The Fuzzy Felt Starter Set comes in a neat storage and display case enabling you to keep all your felt pieces and examples all in one place. You can also use it to store and display your masterpieces.

Klip Kitz gives you a reasonable value Buzz Lightyear figure, which is not to heavy to play with, but it does have its flaws and does require quite a lot of parental support …

The Star Wars Boba Fett Helmet is a must have for any Star Wars fan and even though it is expensive it will become a well used toy. My four year old would go to bed in his if I let him.

You really can not go wrong with the classic games and Orchard Toys have really just improved on a classic without fiddling with it too much, which is why Orchard Toys Pirate Snakes and Ladders & Ludo is so successful. A must have for any games cupboard.

The Meccano Construction Starter Case is an excellent introduction to Meccano and superb for imaginative construction play.
Buy online: Toys R Us
£14.99
*****

Initial Thoughts: Meccano is a real blast from the past and the Meccano Construction …

I fear that the Gormiti Elemental Fusion Figure and Mystical Alter was at a loss even before we used it, as we didn’t understand the concept or come across the island of Gorm before, but for £14.99 I would expect something a little more impressive.

I wouldnt spend £19.99 on the Ben 10 Alien Force Laser Lance and even feel that the £9.99 it has been reduced to could be better spent. This is just another to make money from Ben10 fans and their parents.

The Phineas and Ferb Secret Notebook and Pen is a wonderful way to encourage boys to write, a fantastic, but simple idea
Buy online: Toys R Us
£7.99
*****
Initial Thoughts:  I really wasn’t sure that a notebook and …

What isn’t to like about ninja and special forces hamsters? My boys loved the tanks and suits you can put on your hamster and have really enjoyed playing this this. A great toy if you have more than one child, enabling battles between their hamsters. Even my 5 year old niece enjoyed the Kung Zhu Battle Arena

I failed to see the point of the Gormiti Magic Egg, after the initial wow, it hasn’t been played with since
Buy online: Toys R Us
£4.97
*

Initial Thoughts: The boys were keen to see what was inside …

The boys had no idea what character the Ben 10 Alien Swarm Action Cycle had on, so were not that interested in it, until they discovered that it could squirt water.

As a craft project for a child, this is excellent and lots of fun. The instructions are so easy to follow and the fact that children can do the majority (if not all) of the work on this means that it’s a brilliant introduction to sewing and crafting. We can’t wait to try out the next kit.

Snowflake is a fantastic Christmas Album which will be played again and again over the festive season. Even my mum asked who was signing the songs as she loved her voice. It is a very serene album without the normal lack of tune you often get with arrangement done for children.

Lalaloopsy’s head is too big and ungainly for her wee little body.  No matter what you did with it the massive head flopped over or back.
Buy online: Amazon.co.uk
£22.99
**

Initial thoughts: Lalaloospy looked like a …

The Playmobil Giant Dragon breathes fire and what could be more exciting than that? Both boys have recently watched how to train your dragon and were keen to start training their own.

If you have children who look dragons, fantasy, knights and castles then the Playmobil Great Dragon Castle is a brilliant investment. You can attach Dragon’s Dungeon to is via the broken bridge and than you truly do have the ultimate play set with the Green Dragon and Knights to pit against the Reds.

For less than £40 the Playmobil Dragon’s Dungeon is an excellent set and would make a great set without having to buy the great dragon castle. It has plenty of play potential and will keep children occupied for hours. We all loved the fact that it has its own light too.

The Playmobil My Take Along Princess Fantasy Chest is a fantastic Playmobil set that will become a well loved toy. My niece has played with it each day since she received it and even took it to Grandma’s house for a sleepover, where all three children enjoyed it.

The range of playing modes, and the fact you could buy accessories to make up a small band, makes the Paper Jamz Drum kit quite an impressive toy. It is easily portable and with the headphones socket makes it a good toy to take along to family gatherings. But I would say, with only three songs included, you may find your young drummer could do with more.

