Lilliputiens...A World Full of Little Wonders

Lilliputiens toys are some of the most beautiful and engaging that I have ever come across.  Stocked by John Crane, they are stimulating, heart warming,  attractive, completely safe and filled with wonder.  Young children are given a fun and high quality way to learn with the thoughtful designs and hidden surprises challenging their naturally inquisitive natures.  Friendly characters each have their own stories making them part of  magical universe that children can lose themselves in.  If you haven't discovered this world full of little wonders,  take a look at the John Crane Lilliputiens online catalogue and prepare to be delighted!

Lilliputiens don't just produce toys.  I have been sent two products from the Lilliputiens range that are for Children's Rooms.  They allow the world of wonder to enter into a child's everyday life, continuing to surround them with magic, stimulating their senses and making them feel safe and secure in their own environment.

One of the Lilliputiens mascots is Walter, a friendly, cute and cuddly dragon!  He is the subject of many of the toys and is really appealing and lovable.  Walter is also the inspiration for the two amazing products that I was sent by Blog-Match to review.

The Liliputiens Walter Wall Sticker Collection is a set of over 80 stickers on two big backing sheets that will bring a child's bedroom alive.  Each sticker can be stuck, unstuck and restuck without leaving any mess at all.  This makes them perfect for kids' bedrooms where you can create a lovely feature wall full of fun, friends and magic.  The stickers are printed on a clear plastic backing and seem very strong and don't peel up or crinkle.  

The whole set can be used to create a big picture, or you can use individual stickers to jazz up doors or furniture.  Some stickers are small but there is a huge individual Walter that is like a piece of artwork in its own right!  The design is fun and engaging with soft edges and a gentle colour scheme.  It's an easy and convenient way of making a plain painted wall look really special.

Just a few of the wall stickers on Fred's wall.

You could use the Walter theme to decorate a nursery as there are lots of other accessories, toys and even a Walter pouffe that could be teamed together beautifully.

The Walter Photo Album is a really unusual product that would make a lovely gift.  The soft velvet cover is made to resemble Walter with his ears, spines, wand and tail.  Each page contains a clear plastic pocket to slip in ten 6x4 photographs.  This is a lovely way to introduce baby to the faces of loved ones or create a picture book full of familiar faces for baby to look at and enjoy.  Older children could make a photo album using pictures from a holiday or a special occasion.  The photos can be removed and replaced as often as you like.  I really loved the space on the front cover to pop a favourite photograph of the child to personalise the album.

Each page is well stitched and the whole book does up with a velcro tab.  It is a lovely touchy, feely book with different textures to explore.  The album comes in a nice presentation bag making it a lovely gift.

Don't forget to check out www.thejohncraneblog.co.uk  for their Advent Calendar.  Every day in December, a new deal will be revealed.  Money off offers, buy one get one free deals, even great giveaways...there is something new everyday!  So pop across  to get lots of John Crane Toys at great, great prices!

Introducing Sevi

John Crane Ltd has just announced an exciting partnership with Italian wooden toy company Sevi.  John Crane will be distributors for Sevi in the UK, bringing the charming toys to our favourite retailers at great prices!

Sevi has been committed to producing quality, beautifully designed hand crafted wooden toys for almost two centuries!  From their humble beginnings where handmade masterpieces delighted market goers in Italy, Sevi has grown to become a brand that is known and loved internationally.  They still adhere to the founding principles and values, caring for design, detail, dynamic creativity and professional service.

Sevi produce some of the cutest, most beautifully designed wooden toys, games and decorations!  They embrace the unique warmth of wood allowing children to play in a natural way with creativity and imagination.

For children who love playing with cars and trucks...

For children who enjoy role play...

 For toddlers learning to walk with their pull along toys...

For Christmas Time...

For Birthday Celebrations...

For budding rock stars...

Sevi toys look gorgeous making them a perfect fit with the John Crane brand.  Follow John Crane on Facebook and Twitter to keep up to date on all the latest news!

Read more blog posts about Sevi on the Blog Match linky.

