Green Toys Sandwich Shop - Bigjigs Play Patrol

For Freddy's latest Bigjigs Play Patrol Mission, he was sent a Green Toys Sandwich Shop to test out. The set is made from 100% recycled plastic which is free from BPA, phthalates and PVC.  It consists of two halved buns and two slices of bread, plus a range of fillings that all connect together to make a sandwich.  There is an order form included, which enables children to write down what fillings are required for each sandwich and then make them up from the instructions.  This is done using tick boxes against words and pictures of each component part.

This toy is for children aged 2 and up, but its potential for role play, following instructions, communication, vocabulary, developing fine motor skills and construction play for older children is very good. The order pad is a lovely touch adding the extra dimension to the toy for older children.  As each food item is named in three different languages, it's a good introduction to learning a few foreign words too!

The Sandwich Shop is a good stand alone toy or would equally be a nice addition to a play kitchen or shop.  The pieces fit together well with a bump and dimple style connection between each piece, and are compatible with other Green Toy stacking play food. 

Freddy enjoyed making the biggest, most filled sandwiches that he could in his pretend cafe.  Here is how he got on putting the fun to the test playing with the Green Toys Sandwich Shop.

The Green Toys Sandwich Shop is available from Bigjigs priced at £15.99 and is perfect for budding chefs and sandwich lovers!!

Bigjigs Magnetic Theatre Presents - The Three Little Pigs

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.

Playing Shops with Bigjigs Groceries

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!

Find out more about role play toys on the Bigjigs website.

Have Fun Dressing-Up

Dressing-up is one of childhood's most precious activities.  When children put on a costume they are instantly transported into a world of  role play where they can take on the guise of whoever they want to be.  The props and clothing add that extra element of play value that helps to create the scene and fires up the child's imagination to completely embrace the game of make-believe.

Having a dressing-up box filled with fabulous outfits and accessories is a wonderful addition to any home and it needn't be expensive.  Old costume jewellery, hand me down clothing, bits and bobs from charity shops or even lengths of old material can be a treasure chest of fun to a young child, inspiring them into an imaginative game.   

With Halloween fast approaching, fancy dress is an important part of the proceedings as children dress up and embrace the fun of the season.  I love the excuse to get dressed up myself and enjoy entering that imaginary world that I create when I put on a fancy dress costume.

There are some great companies out there producing some wonderful, ready to wear costumes. Whether you are celebrating Book Week, going to a party, Trick or Treating or just having fun at home, there are some fabulous outfits on the market.  How about this brilliant outfit that Freddy is wearing?  It brings history alive as he becomes a knight, a prince or a king with his sword, shield, crown, cape and tunic.

His outfit is from Great Gizmos' award winning Great Pretenders label, which opens up a world of fantasy with its gorgeous range of costumes for children aged 2 - 8 years old.  Their latest line in historical, royal themed outfits for Autumn 2012 are out of this world.  The King outfit and accessories that Freddy were sent are absolutely beautifully made and quite simply stunning.

He immediately embraced his role as King Freddy The Great, slaying dragons (which were actually my legs) with his sword, wielding his shield and swishing his cape!  Everything fitted really nicely and he loved the shiny fabric that looked very dignified and noble!

Girls can also dress as royalty with a turquoise Marie Antoinette gown (just be sure they don't lose their heads!) or a sumptuous red and gold Elizabeth I dress that is fit for a queen!  If your little one is more superhero than royal family, the reversible superhero hood and capes see little crime fighters switch between Batman to Spiderman in a simple flip of their outfit.  The reversible  Fairytale pinafore allows little girls to act out fairytales transforming between a bright yellow frock to a pink and white pinafore.  Double the play value!  The Fairy outfits are amazing with matching wings and flower headdresses making your little fairies look very fanciful and very beautiful.  The whole range of outfits and accessories would make much loved gifts that would be treasured by any child.

Stockists include Amazon.co.uk.

Freddy was sent his King's outfit for the purpose of this review.

Toyology Review...Casdon Ironing Set

When we received a toy ironing board and iron from Toys R Us I had to laugh!  My poor youngest kids have never even seen an iron in our house!  Since our son left home taking with him the need to iron his work shirts, the iron has been made quite redundant.  (Unless we do fabric painting and have to iron the design to fix it!)

The Casdon Ironing Board is a scaled down, realistic looking board with padded cover and iron storage tray.  The iron is a miniature Morphy Richards and very much like its full sized counterpart.  It also includes a folding clothes airer and four hangers.  This set is a authentic replica of the full size versions,  perfect for role play and for copying adult activities (although this is not a common activity in our house!)

The board folds down flat and features finger-trap-safe hinges.  However you can't lock it into the folded position.

The recommended age is for 3-8 year olds. So I thought we might be a little bit stuck with this toy as Kizzy has really outgrown this stage and Freddy is a bit young and doesn't have dolls' clothes that need make believe ironing.  However, in the name of gender neutral parenting and Toyology my Tiny Testers set to work testing it out.  Kizzy's dressed teddy was stripped down to his fur to provide clothes to iron.

The board has three height settings and was sturdy enough to withstand Freddy's playing techniques.  The iron had a clicking dial and a switch (my 15 year old was disappointed that it wasn't electronic with sounds!!) The airing rack was a nice addition and the little hangers were perfect for the tiny toy clothes.

I really like how Casdon have created a range of toys that are exactly like the adult products.  Pre-schoolers are not patronised with baby-ish versions. Little ones always want real things (remote controls, mobile phones etc) and are often not duped by garishly coloured, kiddy friendly alternatives.  Casdon have created toys based on this premise. Children can emulate their parents in a realistic way and be real little mini-me's!

My only real problem with it was in the assembly.  A rivet and a retaining cap are needed to secure the legs on.  The retaining cap is almost impossible to press onto to the rivet although the instructions simply say "push on".  Ian had to resort to using a pair of grips to get it on.

Both children actually had a lot of fun with this set.  For Kizzy, it was a real novelty as an iron is a seldom seen item giving it a glamorous appeal!!  Freddy likes to copy his big sister.  Maybe I should have slipped my laundry pile into their game!  They are definitely better ironers than I am!

The set RRP is £20.

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