ToyTalk: Toy news, reviews and features

Let’s go with LEGO

by Eleanor de Bruin
There are lots of different ways for the residents of LEGO City to get around.

For ordinary Joe LEGO, the Small Car is all he needs. Made from 43 pieces, the cute little car is perfect for zipping around the city. The modern and compact vehicle (with included driver) will never get stuck in traffic and can fit into any parking space – and it has a nice little price tag of around £3.49 too.

Helping to keep the streets of LEGO City in full working order for those on the move, the Repair Truck is hard at work. With 118 pieces, the set is priced around £8.99 and includes a repair truck and a minifigure. The folding crane on the back of the truck allows the plucky repair man to shimmy five inches up into the air and repair broken streetlights and keep the lights shining brightly on the city.

Also providing service to the road-users is the 11-inch-long Tank Truck, dedicated to providing gasoline to all the petrol stations in the city. The Truck set is priced around £14.00 and comprises 222 pieces including a truck driver minifigure and an extendable hose to fill up the fuel pumps.

You don’t necessarily have to own a car to go places in LEGO City though; the 21-piece Traveller set is evidence that there’s a pretty good public transport system in place. The included minifigure is all set for an adventure, with a baggage trolley, suitcase, camera and shoulder bag and is priced around £2.49.

You can’t blame the traveller for seeking out alternative modes of transport, when there’s something as exciting as the Seaplane to have a go in. Flip the top open to place the pilot minifigure at the controls, and then the 102-piece set can take to the skies or land safely on the water. The Seaplane is priced around £7.99 and, like all the sets in this range, is suitable for children aged five and over.

Spot who needs a cuddle

by Eleanor de Bruin
Spot has got to be one of the most loveable dogs there has ever been. Pre-schoolers are desperate to own their own Spot, and to give him lots of big cuddles.

Rainbow Designs has produced a selection of Spots for little ones to choose from. The Large Spot (pictured centre) is big enough to wrap both arms around, as he stands at 40cm high and is priced around £24.99. The Spot Bean Toy (on the left of the picture) is priced around £8.99 and is lovely and fidgety, being filled with beans.

Spot is also available as a Hand Puppet (on the right), ready to act out all of the favourite Spot stories (and make a few new ones) and is priced around £14.99.

Ben 10 takes off

by David Smith
New from Wind Designs is a range of Ben 10 Alien Force flying toys, headlined by the Ben 10 Alien Force Light Disc.

This Frisbee-styled toy has bold artwork of Ben and his alien alter egos, as well as LED light effects, making it a real eye-catcher when played in the dark.

Easy to throw and catch, the Light Disc is priced around £9.99.

The Ben 10 Alien Force Glow Heli (around £8.99) continues the theme, with a hand-held launcher and three glow-in-the-dark spinners (each featuring Ben 10 artwork) included in each pack.

Launch the spinners and they’ll soar up into the air – and they’ll continue spinning even after coming back to earth.

Finally, the Ben 10 Alien Force Plastic Key Ring Kites (around £3.49) pack down into the small plastic key ring holders, but emerge to take flight at your command – pack them away again when playtime is over.

Cooking for kids

by Eleanor de Bruin
New from Character’s Let’s Cook range are three new toys that will make your mouth water.

If you’re a fan of a savoury snack, the Crisp Maker is a fun-filled device for making your own snacks from potatoes, or any other root vegetable for that matter. Children aged five and over can use the safe crisp maker to slice potatoes super-thin, and use special tools to make them into funky shapes. A quick spin in the microwave turns the sliced vegetable into a delicious and very healthy snack,

For those who prefer a sweet treat, the Chocolate Rotator Creator turns chocolate into interesting shapes, using three different moulds. Five years olds simply have to pop some chocolate into the mould, put it in the machine for three minutes and try not to drool too much with anticipation. When the chocolate delicacy is ready, it can be wrapped in the included coloured foil and a string can even be added to turn it into a decoration.

The third new toy in the range creates cereal bars from whatever ingredients you add. Children of five and over will love selecting a variety of ingredients from the kitchen cupboard (perhaps with a little guidance!) to place into the mould of the Cereal Bar Maker. By simply rotating the handle, the ingredients get squashed and squished into a cereal bar shape, which can then be put in the fridge to harden up.

Each of the three sets costs around £14.99.