Rainbow Awards for Toy Excellence...The Winners

Today, the results of the Rainbow Toy Awards were announced.  Over the past few months, testers have been giving toys a thorough and rigorous testing. Children across the country have been enjoying the toys and the parents or carers have relayed the results back, thinking about play value, quality, longevity, the packaging and value for money.  The results have been collated and the winner and highly commended runner up announced in each of ten categories.

With Christmas coming, here is the list of Rainbow Award winning toys which will help you make an informed choice when shopping for presents!

Soft Toy Winner

Oobicoo by Totseat.com

£34.99

Ages 3 years +.

Wooden Toy Winner
High Tea Shape Matching by Tidlo by John Crane
£25
Ages 3 years +

Games Winner
Ruckus Funsize
£7.99
Ages 8 years +

Wheeled Toy Winner
Fix and Learn Speedy by Leapfrog
£19.99
Age 18 mths +

Electronic Toy Winner
Leap Pad Explorer by Leapfrog
£79.99
Ages 4-9  years

Puzzles Winner
iBall3 by HTi
£19.99
Ages 8-80

Pre-School Toy Winner
Duplo Police Station by Lego Duplo
£49.99
Ages 2-5 years

Outdoor Toy Winner
Shapes and Sharing Picnic Basket
£19.99
Ages 12 months +

Arts and Crafts Winner
Cleverbox by Cleverbox Club
£25.30
Ages 3-9 years

Educational Toy Winner
Count and Draw by Leapfrog
£14.99
Ages 3+

For full details on the winners and the highly commended toys with stockists go to rainbowawards.co.uk

CLOSED - WIN a High Tea Shape Sorter in my Giveaway!!!

Now Closed...the winner is @mummiafelice!  Congratulations!


I reviewed the gorgeous High Tea Shape Matching set and totally adored it.  Now, thanks to Wooden Toyshop I have one to give away to one of my readers!

They are this summer's must have toy, perfect for shape and number recognition, hand eye co-ordination, role play and for teddy's tea parties!!  The beautiful, crafted wooden pieces look good enough to eat.  This and other John Crane toys are available from the Wooden Toyshop and come with a price promise guarantee!


To win a High Tea Shape Sorter all you have to do is follow any or all of these instructions.  Each step counts as one entry so please use separate comments for each one.  Maximum of 4 entries per person:

• Follow this Blog (using the join button in the right hand side bar) and comment below to tell me you've done so. (1 entry)
• Follow Wooden Toyshop on Facebook and leave me a comment to tell me you've done so. (1 entry)
• Tweet:  Win High Tea with @wendymcd83 and @woodentoyshopuk at http://tinyurl.com/3fyscbv  (1 entry)
• Comment on another post I've written and leave a comment telling me where you've commented. (1 entry)

This giveaway will close on August 22nd and is open to the UK only.  Winner's details will be passed on to Wooden Toyshop for delivery of their prize.  Drawn by randomizer.

Good luck to everyone...it is a gorgeous prize!  Please share this competition with your friends!

High Tea with John Crane

The must have toy of the moment has to be the exquisite High Tea Shape Matching set by John Crane.  The beautiful cake stand with 15 miniature wooden cakes looks good enough to eat!  Each hand crafted cake is shaped and numbered and corresponds with a matching space on the cake stand.

Encouraging hand eye co-ordination, spatial awareness and early number recognition, the High Tea set is educational as well as gorgeous!  The potential for role play is great with opportunities for some very posh teddy bear tea parties.

As we are Craniacs, John Crane sent one to us here Inside the Wendy House for us to test out.  The box itself looked tantalising with a photo of the contents on the front.  Freddy was instantly intrigued by the image of the elegant delicacies.

Inside the box, the contents were carefully packaged in individual cardboard sections keeping them safe.  The cake stand screwed together easily (instructions and Allen key were included).  Each cake fitted into its space making a beautiful display.

Once made up the cake stand doesn't fit back in its box, but it will look lovely on a shelf in a little girl's bedroom.  You won't want to hide it away, it's too gorgeous!

Freddy is 2 and enjoyed playing with the little cakes, lining them up and studying the detail on them.  He said "Yummy" so the cakes must be authentic looking, even to a toddler !  Boys can enjoy tea parties and shape sorting too, he loved playing with his sister.

