The first words that came out of his mouth when my 7 year old saw the Lego Star Wars Luke’s Landspeeder was “look at all the characters! COOL!” Which is a mighty fine endorsement to be kicking off with. This comes with five characters (C-3PO, R2-D2, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Luke Skywalker and a Sandtrooper) which is quite unusual for this size kit.

The minute my son saw the two Lego Ben10 Alien Force sets we were sent to review (Swampfire and Humungousaur), he identified them as a ’sort of Bionicle’. And they are pretty much that, but for the Ben 10 crowd. There are six different characters to collect (as well as these two there is also Spidermonkey, Chromastone, Bill Chill and Jet Ray). Although Bionicles come in cooler boxes.

The Lego minifigures are great quality and very affordable, but even so, I can see this range becoming VERY expensive very quickly if you keep getting duplicates – there are websites available that tell you the bar codes of the different figures if you want to cheat but even having looked at those I know the odds of me remembering what we’re looking for when I’m at the checkout in Tesco are pretty remote. A bit disappointing, for us, despite the quality of the toy itself, which is fine.

We really enjoyed playing with the Meccano Build and Play set, but the playing was perhaps more fun than the building! The end product is great, but it is suited most to children who enjoy construction projects, because it takes a lot of building to get there. We found that when the children have spent that long making it they’re a little reluctant to take it all apart to make one of the other 5 models! Really nice end product though.

What’s not to like? Lego + Star Wars = little boy’s dream come true. And when Dan saw the size of this Lego Star Wars Tie Defender craft and the number of pieces involved his response was “cool!”. The end product is a rather great looking craft which Dan now has by his bed. He may have even stroked it at some point. We do have quite a lot of Lego and the Lego Star Wars Tie Defender certainly didn’t disappoint.

It’s a nice set as a starter for 4 year olds, but it’s a bit limited so I’d buy two – and a base board.

The Jojo Maman Bebe animal cubes are a really good value for money set – the design really is gorgeous, and the addition of the patterns and numbers mean that these can be used for education as well as fun as your little one gets older – a great idea.

The game is really easy to play and loads of fun. It says that it is for 6+ years and I’m thinking that it’s mainly because of the small pieces because both of my little sisters thought it was great too.

The marble run might be great, but the instructions that come with this toy are truly AWFUL. There’s little detail on precisely how key parts fit together – for example, the yellow pole that holds the elevator is made of eight pieces but in the instructions there’s no indication of which pieces, or in which order. Also, the angle of the illustrations makes it impossible to even see which pieces are used in some instances. This means there’s a lot of trial and error and if, like me, you’re not blessed with a good abstract spatial awareness, you’re screwed, basically.

It’s a big thumbs up for ELC Extreme Marble Madness from us. Great for little imaginations and learning basic engineering skills. Ethan loved it so much he played with it for a full hour and a half non-stop. I’m sure it’ll be a favourite in this household for a long while.

Works much better than other marble run sets we have tried. Recommended for children aged 3+ it’s brilliant fun for any child that likes construction and to see things go. Strangely addictive, you can occasionally find me ‘improving’ DS’s run when he is at nursery.

These 2+ toys make an interesting addition to the repertoire. Ranging from a build-and-play plane (£19.99 on Amazon) to a variety of smaller creatures like the Ladybird and Caterpillar, these kits will sustain the Christmas Day pleasure of unwrapping/unpacking and creating something out of nothing just a little longer.