As mentioned in previous post I really liked the old Swoppets figures from Britains. Today I start a look at a few of the different figurines are available in todays toy shops. As I walk around the UK's shops it seems that most retailers have very large displays of Schleich figurines and I suppose you would have to say in terms of floor space they are the market leaders in the UK.

Papo also seems popular (although maybe not quite as popular as previous years) in some of the shops that stock the Le Toy Van range of play environments. I guess that's because Le Toy Van used to distribute Papo and still features their figures on some of their boxes.  But I want to take a look at some of the other brands you see a bit less of in your local independent toy shop.

Poseidon - by Safari

Safari are an American based company and have some really great designs and are a worthy alternative to Schleich and Papo, You can check out their full range at www.safariltd.com and their story at Safari

Poseidon shown above is a good example of their work and its nice to see some great painting on a fantastically detailed figure. The scale is similar to Papo and Schleich so will happily mix in with existing collections. So if you are looking for something a bit different but to the standard Schleich/Papo figures its worth trying to track down a stockist.

A True Classic - Pop up Toy - by Galt - 12 months +

This toy has been around for many many years now,

 and is as popular today with children today as it ever was. Its a really simple toy the peg people bob up and down on a concealed spring and will pop right out. They are painted in bright primary colours and can be matched to the colours on the front of the toy.

The peg people normally get a good chewing/gumming which is fine as of course its all non toxic paints. particularly hard biting may cause the paint to crack off (a bit like when you bite a pencil hard!).

Its hard to explain to another adult why very young children like this toy so much, but they really do, and it has become the standard present for many an adult faced with attending a lot of 1 year olds parties.

Price Around £9 -£10 and a five star guru rating.

Nice to see Merrythought being mentioned as a winner in the Guardian with its 2012 Olympic Bear.

Great Toys from the Past - Britains Swoppet Knights

I was lucky enough to find a few of these fantastic British designed knights in a local charity shop.

The attention to detail is amazing and the ability to swap so many of the parts from figure to figure is just so much better than the standard one piece plastic knights most of the companies are producing today. I also like the scale better they seem to fit alot of the castles that are being sold today much better. So keep your eyes peeled for them, for lots more information visit this great site .

Crazy Animals - By Djeco - Around £12.99. 2+

 

Today we have been playing with these 24 wooden magnetic "puzzle" pieces, which you can mix and match to make all sorts of fun combinations.

 A quick word on the box. Its really nice to find a piece of strong attractive packaging that is well designed to act as the perfect storage box for the contents. The pieces themselves are made from a ply wood with a colourful print added. They are aged on the box for 2+ but our testers ranged from 18 months until 4 years old and they all seemed to enjoy them. We used the inside of a biscuit tin and an old white board to make up our crazy animals the younger children preffering the biscuit tin on their laps to make their animals on. Everyone thought they were great fun, an attractive design and really well made.