Thanks to Vivid, plastic versions of band members Nathan Sykes, Tom Parker, Jay McGuinness, Siva Kaneswaran and Max George are now available to buy as fashion dolls priced around £16.99 each.

At 12in. tall, the dolls are around the same height as many other fashion dolls and so can fit in nicely with existing collections. For example, Barbie can ditch that boring old Ken (leaving him at a bit of an All Time Low… ) and become a groupie or even go on a hot date with the dolls, which are dressed in cool outfits that are exact replicas of things that have been worn by the fashion-savvy boys at various times.

Unlike some dolls that only bear a passing resemblance to the people they are meant to be, these ones are quite realistic.

Each lad had his face scanned by a special laser in order to create the most accurate representation in moulded plastic possible, so with the full set lined up along your shelf, you could almost expect them to burst into song at any moment.

The range already contains great products to help with Phase Two of the Letters and Sounds framework, including the Magnetic Foam Learning Letters and the Interlocking Cubes. These help encourage children to experiment with letter blending, and when they are ready to move on to the next stage, the new Lacing Letters will help guide them through the trickier challenges.

Lacing Letters, like all of the Letters and Sounds products, are fully aligned to the framework used in classrooms across the country to help children learn to read. As children lace, they can practise letter sounds, word building and blending through phases two and three.

Each set contains a tub of 3cm letters and 12 laces to thread them onto and is priced around £23.95. Suitable for three to seven year olds, there is four of each grapheme taught, plus four letter ‘q’s to make up a full alphabet, and they’re all colour-coded to help the learning process.

The Phase Three Cubes are priced around £10.75 for a set of cubes suitable for three to seven year olds.

These cubes should help to familiarise children with the next lot of letter progression sets and the trickier ones are even repeated to help reinforce them.

The largest set is the Stone Age Cave with Mammoth, priced around £49.99. There are lots of different pieces in this set, making up an intriguing prehistoric scene which measures 40cm long by 26cm wide and 28cm high.

A large woolly mammoth towers over the four cave-dwelling people, who can take shelter from the wrath of his enormous tusks within one of the rooms of the dark cave. Situated on top of a waterfall, the floor-plate is rotatable to reveal a secret hiding place.

A nearby tree seems to be on fire and accessories include a burning branch from the tree, some basic food and tools, a campfire, foldable weapons, a wolf/dog, an animal skin and appropriate scenery.

The Mammoth Skeleton Set with Cavemen forms a dramatic looking scene. In innovative stone-age style, you can assemble a mammoth skeleton to create a tent where three hardened bone-hunters can shelter and rest.

Priced around £19.99 the set includes the serious-looking men, their tools, the bones they’ve collected and their wolfish-looking dog. There are also assorted pieces of scenery such as a campfire and some rocks.

Woolly Mammoths weren’t the only scary animals to roam the earth in Stone Age times; in the Bear with Cavemen set, priced around £13.99, two early men are being intimidated by a ferocious-looking bear.

A dark-haired man and a red-haired man (an early Scot perhaps) are clad in some basic armour and equipped with basic tools to try to ward off a large, jointed bear.

The cavemen have carved out their own bear-shaped dwelling in the rocks – perhaps in an attempt to intimidate the real bear. The ‘head’ of the cave moves too and there’s a skeleton, tools and scenery to dot around the place.

We’re starting to feel a bit sorry for those cavemen really, as writing up these sets is bringing to light the fact that life for stone age people was largely about avoiding getting eaten by scary beasts.

Next up are some kitties with razor-sharp teeth in the Sabre-Toothed Cat with Cavemen set, priced around £12.99. The head and legs of both these giant cats move (unfortunately, for the poor caveman and woman). They are attempting to drive the cats away from their cave using a burning branch and some home-made weapons. A skeleton lurks nearby – was it a third caveman or a third cat? The storyline is up to you.

A gentler theme is played out in the Woolly Mammoth with Baby set, where a mummy or daddy mammoth is looking after a little (but probably still very big) mammoth, caring for them and teaching them all sorts of mammothy things.

There’s a bit of scenery too and this set is priced around £12.99.

An impressively-dressed man stands guard over a fire in the Fire Guardian with LED Fire set.

