Christmas Toys Archives - My Mills BabyMy Mills Baby

If the Twirlywoos aren’t household names in your home yet, they soon will be.

Yep, the very latest show from the Masters of Preschool TV CBeebies, is seriously catchy stuff. Created by Anne Wood, they follow in some pretty big footsteps (In the Night Garden, Teletubbies) and feature some equally some engaging characters.

Great BigHoo, Toodloo, Chickedy and Chick are “sort of” birds who love to learn. Alongside the very loveable Peekaboo (a sea urchin), each episode they leave their home “the big red boat” to explore a theme such as ‘out’, ‘up’ or ‘down’.

Four years in the making and launched in February this year, this is slick children’s television. “The characters know less than the children do so that gives them a feeling of confidence in their own learning” says Anne Wood, and the action is a curious mix of stop-frame animation and live action sequences set in the real world, to encourage an understanding of the world around them. At 15 months & 3 years, it’s perfectly paced for Heidi and Dex and is now a firm Mills family favorite in its daily slots of 09:35 & 13:35 on CBeebies.

To top it all off, there’s a seriously catchy theme tune that you won’t be getting out of your head anytime soon…

Great BigHoo, Toodloo, Chickedy and Chick, and Peekaboo have been faithfully recreated by Golden Bear Toys. These are the same guys that brought us the INTG toys thousands of our children snuggle up to at night, so you’re assured of high quality baby-friendly toys that can withstand some serious preschooler-loving. Suitable for children over 10 months, there’s no hard seams, beautifully soft material and each character will sing their signature phrases when their tummies are pressed.

Perfectly proportioned to complement the show, Great BigHoo sits some 30cm high, with Toodloo 25cm, and Chickedy and Chick around 19cm. They’re clutchable around the neck for smaller hands, and sit upright with ease when accompanying your child to bed, on travels or for snuggling up and watching the show.

I’ve popped a mini unboxing vid for you can see these guys in action. If you can (somehow) look past my chin & obvious excitement (thanks Craig - good job…) I’ll walk you through the key features & you can see the kids reaction to them…

Reasonably priced to boot with the largest toy (Great BigHoo) at just £16.99, they’ll make the perfect pressie for your little adventurer this Christmas (don’t all throw things at me at once, we are now 4 paydays away!).

Grab yours from goldenbeartoys.com, and earn yourself some serious parent points.

Megabloks_logo

I’m a massive fan of construction toys. There are thousands of studies that expound their educational and developmental value; from improving dexterity and fine motor skills, to following instructions, to problem-solving. Let’s face it, they’re also a ton of fun and preschoolers are quick to discover there’s nothing better than building a huge tower with mummy and daddy and squealing when it finally succumbs to gravity.

Mega Blox Tower

Mega Bloks are impossible to fault as a toy for the under 4′s. If your child is too young for Lego and finds tower-building enough of a challenge without introducing wheels, figurines and themed sets, then Mega Bloks are for you.

Construction sets are timeless toys that are fun for both girls and boys… 25 years of construction play expertise, ensure our preschool sets are easy to handle for little hands. Each eye-catching piece, with its special texture and other intriguing details, helps children confidently build worlds as big as their imaginations.

Not only are their First Builder sets readily available from supermarkets, online retailers and toy shops nationwide, they’re also well-priced and come in huge bags (which is great when the height of one’s tower is of the utmost importance). Their sets have also expanded to include trucks, farms, trains, recognisable characters, games, and much more to encourage imaginative play.

The bright primary colours will entice over any child, and the blocks connect solidly and easily allowing children to play independently. Unlike their major competitor (who shall remain nameless) the blocks also come apart incredibly easily, are easy to grip and well-sized for clumsy hands.

Mega Blox First Builders

So when we were recently contacted about reviewing a couple of bags, I grabbed the opportunity. Dexter was very kindly sent a Mega Bloks First Builders 60 Piece Original Building Bag and Mega Bloks First Builder Make a Monster Bag and they’ve been played with every single day since their arrival. Mega Bloks were on Dexter’s Christmas present list anyway, so the only slight issue was that we had to give them to him early to complete this review. In fairness though, there was no way we could ever hide these from him as he sniffs out new toys from miles away!

The age on the bag suggests they’re fab for children aged 1-5 which I’d support. Dex is great at building towers and shapes but isn’t yet at the stage of following building designs yet. I’m not sure he even realised the relevance of the characters on the bag, but he did enjoy all the wacky shapes of the ‘special’ blocks.

We did have a go at making the designs on the bag, but the beauty of this particular set is that the eyes, mouth and hands can be used to build hundreds of variations of monster especially when you buy additional blocks alongside your themed set.

mega blox monsters

The Mega Bloks First Builders Make a Monster Bag came with stickers to add mouths, eyes, toenails, hair etc to the blocks, and I must admit that it was tricky to match the stickers to the correct block (they’re are some 70 pieces). This is the one bit you won’t want your toddler’s help with, so is best done when they’re in bed. Trust me it’s not easy keeping an over-excitable toddler away from Mega Bloks! If you’re buying this, or any other special Mega Bloks set for your child this Christmas, I’d considering doing this before you wrap it up.

Lastly, Mega Bloks come in portable PVC-free zip-up bags which are simply brilliant for storage. They’re really hardy and can withstand a real battering from impatient tots as they extricate their blocks. This will also (hopefully) encourage your child to tidy away their blocks after play-time, and keep them separate from their other toys.

Mega Blox Bags

To learn more about the ranges available from Mega Bloks, tips on helping your child get the most out of their sets, and get building inspiration, check them out on @MegaBloksTTB (Twitter) and Facebook, or to buy the Mega Bloks First Builders Make a Monster Bag yourself, head to Argos where the set is currently £13.29, saving your 1/3 off RRP.