Toys – Page 4 – The Review Studio

Sea Animal Collection from PLAYin CHOC

Children, coronation, cruelty-free, Food & Drink, Gifts for children, Lunchbox Fillers, Plastic free, Toys, Vegan, Vegetarian

Disclaimer – We received this item free for the purpose of this review/feature but all words and opinions are our own.

The brand new Sea Animals Collection from PLAYin CHOC is here in time for the Coronation weekend! The sustainable and ethically sourced chocolate is accompanied by a cut out toy of a sea animal along with an information card to educate children about the world around them. If you remember Kinder Surprise as a child, then this is the modern, environmentally friendly version for the 21^st century.

PLAYin CHOC was created by Mum Maya back in 2016 in her kitchen at home where she wanted to make simple chocolate for her family which was just cacoa, coconut and vanilla. Crucially, it was also dairy free chocolate, hence there’s no milk or cream involved in the process, just coconut products.

With the help of her two children as ‘chief testers’, Maya perfected the Peruvian, fairly traded organic chocolate and created the PLAYin CHOC brand. Their mission is to create healthy chocolate treats without plastic, and to promote environmentally sensitive topics. Among other projects PLAYin CHOC have featured are Endangered Animals, Woodland Animals and even a whole dinosaur set! At Christmas and Easter they produce Advent Calendars and gift boxes and this year PLAYin CHOC have produced the Sea Animals Collection.

We were sent these three boxes to indulge ourselves. Opening the boxes, we found an orca, seahorse and swordfish. You can’t tell what’s in the box until you open it so it’s a great surprise for children. The box contains two pieces of chocolate (in recyclable plastic), a cut out of each animal which children can put together to create a toy and an information card about the animal, some facts and their personalities. There are 18 different animals to collect in all and the toys, which are made out of durable cardboard, can be used again and again, along with the cube boxes the chocolate and toys come in!

Although the chocolate is coconut based and vegan, it doesn’t taste very different to everyday chocolate so the kids won’t notice the change. It is 100% plant based though so it will appeal to everybody – these make great gifts in children’s party bags or to keep them quiet on car journeys and whilst travelling.

With so many toys to choose from, healthier vegan chocolate and fair trade, what is there not to like about the PLAYin CHOC range, especially for the Coronation?

PLAYin CHOC Endangered Animals are £2.25 at: https://playinchoc.com/products/toychoc-box-br-sea_animals

Tomy Toomies Spin & Hatch Dino Eggs

Baby, Children, Easter, Gifts for children, Toys

Disclaimer: We received this product free of charge for the purpose of this review and all thoughts and opinions are our own

Easter treats don’t need to be made of chocolate and the Toomies Spin & Hatch Dino Eggs from Tomy will make an eggcellent gift and delight younger children this Easter.

The five brightly coloured eggs (blue, green, pink, purple & orange) sit in a plastic incubator and to hatch the eggs you simply take the lid off the incubator and press the yellow button to make the eggs spin, the faster you press the quicker it goes until it pops and the shells go flying. Inside the eggs you will find 5 cute dinosaurs – Stegosaurus, T-rex, Triceratops, Pterandon and Raptor which rattle when you shake them, adding to the excitement.

There is so much to learn with this toy, the plastic eggs are bright, vibrant and bold and are a great way for children to learn their colours as well as helping with logic and fine motor skills. Our mini reviewers loved watching the eggs spin and hatch and we also spent time learning the names of the dinosaurs. The eggs are also perfect for Easter egg hunts – our mini reviewers enjoyed hiding them all over the house!

The Spin & Hatch Dino Eggs are a nice Easter themed gift which will provide hours of entertainment this Easter and for many years to come.

Suitable for children aged 12 months to 4 years

RRP £14.99 available from Amazon,Argos, The Entertainer, John Lewis, Next Online, The Range, Selfridges, Toymaster, Tesco, The Works and other independent toy shops

Sylvanian Families Easter Celebration Set

Birthday Gifts, Children, Easter, Gifts for children, Spring, Toys

Disclaimer: we received this product free of charge for the purpose of this review and all thoughts and opinions are our own.

Our mini reviewers had an early Easter treat this week when we received the Easter Celebration Set from Sylvanian Families. Presented in a beautiful Easter themed pastel coloured box the set includes two bunnies called Serena & Romeo Marguerite who are both dressed in beautiful Easter outfits complete with matching marguerite brooches and Easter bonnets. The set also includes a selection of Easter accessories, eggs and sweets so the bunnies can have a festive Easter egg hunt.

Serena is wearing a beautiful yellow and green dress and pink hat and Romeo is wearing a purple suit with a matching hat. The clothes are well made and can easily be removed and our mini reviewers, who already have a collection of Sylvanian family figures, loved swapping the outfits around with their other figures. They also enjoyed having an Easter egg hunt with the bunnies, one would go out of the room whilst the other put the sweets in the three mini Easter eggs and then come back in and look for them.

As a parent, the thing I love about Sylvanian Families is that the toys encourage children to use their imagination and it is lovely watching and hearing the escapades the figures get up to!! I used to love collecting and playing with my Sylvanian Family figures (which I still have ) and it is lovely to see my children enjoying them too.