Big sister Kizzy is 8 and really appreciated the workmanship and enjoyed showing Freddy how to put the cakes in the correct spaces on the stand.  It will definitely help Freddy to learn about shape and space and numbers. She also helped him host a pretend tea party with his Buzz Lightyear teddy.

High Tea for Buzz Lightyear.

The John Crane High Tea Shape Matching is recommended for ages 3 and up.  You can buy it from Dillons Toyshop priced at £23.95.  It's a lovely toy that will be loved for years to come!

Making Music with Little Ones!

We love music Inside the Wendy House.  Freddy can't listen to a Disney Channel theme tune without leaping up and rocking out.  With their natural interest in music, toddlers are never too young to introduce to musical instruments.  Wooden Toy Shop sells the gorgeous Tidlo Musical Instrument Set by John Crane Toys.  It is a 14 piece percussion set that includes a tambourine, maracas, triangle, paddles, bells, sticks, scraper and castanets.  They are all beautifully made and each piece came individually wrapped in protective material and packaged into a good quality, strong box that can be used to store the instruments in when not in use.  It has a cloth handle for carrying around, for music on the go!

This percussion instrument set introduces children to sound, rhythm and music.  It encourages children to play together and is the perfect starter set for some creative, musical playtimes! It is recommended for ages 3 and up, but with supervision a younger child can enjoy learning about music too.  Each piece feels like such good quality and plays really nicely.  I loved the feel of the wood...it is so much nicer than the cheap plastic instruments you can buy.

Freddy and big sister Kizzy really enjoyed playing music together.  Here is a video of them in action which shows you what fun making music can be for children!

The Musical Instrument Set costs £28.79 from Wooden Toy Shop.  This is great value for money and who knows, you could be investing in a future musician!!

John Crane's "The City of London Train Set"

After having just returned from London after attending the Cybermummy Conference last weekend, it seemed particularly apt to be reviewing John Crane's Branching Out 50 piece City of London Train Set! 

Central London by John Crane!!

The wooden train set included tracks, a bridge, a three carriage train, other vehicles including an iconic black cab and double decker bus, London landmarks including Buckingham Palace, Big Ben and a working London Eye.

The set provides a wonderful scene for floor play, encouraging imaginative ideas as the City of London is brought to life.  It is recommended for ages 3 and up, but 2 year old Freddy loves playing with it.  It develops hand-eye co-ordination and problem solving skills.  Kizzy is now 8 and she had great fun naming the famous buildings.  It is an excellent educational toy.

Perfect for little hands.

Everything was well made with great attention to detail and was perfect for little hands.

Choo Choo!!!

The John Crane train sets are compatible with other brands of wooden train track making them great value and versatile.  The City of London set can be added to or is a perfect stand alone train set.

Next stop, The London Eye!!

I was particularly impressed that the cardboard box was sturdy enough for the train set to be packed back into for storage.

The City of London Train Set by John Crane is currently available for £34.79 from the Wooden Toyshop. That is such good value for a toy that will last for years!

*I was sent the train set as part of the Craniac review program*

John Crane's Stack-Up Cubes

Freddy is a lucky boy!  His latest toy for review from John Crane is their beautifully crafted Stack-Up from the Branching Out range.  The ten large size wooden cubes, featuring colourful wild animal designs, stack up to an impressive 104cm tall tower.  Perfect for floor play and for developing hand-eye co-ordination.  The cubes are numbered 1-10 so they are perfect for early counting skills.  When not in use they neatly nest together for easy storage.

As with all John Crane's toys, the wood comes from replenishable sources from Rubber Trees that have reached the end of their natural cycle, making them environmentally friendly.  The Stack-Up cubes are recommended for ages 18 months and over.  Here is our video review of how Freddy got on with Stack-Up!

This is a lovely toy.  The characters are very cute and appealing and the counting element helps develop early number skills.  The tower stands impressively high and it was very tempting for Freddy to kick over!  He loved exploring the cubes, building them up, knocking them down and fitting smaller ones into bigger ones.  They certainly tested his dexterity and his hand-eye co-ordination.  As he gets older I can see the Stack-Ups playing a bigger role in his learning, whilst remaining a very appealing and fun activity.

