Casdon Flymo Toy Lawnmower - Review #CasdonFlymo

[AD/gifted - We received this item for the purpose of this review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. [This post contains affiliate links. If you click through to buy anything through a link on this page, I will earn a few pennies at no extra cost to you.]

One of E's favourite ways to play is doing role-play. This started at a young age with her little tea set and progressing onto a toy kitchen, a sweep/mop set, shopping trolley - anything mummy and daddy do, she wanted to act it out and pretend that she was doing it too. Casdon are a really great brand for role-playing toys and we've actually reviewed some in the past which have been well-received.

With it being the middle of summer and it being quite good weather, E was delighted to receive the Casdon Flymo Lawnmower - exactly the same one that her grandad has - so she could "help" him mow his garden.

It is super simple to put together, coming in just three parts, the main base which is the iconic Flymo orange colour (complete with Flymo logo) and two handle pieces that slot together. You're then all ready to go!

The lawnmower doesn't require batteries which is a massive plus in my book and the wheels on the bottom make a clicking sound to imitate the mower noise.

Aimed at children aged 3+, I did have a little worry that my tall, almost-five-year-old daughter may be too big for it but she is able to push it comfortably around the garden.

The plastic is really sturdy and I did think, before opening, that if E maybe put a bit too much pressure on the handle as she pushes, they would come apart but that hasn't been the case and we are very impressed with it. 

E is enjoying mimicking her grandad and cutting his grass for him but it's even great to bring indoors on a rainy day too as it wheels along the floor nicely too.

The Casdon Flymo Lawnmower is priced at £12.99 and is available at all good toy retailers. You can find out more at the Casdon website.

Casdon Morphy Richards Toy Kitchen Set - Review

[AD/Gifted - We received this set for the purpose of this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own. [This post contains affiliate links. If you click through to buy anything through a link on this page, I will earn a few pennies at no extra cost to you.]

I really love the Casdon range and we have reviewed the Hetty Cleaning Trolley, Chip 'n' Pin Till, Shopping Trolley and Wooden Kitchen in the past.

Both my children love pretend play, especially if they are acting out "grown up jobs", and E will always tell me about playing with the role play toys at nursery such as the fruit and veg stall, shop or house.  

E was so excited to be sent the Casdon Morphy Richards Kitchen Set, as one of her favourite things to do at home is to pretend to cook at her wooden kitchen. This set would be a perfect accompaniment to that.

Inside the box is:

• Kettle with level gauge indicator
• Toaster with two pieces of toast
• Coffee machine with carafe 
• Two cups
• Two saucers
• Two plates
• Two teaspoons
• Two forks
• Two knives
• Play food - bacon, sausage and egg

Without even properly looking into each item, I thought E would be able to use her imagination well with these but it's the little extras that really make this set great.

As I mentioned above the kettle has a level gauge indicator and you can flick the switch just like a real kettle. The coffee machine has a lid at the top that you can open to pour water into then it filters through into the carafe below. E absolutely loves this aspect as we have a coffee maker at home and it makes her feel just like mummy.

The toaster is very cool too. Not only can you twist the knob on the front to hear clicks but once you've inserted the bread into the slots, you can push the toast down using the lever and after a few seconds it will pop up.

The set is really true to the Morphy Richards style with the gorgeous style, colour and logo. E could play with this set for hours, either making breakfast for us or setting up a cafe for her dolls and teddies which is really cute to watch.

The quality is fantastic and great for little hands to play with, from age 3 and up. The Casdon Morphy Richards Kitchen Set retails at around £17 but Amazon currently have it for £12.99 - go snap it up!

You can find out more about the full range at the Casdon website. 

 

 
 

Pretend Play with the Casdon Deluxe Hetty Cleaning Trolley

We are massive fans of the Casdon brand and my youngest child, three year old E, plays with her toy washine machine and Henry Hoover on a daily basis. She loves pretend play and will always act like she's "mummy" by cleaning up her wooden kitchen, getting into her cosy coupe and telling me, "I'm just off to the shops!"

E was delighted to get her hands on the Casdon Deluxe Hetty Cleaning Trolley set - anything pink and she is in love! It is available in the red Henry style too.

The set contains:

• Trolley
• Mop and bucket
• Long-handled brush
• Handheld vacuum
• Dustpan and brush
• Toy detergent and spray bottles
• Cloth
• Paper bag

The trolley is super easy to put together - I built it and placed the stickers on the bucket, dustpan and bottles in less than 10 minutes which was great as E was very impatient and couldn't wait to get playing. 