The Salter kids in the kitchen baking set has been a welcome addition in our kitchen, even if the colours are a bit garish for my taste. Obviously, it doesn’t offer anything that you couldn’t already find in your cupboards, but it is really appealing to children to have decent kit of their own. And anything that encourages them to become proficient fairy cake makers is no bad thing.

he Tomy Play to Learn Mr Colour Maker is an interactive toy for children aged 2 plus. It consists of a large paint pot with handle, three small primary colour pots and ‘brush’ to stir inside the pot to create the colours. It sings, it lights up and it speaks. On first glance it seemed like an excellent toy for enquiring young minds.

The Tomy Animal Magic Sounds Aquadoodle is the kind of toy you can whip out when the children want to be creative and be safe in the knowledge that they can’t go and re-decorate your living room walls. Ethan will quite happily spend half an hour or more drawing on the Aquadoodle canvas and watching as his images magically disappear. Elodie enjoyed using the pen’s special attachment to insert in the various nodules around the sides of the Aquadoodle to make animal sounds.

The Tomy Travel N Doodle Aquadoodle gets a big thumbs up from my children and I. It’s relatively inexpensive, and mess and fuss free. We’ll be keeping it in our car to help pass the time on long journeys.

Lego Universe, the brand new online game from the boffins at Lego, is a must-have toy for many youngsters this Christmas. We think the game will naturally appeal to kids more than other online games, particularly those who are big fans of Lego games on DS and Wii. However, the gameplay here is relatively tricky. To control the game, you need to use both mouth and keyboard and the instructions are text rather than audio, so players need to be confident with computers, and good readers.

Baby Annabell is a great doll, well made and just perfect for a little person. Squidge has never been one to play with baby dolls but Baby Annabell appears to have changed that. The doll is just interactive enough to keep her engaged and entertained. Those Baby Annabell people are on to something!

Hiku is a fantastic read again book. A real winter favorite with the children, there is something different to look at every time you open it.

The illustrations in Cub’s First Winter are by the renowned artist Rebbecca Elliot and they really appealed to Mini (4) from the moment he saw it.

I have to admit that I wondered why anyone would need a book to doodle in, but upon passing The Boys’ Doodle Book 2 to Maxi my voices were silenced.

The feel of the boys annual 2011 is very now, it has a real retro boys own feel to it, however, once you take a look inside it is very current and Maxi couldn’t wait to get his hands on it.

The Boys’ Christmas Book is a fantastic buy. With magazines for children costing in excess of £2.50, it really is exceptional value for money and engaged our 5 year old very easily. There is even a recipe for Christmas mocktails!

This sweet little interactive stray play and train puppy came delivered in bright cheery packaging and certainly got the attention of the children straight away. The puppy comes with a clicker to start and change puppy functions. Puppy can sit up and beg, bark, stand or walk, and even eat treats. What made it it seem all the more appealing for my little ones is the fact that the puppy poops after eating his treat! What child wouldn’t love that function.

A very lovely, high quality item that would capture the imagination of any young child, beautifully presented, with a vintage feel to it and certainly has the wow factor. You get the feel a lot of love has gone into putting it together for the children’s market and is something I would go out and buy myself as a special gift for someone and would certainly prefer my daughter to unwrap a gift of this high quality handmade/homemade nature than computer games or such like any day. Thumbs up from us.

If your child is a fan of Justin Bieber then I’d say this book is a ‘must have’ present for Christmas! At £7.99 it makes a nice stocking filler.

The girls annual 2011 is pink and silver which scored it well with my daughter before she’d opened the cover! Inside, the book was packed with magic tricks, things to make, puzzles, baking ideas and stories aimed at girls.

The Girls Christmas book has a very Christmassy look with a red and green front cover and snowflakes etc. As it is a ‘Christmas Book’, everything in it was themed toward Christmas so you could learn how to turn your bedroom into a Christmas Grotto and keep a list of all the presents you received. You can also colour in, learn how to make gingerbread cookies and read short stories, so there is plenty of variety between the pages.