I think Stack-Ups are absolutely lovely.  They are robust, sturdy, colourful and big!  The fact that they nest together for storage is brilliant.  I'd highly recommend them!

You can buy Stack-Up from Amazon for £25.49 with free UK delivery.

John Crane's Lilliputiens 10 Little Indians Review

John Crane's Lilliputiens range is a collection of stimulating, heart warmingly attractive and completely safe toys.  They have a common theme of wonder...the magic of hidden surprises, the stirrings of curiosity...every plaything is a voyage of discovery.  Soft materials and disarming characters will captivate and challenge a child's inquisitive spirit.

We were sent the very beautiful Wigwam and Ten Little Indians for Freddy to try out.  I was instantly enthralled by the wonderful workmanship, attention to detail and fabulous play value of the ten little characters, their colourful wigwam home and accessories. The wigwam can be opened and closed  Each Indian is numbered with a 1 to 10 on their chest making them ideal for counting games or songs.  They are a lovely size for little hands and everything is made of a soft material that is very tactile. The Little Indians are all different, some are boys, some are girls, there are two babies in papooses and a chief in his headdress.  Freddy enjoyed studying them and making them walk!

Here is a video of the toys in action!

 

The Wigwam and Indians are suitable from 9 months +.  The potential for pretend play will grow with your child.  The characters are so appealing and the numbers add the extra dimension of learning to count and order.

They are available from Amazon at £40.60 and will provide many years of play for your little one.  It would be perfect as a nursery toy.  A Noah's Ark and a Nativity Set are also available.

SES Creative Glass Bead Bracelets

We are so proud to be Craniacs!  This means that we are ambassadors for John Crane, testing a selection of  beautiful toys and writing reviews about them.  My 'Tiny Testers' Freddy and Kizzy are poised ready to help out with any toy testing that needs to be done.  This time it was Kizzy who had the opportunity to try out SES Creative Glass Bead Bracelet set.

The SES Creative Range includes hobby kits, craft sets and art materials.  Kizzy was lucky enough to be sent the Glass Bead Bracelet making set.  The pack contained everything needed to make some lovely personalised bracelets.

Kizzy really enjoyed making this and has enough bits left in the set to make a couple more bracelets.  She was able to do most of it independently, but linking the beads together was a little bit fiddly and she needed my help for that.  As with all craft kits, you need to be patient as the paint and glue takes time to dry between each stage, but Kizzy understood that and didn't rush her project.  The end result looks very effective and Kizzy was very proud to have made something that looked so nice.

This craft kit was definitely one of the better ones Kizzy has used in terms of achieving a good end result, and she had a lot of fun in the process!

Kizzy said "I love jewellery and make-up and girlie things so it was really nice to make my own design of bracelet.  I enjoyed doing it and like painting my own design but it was fiddly putting the beads together but Mummy helped me.  I am proud of my lovely bracelet!"

Available at Amazon for £6.99...it really is a great value for money craft kit. for any budding jewellery maker!

Tidlo Pull-Along Alligator by John Crane

We have been lucky enough to have been sent the Tidlo Pull-Along Alligator by John Crane to review.  20 month old Freddy was delighted to receive this absolutely beautiful, traditional wooden toy and has taken an instant shine to it.  He has been pulling it around behind him both indoors and outdoors.  It is such an appealing toy and is really nicely made.

On the box it says it is an:
"Adorable, friendly character, who wiggles and shakes when pulled along.  Will encourage early toddling skills."

Find out what I thought and then see how Freddy got on with his new favourite toy in these Vlogs!

Mummy's Review

Freddy Tests Out His New Toy

For up to date information on John Crane's products, reviews, competitions, news and fun, check out the John Crane Blog.

To purchase your own Pull-Along Alligator for your toddler go to Amazon or play.com.  RRP £16

I would highly recommend John Crane's toys which includes Tidlo Timeless Toys which are stunning, well designed and perfect for your little ones!