Our mini reviewers loved this set and gave it a huge thumbs up! It is a great addition to their ever growing Sylvanian families collection and will provide hours of entertainment for them over the Easter holidays.

Aimed at children aged 3 and above this set would make a lovely Easter gift. It is available from the Sylvanian Familes website here

RRP £21.99

Link Logo Board Game

Birthday Gifts, Children, Family Life, Games, Gifts for children, Toys

Disclaimer – We received this item free for the purpose of this review/feature but all words and opinions are our own.

The Linking, Thinking Picture Game!

Link Logo, the board game from Tomy, can best be described as a mixture of the TV quizzes Only Connect and Catchphrase. Borne from the game LOGO, Link Logo uses pictures to create a game with trivia questions which can be played by the whole family. Based at ages 12+, it can be played in two teams or with just two players.

The teams sit opposite each other with the flip chart in the middle. Each team can see the other team’s questions (they are different questions for each side) and for the group of logos, or pictures, you have to guess the link. Underneath, there are the answers to the other team’s pictures, followed by questions to ask about their selection, and of course, the answers! Each team uses the pegs to score.

To give you an idea about the type of questions, (but to not give away the game!) you can see on the front that there are 6 pictures; a penguin, lion, planet, the solar system, a bus and an outdoor picnic. The question asks you to find the link and to name each product. If you’re stuck already, then the answer is that they are all chocolate bars! The other team then asks questions about the pictures, such as, “Which one of these relates to a Batman villain?” Once you have worked out the link, or had to be told, you can usually get the answer to the trivia questions pretty easily. Some of the answers are real ‘kick me’ ones, where you instantly realise you should have known the answer as soon as you find it out!

There are a total of 60 booklet sheets in the game, so it doesn’t take more than a couple of hours to play depending on how much time you chat in between the rounds. It’s the type of game that when you’ve played it once, you will probably remember the answers for a while so you can’t keep playing it over and over with the same people. Likewise, if one person has played it, then they’ll be at an advantage everyone else. Maybe if that’s you, you can work out how to compare the game and keep score instead of take part.

It’s easy enough to understand and follow along as it’s just about reading the text on the booklet binder and then keeping score using the score pegs. Most of the questions could be answered by teenagers but we did find that there were a few which were more based on older generations, or were a bit advanced such as some which related to American logos and items.

It’s a lovely gentle game for the family to play together, and. The photos make it easy to follow. It often creates great conversation between the teams, and each other too.

Available on Amazon (and other retailers) for £22.99: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Drumond-Park-T73295-Tabletop-Suitable/dp/B0BB9JRM46/ref=sr_1_3?crid=2MNZKPBX99Q1W&keywords=Link%2BLogo&qid=1672769289&sprefix=link%2Blogo%2Caps%2C76&sr=8-3&th=1

Triggle Family Board Game

Birthday Gifts, Children, Family Life, Games, Gifts for children, Gifts for Her, Gifts for Him, Gifts for teachers, Home & Garden, Learning, Toys

Disclaimer – We received this item free for the purpose of this review/feature but all words and opinions are our own.

Families are always looking for more wholesome ways to connect and have fun, so Tomy’s board game Triggle is a gem for the winter months. Based on 2-4 players (but you could play in teams) it is aimed at 8 years and upwards and has a remarkably simple objective; to create triangles.

The starting board consists of pegs arranged in a geometric pattern. Each player chooses one of the colours of pegs (there are 21 pegs for each player) and the elastic bands are divided out between everyone playing. Taking it in turns, each player add one rubber band to the board, suspending it between any two posts in any direction. The only ‘rules’ are that the line created by the band must be straight, and it must stretch across 4 post only and touching at least one other rubber band.

Once a player creates a triangle with their rubber band, they can claim it as their own by placing their coloured peg inside it. A triangle consists of only one single space.

The game ends whenever there are no spaces left on the board to claim, or one of the players uses up all their pegs. An alternative to the full game is for each player to have a set amount of rubber bands (for instance, 10 or 20) and the players play until there are no more bands left. Whoever has the most pegs placed on the board is the winner.

This is a remarkably easy game to follow and learn the rules for, and can keep the whole family entertained. We found that playing with just two, and especially two adults or older children was exceptionally easy and allowed for conversation throughout. There was no need to remember where you were in the game, so it was easy to talk, or walk away and come back after dinner if you needed to. It also doesn’t last for hours and hours where you feel compelled to complete the game. It also didn’t require point scoring or writing anything down as you can just count up the number of pegs visible, and there’s no need for remembering characters or complicated rules!

If you are in a group who don’t speak English or have limited vocabulary, this is a great mind teaser puzzle, and if you lose the rubber bands, they can easily be replaced. Instead of using the pegs, you can use any other type of counter from another game, so there’s longevity too. I found that after a while, some of the younger children (under 12 years old or so) were able to make up new games of their own, or liked making patterns in the board after the game had finished, so there was endless entertainment to be had over the school holidays.

Triggle isn’t really a game you grow out of and can be picked up by anyone. It’s definitely a “thumbs up” from us as a family game.

Available from £19.50 at Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fat-Brain-Preschool-Educational-Suitable/dp/B08SRF4FKJ/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=2T4AYCESTM577&keywords=triggle+board+game&qid=1672763459&sprefix=triggle+board+game%2Caps%2C63&sr=8-1-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&psc=1