The lovely Merry at Patch of Puddles kindly sent through some toys for the Madhouse Mini Testers to review. If you haven't yet met this utterly fabulous multi-tasking mum, you really need to go and check out her blog - it's a mixture of home ed, kids' and grown ups' crafts and new baby pictures that will make you go aaaah. I'm always in awe of the themed Lego creations and homemade Hama Bead designs that her girls come up with. Oh and if that wasn't enough, she set up a family-run toy business from scratch, which is where these toys came from. That all makes me feel tired just writing it !
But on to the first toy that needed testing. We received this wooden Little Fix It Set from Manhattan Toys. Inside the funky bright blue toolbag, you get a saw, a hammer, a spirit level (which doubles up as a basic abacus) and a tape measure. They are all perfectly sized for little hands and feature eye-catching bright colours to make them extra-appealing to kids.
Chief tester of the day, 2 and a half-year-old Pierre, excitedly unpacked it all and tested the different tools. He was intrigued by the moving beads on the spirit level and enjoyed bashing the hammer on the floor, luckily not having the idea of bashing his sisters with it which had crossed my mind !
He had great fun packing it all back up and carrying it around in the bag before sitting down again, unpacking it all and starting all over again ! I have to say, having the bag to keep it all together is an absolute godsend - although a zip or bigger velcro fastening to keep it all more securely packed away would have been good.
Now, here at The Madhouse, I don't go for gender stereotypes so everyone plays with whatever they want. Although Pierre does enjoy running around with pink fairy wings on his back and feeding dolls, I always smile to see that he seems instinctively attracted to cars and tractors in a way the girls never were. When the girls got hold of Pierre's tool kit after he'd gone to bed, I had to laugh to see that they both instantly started using it as a doctor's kit ! Juliette used the saw to saw her leg off ...
... while Sophie used the hammer for testing her reflexes ! But that for me is an added bonus - finding a toy that promotes creative role play, whether that be as a handyman or a doctor, is definitely a good thing !
The tools are all really solid and smooth with not a splinter or rough edge in sight so you don't need to worry about little fingers.
star rating : 4.5/5
RRP : £21.95
for more information : http://www.playmerrilytoys.co.uk/product/6836/soft-toy-tool-bag
Other reviews you may be interested in :
No comments:
Post a Comment