Since giving up work to stay at home my thoughts on toys have changed. There was a time where P was spoilt rotten and had all the latest toys. Now I'm at home with the children more often I look for toys which encourage the children to use their imagination for open ended play a lot more rather than depending on a toy to do it for them.
We were recently asked to review a construction set for Plan Toys. Little man has many construction sets, in fact after a count I was surprised to find 8 different types of construction toys. However none of which were wooden so I was happily accepted and waited for the parcel to arrive.
Plan Toys only use Rubber wood, which is preservative free and naturally processed. They were the first company to use recycled Rubber wood! Plan Toys only uses water-based colours and non-toxic glues so it is safe for children to put them in their mouth.
When the pack arrived I loved the quality of the toys and the children jumped at the chance to start making with toys. P straight away got little man organised and started to lay the pieces out in piles to start constructing their first model using the instructions. Within ten minutes I was asked if I could build them a fire engine as they were struggling so we built it together.
While building the fire engine Little Man was encouraged to help and find the pieces I was after. I asked him to find pieces with two or three holes or looking for certain colours. This kept him interested and engaged in the activity.
After ten minutes of building we came up with this. It was quite wobbly but still moved a long the floor fine. Little Man favourite part was taking the toy apart again using the tools. Because we found the instructions hard to follow we have instead decided to build our own things and this is much more fun.
The tools are a great way to help little ones work on their grip and coordination. Making their own objects allows them to stretch their imagination and work together with siblings developing their communication skills.
For more great toys from the Plan Toys check out their website HERE.
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