Wearing basic armour and skins and with what looks like an entire deer head on top of his own (presumably to ward off dangerous predators), the guardian stands with a fiery torch next to a fire that really flickers, thanks to two 1.5V Micro Batteries (not included).  This set is priced around £4.99.

Boys and girls alike can enjoy the sturdy tub, packed with bricks and priced around £19.99. The contents – a mixture of standard DUPLO and special elements – should provide a recipe for hours of building fun.

Pre-schoolers aged two upwards can get an appetite for construction toys as they use the pieces to create muffins, cupcakes, meringues and any number of other imaginative delicacies. Pastel colours give the impression of sugary sweetness and included ‘recipes’ help to guide children in the baked-goods building process.

And when the cakes are ready, a whole new game of imaginative role-play can begin…

Three models can be built in the familiar Meccano style, with colourful metal pieces held together by nuts and bolts.

Tintin’s 4 x 4 is the opening salvo, comprising 270 pieces and priced around £29.99, while a Seaplane set (320 pieces) is priced around £39.99.

The flagship (literally) of the rage is the rather magnificent model of the Unicorn, a sailing ship complete with billowing white sails.

This set is made up 630 pieces and is priced around £49.99. The sets are recommended for ages eight and up.

“This is our first foray into the world of film licenses and we have been knocked out by the enthusiasm for our models,” said Meccano’s Sue Barratt.

“The three iconic models have been both technically and creatively challenging, and we believe that the time and attention to detail that has gone into the models will make our movie vehicles hot property amongst film enthusiasts and general model makers.”

The biggest entry in the range is the 695-piece Olivia’s House set, priced around £69.99. Children aged six and over can build an intricate dolls house for three mini-doll figures.

The figures are slightly taller than the usual LEGO minifigures, and can be customised with different fashion items and hairstyles. This particular set includes a young girl called Olivia, plus her mum (Anna) and dad (Peter), and their family cat.

LEGO Friends bricks are compatible with existing LEGO bricks, and with the 695 in this set you can make a really large house, with rooms including a kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, living room and rooftop patio.

The house is built in sections so that you can rearrange it easily and the rooms can be filled with all kind of interesting accessories including a shower, sink, toilet, coffee table, flat screen TV, opening fridge, kitchen table and chairs and so on.

Outside on the patio, dad can fire up the BBQ and do the hard work of flipping a few pieces of meat, while mum entertains herself by tripping around the lawn with the mower. Olivia can play on the swing in the garden, which can be made beautiful with the flower accessory pack of 12 flowers, four butterflies and four ladybirds.

All kinds of other cute accessories such as food, a diary, a hairbrush and baking items are included in the detailed set.

For around £19.99, you can add Olivia’s Treehouse. The 191-piece set includes an Olivia mini-doll figure and a plethora of creatures including Maxie the cat, four ladybirds, a bird and birdhouse, and some butterflies.

A perfect hideaway, the 15cm tall treetop retreat has folding ladders and a secret compartment for hidden treasure, and is filled with accessories and decorated all around with flowers.

Young Olivia has a job too; when not at home or in her treehouse she can be found down at Olivia’s Invention Workshop creating futuristic things and making exciting discoveries.

The set contains 81 pieces with an Olivia mini-doll, her workshop bench, microscope, pet robot, chalkboard and rack all setting the scene. Smaller accessories add the finishing touches; various power tools, chemist jars and a remote control for the robot are all included for around £9.99.

The gentle residents of Heartlake City love animals, and luckily they have the Heartlake Vet on hand to help them to take care of them all.

Priced around £39.99, the 343-piece set comes with three poorly animals and all the accessories and bandages needed to make them better, as well as an X-ray machine.

Young mini-doll figure Mia could be a helper at the vets or a client bringing in their sick pet for treatment, and mini-doll Sophie is an expert veterinarian, able to nurse the horse, dog and hedgehog back to full health.

In the colourful surroundings of the centre, the animals can hop (or scamper, climb, crawl etc.) up onto the examination table and the vet can use the ice pack, stethoscope, scale, cage and X-ray machine to help treat them. The Vet set is filled with all kinds of other accessories for their comfort and benefit.

When they’re at peak health and not in need of treatment, the dogs of Heartlake can take part in an exciting event. At the Heartlake Dog Show, the stage is set for mini-doll figure Mia to show off two puppies.

Priced around £19.99, the set is made from 183 pieces and includes a podium, grooming area, runway, outdoor scenery and a highly-coveted cup.