Dora explores the bathroom

by Eleanor de Bruin
Fans of Dora the Explorer will be pleased to see a range of bathtime products hitting the shelves for them to enjoy, produced by H&A, the UK’s leading specialist for licensed toiletries.

Adorable Dora will now appear on a bathtime jigsaw, some magic face cloths, some frilly wash mits and on pouches of shower gel. Also available in the range is a Butterfly Toothbrush with sound effects and Butterfly Bubbles with glitter tattoos.

All of the products are available from Boots (as in the store, Dora’s monkey friend hasn’t started a little side business), and some of the products can also be purchased from Tesco, Morrisons or Dunnes (in Ireland). Prices range from around 89p to around £6.00.

Next stop, Greendale

by David Smith
Greendale Station is the latest playset available in Character’s Postman Pat SDS range. With moving parts and a figure of Ajay, the station is a bustling hub for commuters between Greendale and Pencaster.

For ages three and up, the Greendale Station set is priced around £14.99.

Rolling into the station is the Greendale Rocket, which comes with a carriage, free-wheeling wheels and sound effects (two AAA batteries are required for this).

The Greendale Rocket is also priced around £14.99.

Learning Resources goes dotty

by Eleanor de Bruin
The secret to learning any skill is to practise it over and over again, but Learning Resources knows that this can get tedious for young children. That’s where the new Hot Dots Jr. Early Skills sets come in.

The range aims to motivate young children to practice their skills in patterns and sequencing, numbers and counting, early phonics, shapes and the alphabet by providing an interactive system where they can carry out fun activities and then check their own answers.

Children take part in the independent learning experience by placing a Hot Dots pen (sold separately for around £6.99) over the answer dots on any of the double-sided Early Skills Practice Cards. The pen will make some fun sounds and glow red or green, indicating whether or not the correct answer has been selected.

The brightly illustrated cards offer 72 self-checking activities for children aged four and over, and each set (priced around £10.50) comes in a colourful case with a carrying handle.

Waybuloo fans get crafty

by Eleanor de Bruin
Children aged three upwards love colouring, stickers and hit CBeebies show Waybuloo. That’s why Golden Bear has cleverly combined all these elements in their Waybuloo Colour and Sticker Fun set.

Priced around £5.99, the set includes eight sheets of paper decorated with the cute characters and their favourite accessories, plus beautiful scenery from the land of Nara, and six pencils to transform them from black and white to a riot of colour. A sticker sheet adds to the decorating fun.

For even more creative tots, the Waybuloo 3D Piping Picture Build contains all the elements preschoolers need to create a 3D picture of their favourite Pipling.

The kit contains backing card, character card, pod card and butterfly card, with five pens to decorate the finished picture, and is priced around £6.99.

Airfix trio flies high

by David Smith
Three World War II planes are ready to be reconstructed in 1:72 scale, with Airfix releasing the Curtiss SB2C Helldiver, the Bell P-39Q Airacobra and the Ilyushin Sturmovik.

The Helldiver was tested and rejected by the Royal Navy but saw service with the US Navy (they obviously weren’t as picky). The skill level 2 set has 76 parts and is priced around £5.99.

The Airacobra, instantly recognisable thanks to having its engine behind the cockpit, saw action with both the US Army Air Corps and the Soviet Union’s Air Force. A skill level 1 set, with 37 parts, it is priced around £4.99.

Finally, the Ilyushin Sturmovik is another skill level 2 model with 59 parts, priced around £5.99. This Russian plane excelled at attacking ground targets but had a woeful record in air-to-air combat and was a favourite target of German fighter aces.

Have you got The Krypton Factor?

by Eleanor de Bruin
New from John Adams & Toy Brokers is an interactive board game based on popular game show, The Krypton Factor.

The game show first aired in 1977, and has stayed exciting throughout the years, with its 2009 revival seeing 3.5 million viewers tune in each week. The game comes with a DVD and sticks closely to the format of the fun-filled show.

Priced around £19.99, family and friends aged eight and over can challenge each other to compete at two different skill levels across the five different areas of play – Mental Agility, Observation, Physical Ability, Intelligence and General Knowledge.

The DVD comes in handy for the Observation round, where clips from some of ITV’s most popular shows, such as Emmerdale, Hell’s Kitchen and Coronation Street, are used for players to watch and then answer questions about afterwards.