Learning really can be fun......

One of the most pleasurable things in life is playing games with our children or watching them enjoy their toys. But what do we love even more than that? Knowing that as they play, they are engaged in developmental activities such as using hand-eye coordination to put shapes into tubs, or fine motor skills to pick up small objects. Learning whilst playing is key to a child's growth and development. Many of our toys encourage children to explore the world around them, how things work and to introduce them to sounds and concepts. This week we are showcasing some such toys from a few of our favourite suppliers - Melissa & Doug, Alex Toys and Djeco.

The Melissa & Doug Picnic Basket Fill and Spill is a soft, activity baby toy. The soft play set features a wedge of watermelon, a bottled fruit drink, a take-apart sandwich and an ice-cream cone. In fact, everything needed for a great picnic! Encourage your child to remove and replace these four colourful picnic treats from the flip-top, translucent picnic basket.

The four easy-grasp goodies rattle, jingle, squeak and crinkle, and the five-piece sandwich can be taken apart. Authentically designed and beautifully made from high quality fabrics and phthalate-free plastic, this durable set will provide hours of spilling, filling and picnic fun. Soft play pieces are machine washable. The fill and spill container should be surface washed and air dried only.

This particular one is for 6 months + but there are other great toys for up to 18 months +.

Melissa & Doug Three Little Pigs Play Set is a set of three soft fabric nesting houses, three little pig characters and a wolf. Let your kids experience the classic story of "The Three Little Pigs" again and again. There is a story sheet included. This story telling soft play set includes the three nesting houses with self-stick fabric closures. The largest house has a fall through chimney.
The toy figures are easy for small hands to grasp and they are wipe clean.

For 18 months +.

Alex Toys Mix Stack and Farm is an educational wooden toddler toy featuring nine colourful, chunky, double-sided wooden shaped beads and a wooden base. Encourage your child to stack the pieces onto the base and create a farm scene. This mix and match activity will stimulate your child's ability to solve problems, whilst improving their manual dexterity. This wooden toy teaches simple identification and counting skills too. Kids can make silly farm animals as well as familar ones, whilst developing fine motor skills and problem solving abilities.

For 2 years +.

Djeco Vis-Animo is a Wooden Animal Screw Threading Toy that toddlers will love to get their hands around. There are four cute wooden animals in the set that unscrew into three pieces. The pieces can then be matched up or new versions of the animals can be created, and then screwed back together again. A great toy to develop a child's manual dexterity.



18 months +.