Staying with the dog-show theme, Mia’s Puppy House is one of the smaller sets in this new line, containing just 64 pieces and priced around £9.99.

Mini-doll Mia can care for a cute white puppy called Charlie as she gets him ready to take part in the show. A grooming table and accessories such as soap, brush, food, bow and a first prize ribbon all help to provide lots of imaginative play.

The set is 5cm tall, 9cm wide and 5cm long, with a large piece of accompanying tree scenery.

Another young animal lover in Heartlake is Stephanie, who patrols for injured animals on a cool quad bike. Stephanie’s Pet Patrol is priced around £9.99 and can be built from 73 pieces.

As well as the bike and Stephanie mini-doll, the set includes a bunny called Daisy, a trailer for the bike, outdoor scenery and a cage and carrot for Daisy.

Stephanie seems to be a multi talented young woman, as she also crops up in the Stephanie’s Outdoor Bakery set.

This little set is around £4.99, with 45 pieces including a blonde Stephanie mini-doll figure, a sink, table, umbrella, oven and a nice selection of baking and refreshment themed accessories, it sets the scene for a little garden feast.

With two jobs in Heartlake, Stephanie seems to be a work-hard-play-hard kind of girl. When she’s not rescuing animals or baking cakes she can be seen cruising around town in the girliest-looking car we’ve seen since the Sheila’s Wheels advert hit our TV screens.

Priced around £14.99, Stephanie’s Cool Convertible consists of 130 pieces, including the girl herself and her dog Coco, a carwash, a bench and a streetlamp, as well as lots of essential accessories for Stephanie herself such as sunglasses, a hairdryer, a hairbrush and a mirror. The car measures 11cm long.

These LEGO Friends mini-dolls seem to give quite a lot of thought to their appearance, so it’s just as well that the Butterfly Beauty shop has opened its doors to the residents of Heartlake City.

In the 221-piece set, included mini-dolls Emma and Sarah (or any dolls from another set – they’re all compatible) can be pampered and primped to their hearts’ content.

The girls can come out with a totally different hairstyle (remembering that hairstyles are interchangeable) and can also have a pretend makeover using accessories such as a lipstick, sunglasses, hairbrush, hairdryer and mirror. There’s a bench and a fountain too. The set is priced around £24.99.

Emma is another mini-doll that pops up in a few sets, and it’s nice to see that the little residents of Heartlake City have such varied lives. For example, Emma is probably unwinding at the Butterfly Beauty Shop after a demanding day as a fashion designer in the Emma’s Fashion Design Studio set.

The creative girl is based in a little studio, using her laptop, easel, camera and design table to create the latest fashions for all of her friends. There are accessories in the 79-piece set such as a sandwich, ruler, inspiration board and flowers, as well as a chest of drawers and mp3 player to make this into the nicest little work environment, and it’s priced around £9.99.

Emma’s also got a pool set where she can let off some steam after work. At around £4.99, this is another of the smallest sets in the range and contains just 43 bricks.

The brunette mini-doll can take a dip in the pool or sit on a lounger under an umbrella, having a refreshing ice cream.

At around £29.99, the City Park Cafe is another of the main sets in the new range and provides a place for all of the mini-doll figures to hang out. Two of them are included in this set – Andrea and Marie, and the 221-piece set provides a really detailed venue for children to play with them in.

Measuring over 11cm tall, 19cm wide and 19cm long, the playset is divided into a number of rooms, including a kitchen filled with baking and cooking accessories such as a frying pan, muffin tin and baking tray, inside and outside dining areas with tables and chairs, and a cash register with a LEGO money brick.

The final set in the new range is called Andrea’s Stage: an 87-piece set priced around £9.99.

Mini-doll Andrea (last seen scoffing cake at the City Park Cafe) is a performer, and is included in this set alongside the stage where she will be performing.

The stage (with curtains) can be built, as can the piano that will accompany her and the microphone and stand. Accessories like lights, a sign and a glass add those finishing touches to make a realistic concert scene.

Brainstorm’s Slimy is just that: a colourful, slippery, squelchy material that feels a bit yucky (or delightful, depending on what age you are) and can be played with in all kinds of ways.