The handheld vacuum really works, you just need to insert 3 AA batteries (not included). This is definitely E's favourite item in the set because I think she feels like she's properly helping mummy out, even though it is low suction.

It was absolutely adorable to see her pushing the little trolley around on it's wheels, coming to something which she imagined was dirty then choosing which item to clean it up with. I think it's a great little set to encourage your little one's imaginations but also to get them to like doing some real cleaning.

We have been playing with this set for just over two weeks now and I honestly thought that the cloth and paper bag wouldn't last long. With two children aged five and under, they can be quite rough, so I anticipated the cloth getting dirty beyond belief and the paper bag being ripped to shreds. They have surprised me though and they are still going strong! Although it is made of plastic, it's relatively sturdy and has coped well with my two!

The spray and detergent bottle don't actually work but I'm quite glad about that. E is happy enough pretending that she's spraying then wiping with the cloth. I just know that if I could really fill it, she'd make a huge mess!

I like that every item has it's own place so it is quite compact and can be tidied away in the corner nicely. E has even become a bit meticulous and has to have everything in its place, not choosing another cleaning item until she's put the one she's been using in its rightful place - the Cleaning Trolley is definitely doing its job and teaching her things!

The Casdon Deluxe Cleaning Trolley (both Hetty and Henry styles) retails at £25.00 and can be found at all good retailers, including Amazon. You can find out more at the Casdon website and you can keep up to date with the Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts.

(We received this item for the purpose of this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own.) 

 

Lucy Locket Wooden Biscuit Set Counting Game - Review

I've always said that the best thing that I ever did for my four year son C was give him a sister. E is two years old so is mobile, can talk and communicate well with her big brother. The closeness in age means that they can play games together happily. One of their favourite things to take part in is pretend play. We have a wooden kitchen set, cleaning set and tea set and they will play with them constantly, if they aren't making up little scenarios with their toy figures!

When Lucy Locket offered us the chance to review one of their Wooden Biscuit Counting Sets, I jumped at the chance because I thought it would go down well with the children and it didn't disappoint.

The set comes in a small box (15cm x 11cm x 6cm) and contains 10 wooden biscuits (five different types) and one tea cloth. Each piece is made of thick, durable wood, which is smoothed down making it perfect for little hands. I love how bright and colourful they are and they replicate real biscuits. I always fancy a pink wafer when the children are playing with it!

C and E both enjoyed pretending to be having afternoon tea and sharing out their biscuits evenly between them. E can be quite difficult when it comes to sharing but she surprised me when playing with this set. She would even pretend to be baking her biscuits in her toy kitchen then feed them to myself and her daddy. 

Not only do you have the pretend play and sharing aspect, but they soon discovered that each biscuit has a number on the reverse. C is starting primary school and September and has recently been teaching himself how to add numbers together. These have been a great tool for me to assist his learning. E, on the other hand, is a little bit younger so is only just learning about numbers and how to put them in order. She previously would skip a few out but this set has been great for number recognition and I'd often line some up in order then ask her to pass me the number which comes next, making it into a fun game. She does prefer to stack them then knock them all over though! 

I love the attention to detail that has been put into the Wooden Biscuit Counting Set, especially with the different shapes and paintwork of the biscuits. I cannot recommend this set enough as it's been both fun and educational and my children have been playing with in constantly since it arrived.

The Wooden Biscuit Counting Set retails at £16.00. You can find out more about their fantastic toy range at the Lucy Locket website or you can keep up to date on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. 

(We received this item for the purpose of this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own.) 

 

Bigjigs Medieval Train Set - Review #PlayPatrol

We were so excited to recently become a part of the Bigjigs Play Patrol, meaning that we will have the opportunity to review some toys from the Bigjigs Rail range. This could not be more perfect for C as he's very much a typical boy who has adored trains since he was a baby. Since his little sister E has grown up, she loves playing trains with her big brother too.

The first set that we received was the Medieval Train Set and honestly, it's as though Bigjigs knew how much C loves this type of thing. He actually requested to dress up as a knight for Halloween last year. As you can imagine, he was delighted and instantly asked to play with the knight figures.