I know that a lot of people are put off painting with their children due to the fear of mess, so I was intrigued to see how the Crayola Colour Wonder Magic Light Brush worked with the special paper and clear paint provided and the boys argued as to who would use it first.

The Maileg Mouse in Matchbox is delightful, she (yes ours is called Matillda) comes in a matchbox, which is 11cm long and is where Matillda goes to sleep.

The Ladybird Wind Up Torch makes a great stocking filler and what child doesn’t love a touch and it is made even better as you never have to go hunting through drawers for a spare battery.

The Find it game comes in a sealed clear plastic tube filled with tiny colourfull hundreds and thousand style plastic pellats and the aim of the game is to find the objects on your sheet and tick them off. The boys initially loved looking for the objects in the tube.

The Street Glider Predator Scooter is fantastic value for money and was such a hit with my niece (as we reviewed a pink one), that I purchased two black ones for the boys
Buy online and …

The Paper Jamz Guitar was a real revelation for us, the wonders of a guitar made of card that you never have to re-tune.
Buy online: Argos

£18.74 (normally £24.99)
*****

Initial Thoughts: Upon opening the Paper Jamz …

Jojo is a rabbit who drives around in his car, playing music and talking. If he bumps into something then he is ejected from his car.

I think the Wild Eyes dinosaur toy is probably too young for a five-year-old. Certainly our tester lost interest pretty quickly as apart from making a noise and waggling its feet around, the dinosaur doesn’t do much. Most toys aimed at this age group would have pose-able limbs or a mouth that opens and closes. Also, it’s hard to be fierce when you’re cuddly. However, I can see for a 3-year-old this might have a bit more entertainment value.

The premise of Table top origami is great; more fun at the dinner table which, if you have children, can be quite a stressful place. Of course, you can use this anywhere but a flat surface is a must. I had visions of us creating and laughing and being generally very clever with paper. We also liked the wide variety of things you could make from a paper aeroplane to a samurai hat and from a croaking frog to an ice-cream cone.

Loopz seemed, at first viewing, to be quite a simple battery-operated game that wouldn’t really offer much of a challenge for the children aged seven plus it was aimed at. There are four plastic loops on a stand, two on one side and two on another that light up in a variety of games to test your memory skills. To play, you have to wave your hands through the correct loops.

A lovely, reasonably priced play-set that went down equally well with a 5-year-old and an 8-year-old. Some nice accessories, and the Furry Frenzies Scoot and Scurry City playset is reasonably robust and stable once assembled. Big enough for two children to play together, too.

Tomy’s Tomica range and our family are old friends. We have bought the odd Thomas the Tank Engine bits in the past and the Tomy trains. However, they appear to have revamped it and we were introduced to the Hypercity range that would surely gladden the heart of any transport-mad child. The Big City set contained a pick-up truck, train, person, as well as a garage, station, track and road.

These mirrors are a little smaller than I expected, so I’d advise parents to take measurements first to be sure of what you’re buying. Despite that, Flea loves her pirate mirrors and I’m a fan of anything that encourages her to dress herself appropriately in the mornings. Great value for money, and there are heaps of designs if your little one isn’t a pirate fan.

What does a train mad four-year-old need? His own station that’s what but not just any old one. He needs a mega station that comes complete with a car ramp and two vehicles that let the train go past, flashing warning lights and sounds, and a dashboard that lets him be master of all he surveys which, thanks to the Tomy Hypercity Mega Station set, is quite a lot. It includes a large track layout, a shop, person and a train.

Smallest loves this little dog, and she quickly figured out how to push the buttons to make him make the noises herself. She particularly enjoys music so the lullabies go down better than the environmental sounds, which have unfortunate amounts of water noises in them as far as I’m concerned.