Designed as a pocket-money toy, Slimy Original is priced around £3.50. There are five other different types to collect including the super-strechy Mega Elastic set, which has incredible flexibility, and the Volcano sets, which include a free dinosaur (there are 12 different ones to collect).

Made from a special Swiss Formula, the wobbly material can also produce a great variety of rude (or hilarious, depending again on your age) sound effects.

Following great success over the Christmas holiday, the Moshi Bus is back for the half-term holiday and will be visiting the Retail Park, Bristol, followed by the Capital Shopping Park in Cardiff.

Your own little Moshlings will be able to draw and colour-in Moshi Monsters, model their little monsters out of clay, trade Moshlings and cards, meet Furi and enter competitions and prize giveaways to win Moshi merchandise.

“The children love seeing Moshi being brought to life like this,” said Tony Crouchman, who runs the Moshi Bus. “If the Christmas tour was anything to go by, we expect a bus overflowing with fun and activity throughout half-term week and look forward to meeting the Moshi fans there.”

The Moshi bus will be at Unit 5, The Retail Park, Bristol (BS34 5TX), from Saturday 11th until Tuesday 14th February and will then visit Cardiff’s Shopping Park (CF11 8AZ) from Thursday 16th February until Sunday 19th February, between the hours of 10am and 5pm on each day and 11am and 5pm on the Sunday.

For some father-and-son teams, nothing beats fresh air, the open road and only a sheet of canvas between them and the stars. Two such people, heading off on an adventure, are the little figures in the new Ryan’s Road Trip set.

Dressed the part – son in shorts and trendy jacket and father in a slightly embarrassing shorts and hat combo – the figures can enjoy all the features of their trusty camping set.

Priced around £16.99, Ryan is a friction-powered car with enough spaces for father, son and their friendly dog to go along for the ride. A magnetic hook on the car attaches to a trailer and the tent can be packed up onto it, as well as a little campfire to sit round later, swapping ghost stories or singing Kumbaya.

Children aged 18 months upwards will find the toy extremely safe and wipe clean as they enjoy all the role play opportunities offered by the set.

Also new, Fire Rescue Rory is a shiny emergency helicopter, designed to help children aged 18 months upwards act out scenes of a daring rescue.

With a realistic engine sound, the toy is completely battery free. The stretcher can be picked up by the helicopter using a magnet which connects on touch and disconnects by turning the search light around. A simple pull on the trigger makes the blades spin, ready to chopper the fire victim away from the scene of the emergency.

Priced around £16.99, the four piece set includes two removable figures – one to fly the helicopter and one to be rescued in a stretcher by Rory and pilot. A clicking rear rotor adds an extra dimension of play.

Finally, Farm Buddy Benny is a quad bike who is built to help out on with all the odd jobs on a farm.

His  driver is a little farmer figure, displaying the ‘thumbs up’ position to indicate that he’s safe for children aged 18 months upwards to play with without fear of him being swallowed.

Priced around £9.99, Benny not only transports the farmer, but also his trusty sheepdog all around the farm.

As with all WOW toys, no batteries are required to activate fun features – in this case, a gentle rocking motion as he speeds around.

His brightly coloured body is covered in patterned fabrics and interesting textures and provides an auditory and sensory experience for babies as they grow.

Priced around £11.99, Mittens holds a plastic ring with ‘busy beads’ on it, for babies to explore as they develop their manual dexterity, and the little knots in kitty’s legs should keep their fingers busy on a long car or buggy trip (the quick-release clip allows you to take the toy out and about with you).

Also joining the range is Huey the Hedgehog. He looks like a prickly chap, but when babies touch his spines they will find them to be soft and friendly.

It looks like Huey’s having a bit of trouble with his teeth as he’s holding onto a teething ring, and teething babies might find themselves having a sympathetic bite on the other end.

With a quick-release clip on this one too, it’s priced around £10.99.

Three other characters in the Play and Grow range have also had a bit of a makeover in time for spring. Princess Sophie now contains new colours and even more nice textures for a tactile experience, and she’s priced around £10.99.

Mortimer Moose provides big antlers for babies to teethe on, and he’s been revamped with an array of new colours. Priced around £10.99, he has a quick-release clip and can be used from birth.

Flutterbug, one of the range’s best-sellers, has also had a bit of a spruce up and is now available for around £10.99 in new colours and quality brightly coloured fabric, as well as all his usual features to delight a baby’s senses.