The Medieval Train Set contains 46 pieces in total which looked a little scary in the box and instruction sheet but I was able to put it together in less than five minutes. The castle is the main feature with a train track that runs through it and lots of figures of people, trees, a target and well.

The attention to detail in the set is fantastic. The Queen's colours are blue and the King's are red and there are even blue and red banners for the front of the castle and matching stands. Each person is painted front and back which I thought was a lovely touch as you can see all the detail in their clothing.

C is a massive fan of role-playing so his favourite thing to do is to have the jester make the King and Queen laugh or have the knight rescue the gold from the train which is being protected by a scary dragon. The set helps children with dexterity, imagination, creativity, co-ordination, problem solving and cause and effect. The thing C struggles with most is getting the train around the entire track whilst the three carriages are connected by the magnets. He tends to go a bit fast when he's excited which means the wheels don't always stay in the right place - he's getting there though! 

I've been observing both C and E playing with the Medieval Train Set together and it is just so lovely to watch. They really enjoy creating scenarios for the characters together and coming up with new ways to play. The chunky wooden pieces are very well made and smooth so they are perfect for little hands to play with. My two can also be quite rough with playtime so I always look for toys that will last. I'm pleased to say that the set has withstood the force that C and E have exerted on it - even the thinner, castle pieces - definitely a plus when you have young children! 

The Bigjigs Medieval Train Set is suitable for children aged 3+ (although I have been letting E aged 2.5 play with it when supervised) and it retails at £42.99.

You can find out more at the Bigjigs website or you can keep up to date on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

(We received this item as part of our role as Bigjigs Play Patrol bloggers. All thoughts and opinions are my own.) 

A Christmas Gift from Casdon

We've worked with Casdon on a couple of reviews in the past (of the Shopping Trolley and Kitchen Set) and it has quickly become a brand that the kids love and those toys are still played with a lot. With Christmas coming, the lovely people at Casdon sent the children a little Christmas gift. It was wrapped up and even had a little chocolate tree decoration and candy cane - a cute touch!

C and E were so excited to see what was inside, take a look at the video below!
 

The kids have opened their present! Thank you, @casdontoysuk - they love it!

A video posted by Rebecca (@13rebecca13) on Dec 10, 2016 at 6:46am PST

It was the Chip n Pin Till! I knew that C especially would love this because he always wants to use the self serve checkouts at the supermarket.

The set includes:

• Till
• Chip and pin machine
• Pretend food
• Money
• Credit cards

The till takes 5 AA batteries and I was so impressed with what it could do. As I have two children, they loved that they could play together, one being the shopper and one being the shopkeeper so this was great for exploring their imagination and creating their own little shopping scenarios. 

Everything is so realistic and the buttons are a working calculator. Although C is a little young to properly understand this, it will be great for him in the future. You could even roll out a little fake receipt which was a nice addition. I'm not sure if the microphone is supposed to work, we couldn't seem to get ours too and C did ask, "where's the scanner?" but soon got distracted by the rest of the features and didn't mind too much about there not being one.

The chip and pin really impressed me. Each of the cards has a set PIN number which is embossed onto the bottom of the card. When you insert it into the reader, an orange light shines to tell you that the number is ready to be punched in. Depending on whether you get the number right or wrong, a light will shine green or red. C got really excited when he got the number correct, but similarly it helped him to understand why it was shining red if he accidentally typed the wrong thing.

Both of the children adore role play and it really gets their minds working. I think they both seem to like doing grown up things so they feel like mummy and daddy when they play with toys similar to this one. C tends to enjoy iPad time and does ask for it a lot (I limit his screen time) but this type of play gets him more excited and engaged.

The Casdon Chip N Pin Till retails at only £15 at Amazon (currently on sale at £13.29 at the time of publishing) and it's suitable for children aged 3-8 years old.

You can find out more about the range of roleplay toys at the Casdon website or you can follow them on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

(We received this item for the purpose of this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own.)

 

Baby Born Brother Doll - Review

E owns four different toy dolls and she adores them but they get played with a lot by C too. It's really cute watching him play and look after them. I know he'll make a brilliant daddy in years to come! For now, he was so excited to receive his own boy doll to play with. All of E's dolls have pink clothing and accessories so he was happy to see some blue!

