept past.  His rescue attempt was not successful.  Our fishkeeping skills must have become common knowledge in the piscine world.  We actually had fish commit suicide by jumping out of the tank.  We'd find then stiff and dry on the floor in the morning. Very depressing!

Our rabbit Sweep was our first foray into the warm blooded variety of household pets.  My parents swore that it had been attacked by a rat and got rabies, but in hindsight I think he was a little boy bunny who needed "fixing".  He was very aggressive and raped everything within shagging distance.  Teddy Bears, slippers, me.  My mum honestly thought that she was putting him out of his misery when she opted for a DIY method of "putting it down".  Money was beyond tight back then, we had no car to transport him and even if we had vets were considered an extravagance.  It wasn't pretty.  I won't go into details, but clumsily euthanasing a family pet in front of your pre-schooler is not something I'd recommend.

We didn't learn from our experiences and we became mice owners.  I picked out a lovely brown mouse that I called Ben.  I sang the Michael Jackson song to him and loved him.  We decided to get him a friend...cue the beginning of the end!  The "friend" turned out to be a female and within a fortnight we had 24 mice.  We tried to sex them and separate them, but we weren't very good at it.  The population explosion was epidemic.  At first we had a deal with a pet shop exchanging baby mice for pet food.  Soon they were inundated and our outlet for baby mice closed.  We had escapees disappear into my bedroom, into the airing cupboard and beyond.  Another misguided idea followed as we liberated our family pets in a local beauty spot.  I waved good-bye to Ben believing he was about to become King of Mouseville.  Instead in reality I'm sure they became the bottom layer of the food chain.

Hairbear the stray cat was our next animal acquisition.  My eldest sister Carol was at Polytechnic and had adopted the black furball, feeding her Smash and Angel Delight (she was a student remember).  Carol bribed me to turn on the waterworks so my dad agreed that I could keep her at our house.  He agreed...how could he refuse the sobbing child clutching at the little pussy cat.  She later had a litter of kitties that I watched be born. We found good homes for the kittens and had her spayed as by now we more aware about petcare and our responsibility to our animals.  I left home leaving my cat with my parents.  Things were going well until Hairbear developed a massive tumour on her tail.  She was put to sleep on my birthday and I was only told after the event. I was more upset than I would ever had expected.

At 18 I was given Stick Insects who I found fascinating.  I thought I'd found the ideal pet...low maintenance and easily looked after.  One day I decided to get up close and personal with my biggest sticky pet and held him in my hand.  All was fine until it started climbing up my arm.  I went to take it off, but his feet stuck firmly. As I tried to remove it I was horrified to realise he was stuck fast and the more I pulled the more I felt like I was going to break its legs clean off.  I started to panic and it developed into full blown hysteria.  I was hyperventilating and in a real state, needing to be rescued.  I've had an phobia of bugs ever since.

I steered clear of owning animals for years until we adopted a very grumpy 8" long catfish called Bart, which my parents had acquired through buying a built in aquarium and contents as part of a house purchase.  They wanted pretty guppies and tetras, not a big brown fish that lived under a rock.  We looked after him and loved him in spite of the fact that he gave nothing in return barring the time he attacked Ian when being cleaned out which was very funny!  We went away for a few days when I was heavily pregnant with Kizzy.  Unfortunately the filter and heater in the tank broke while we were away.   We returned to find a stinking, floating Bart on the surface of the festering tank.  In my delicate state I was heaving at my poor pet's unfortunate demise.

That was over 8 years ago and no other pet has found its way into our home....until last weekend.  Kizzy has always had a very nurturing soul and longed for something to take care of and have responsibility for.  Freddy discovered the joys of animals on a visit to a farm and loves shouting "manimal" whenever he sees anything with fur. So I felt the pressure to deliver an animal related experience for the two littlies.  I offered Zhu Zhu pets and Fur Real Puppies but they just wouldn't do. We went to a pet shop just to have a look.  I don't consider myself to be a soft touch but one look at my kids cooing over the cute creatures and I was sold.  We settled on a gorgeous little Syrian Hamster which we named Ripley after the Aliens' character.  She is a delightful, inquisitive, energetic little bundle and the children are so in awe of her.  I'm glad we have opened the door to the world of pets.  The children treat her with such respect and they love the new addition to the household.  They can learn so much through a positive experience of caring for an animal, and with all my experiences under my belt, I can steer them in the right direction!