The doll comes with:

• Potty
• Spoon and bowl
• Bottle
• Nappy
• Dummy and dummy chain
• Heart shaped bracelet
• Sachet of food

 

The other dolls we own either came with no accessories or a just little fake bottle so C was really excited to properly look after his baby. We filled the bottle up with water, he placed it in his mouth and squeezed gently. You need to keep the baby upright whilst feeding or he will soil his nappy immediately. You can make the baby go for a wee in its nappy by lying him down. For using the potty, C placed him on it with his legs bent, in the sitting position. Getting the doll to go is easy, you just need to press and hold his bellybutton. You will hear a click which switches from peeing to pooping mode. C has only been potty trained himself since March and think he's a proper adult now so he thought it was so much fun teaching his baby to use the potty.

The next thing that we tried was getting the baby to cry but unfortunately we couldn't master this one. I followed the instructions which said to feed the baby water then squeeze its right arm several time. Every time we've tried this, the baby just wets itself and I cannot for the life of me figure out where we are going wrong. If you own this doll, I'd love to know if you've got it working and how.

C's absolute favourite thing is feeding the baby porridge. You need to fill the bowl with water, up to the fill line, and mix in the sachet. Keep stirring until the lumps have gone. This took quite a while for us and it didn't really thicken a lot. At first I thought I'd maybe put too much water in but I followed the instructions to a T. This didn't put C off. He scooped up a little, fed his baby and his little smile was adorable. 

He's really enjoying changing his nappy, giving him his dummy (the dummy clip doesn't stay attached to the dummy which can be a little annoying, I'm worried we'll lose it) and just looking after him in general. The doll wears a little heart bracelet and I thought including one for your child to wear is such a cute idea. I love the birth certificate too so your little one can name their baby and keep their "birth" details safe.

The Baby Born Brother Doll is suitable for children aged 3+, it retails at £44.99 and is available from all good retailers. You can keep up to date with all thing Zapf Creation on Facebook and Twitter. 

(We received this item for the purpose of this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own.) 

 

Baby Annabell Learns to Walk - Review

I am a massive fan of the Zapf Creation brand. I'm 24 now and I remember owning both Baby Born and Baby Annabell dolls when I was little. Every time I had money I would be buying them new clothes for them at the toy shop. Fast forward 22 years, I have my own daughter and the Zapf Creation brand is still as wonderful as it was then so we purchased a My First Baby Annabell for E's first birthday. She takes her doll everywhere with her so I was really excited to be able to review a doll that is a bit of a step up from that one - Baby Annabell Learns to Walk.

When I first showed E the box she was really excited to have a new baby and was very impressed by her beautiful pink hat and floral bodysuit. She comes without batteries (takes 3 AA ones) so I let her have a little play and cuddle whilst I dug some out. She took to her straight away but when I first inserted the batteries and turned her on, she got a little freaked out by the crying and babbling sounds. The doll is recommended for ages 3+ so it could have just been that E is a little young as she's just shy of two years old. Once she saw her brother playing and laughing she totally came round to her.

The doll is called Baby Annabell Learns to Walk but she does so much more than that. Baby Annabell's hands, legs and head are poseable and in the instruction leaflet you are shown which ways to position the doll to get her to do certain things. By having her hands flat on the ground, knees bent and head up, Baby Annabell will crawl. If you sit her flat on her bum, face forward and arms down, she will throw a tantrum if she's sat too long and if you place her feet on the floor, lift her hands and hold them as if you're guiding her to walk, she will walk. Whilst doing all these actions she will either cry, babble or say "mama". If she is crying, after around 25 seconds she will give in and fall asleep. We have wooden floors in our living room so these would be slippery and Baby Annabel wouldn't move so we had to ensure that we placed her on a rug so she would have some friction behind her.

It does take some playing about to get used to placing her in these positions. E obviously does struggle with being a bit too little but her big brother at almost 4 years old is absolutely loving looking after Baby Annabell. E's favourite feature is that her eyes close if you lie her down. The button on her bellybutton is also something that E is constantly pressing. This makes Baby Annabell giggle which in turn makes E giggle and it is just the cutest thing to watch. Both E and C love playing with her so she isn't a toy that is just for girls. After just having soft bodied dolls, I think that they really enjoy having one that's a bit more interactive.

Baby Annabell Learns to Walk retails at £49.99 and is available from all major toy retailers. You can find out more about the range at the Baby Annabell website and you can also keep up to date on Facebook and Twitter.

(We received this item for the purpose of this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own.)