Toy Genius: Cows On The Farm Jigsaw (A Review)

Surely by now, even complete strangers know how much I adore the wooden toy shop, ToyJeanius?

We've been incredibly fortunate to have been sent a wide variety of toys by my favourite independent toy shop to review, and just before Christmas The Boy was lucky enough to be sent this beautiful jigsaw puzzle:

Les vaches à la ferme (or 'The Cows on the Farm' to you and me) is a beautifully illustrated and colourful jigsaw by the brilliant Djeco, who make traditional and timeless puzzles with a modern spin on them. This puzzle is no different, as the box is in the shape of a Daisy moo-cow containing the sturdy 24-piece puzzle inside.

The puzzle is 16"x12" in size, with each of the pieces measuring approximately 2.5" across. The chunky size of the pieces means that they are easy to handle and manipulate, and are able to contain a significant section of the final picture on it, making it easier to complete.

The high-gloss, colourful puzzle contains a farmyard scene, not just of the titular cows but also pigs, ducks, chickens, birds, a cat and a dog. Most of the animals are grouped together which makes it easy to find the pieces and join them up, plus it makes discussion afterwards a lot easier. And we do discuss it, a lot. There's so much going on in the picture that it would be hard not to! The Boy's favourite part of this puzzle is counting the animals afterwards, and as there are different and increasing amounts of the various animals it allows for his numerical skills to be developed with ease.

Develops:

  • Co-ordination
  • Problem-solving and logical thinking
  • Numeracy
  • Literacy (positional language and oracy)
  • Fun!

At £9.95 this is a quality jigsaw to stand the test of time, and would make a beautiful gift for someone.

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Readers of TheBoyandMe can get a 10% discount by entering the code 'TheBoyandMe' at the checkout.

We were sent this jigsaw for the purpose of the review. Our opinions are honest and unbiased.

Toy Genius: Djeco Lacing Doudous

We've been sent a few items from ToyJeanius recently from the Djeco range. Now the lovely Jean behind the company knows that I am a fan of the toys from this French company, especially their wooden toys, so I was really pleased to receive this set of 'lacing doudous' for The Boy to play with.

Cuddly Lacing Doudous is a fun lacing and threading toy from Djeco. The set includes four chunky wooden animals, four vibrant lacing cords and two funky buttons for children to add to their creations. The cuddly animals are very colourful and are a good size for small children to hold while they learn to thread the laces through the holes. On two of the animals (the rabbit and the bear) there are areas to lace these buttons onto, but this is quite a tricky thing for The Boy to manage at the moment.

I'm very fond of Djeco toys for various reasons; they are FSC certified and are fun whilst being highly educational. These lacing boards are great for developing The Boy's hand to eye co-ordination, and the pincer grip; all pre-writing skills. It also helps to promote problem-solving (like when he doesn't go through the hole from the right side!) and spatial awareness. Most importantly for me though, these six inch figures and fun and attractive. The Boy has great fun analysing which hole to thread through next, and very quickly cottoned onto the need to go through the next hole on the same side that he's just come up through.

This is a lovely, long-lasting toy with beautiful illustrations in a hard-wearing storage box. There are four laces included in the pack, which have long plastic-encased ends which are great for little fingers. Of course, it's an idea to tie a knot in one of the ends, otherwise the board will fall on the floor!

Watch The Boy having a go:


 

Don't forget that you can get a 10% discount on this, and any other product, from ToyJeanius by entering the code 'TheBoyandMe' at the checkout!


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Night-Night Kisses

We've always had quite a strict bedtime routine. Not in the dictatorial, no fun sense of the word, but without sway or deviance from the procedure. Bath, bottle, teeth and book, before lights out and mobile on. (We'll ignore the fact that he still doesn't go to sleep by himself yet, just shhhh!)

We have our little sillinesses; for example, I kiss daddy, Oliver Monkey and then The Boy night before declaring "What more kisses? You greedy little monkey!", cupping The Boy's face and smothering him in tiny little kisses all over. He then giggles and when I'm at the door, Oliver Monkey waves 'goodnight' to me.

I think a bedtime routine is important, but I also think that fun and happiness is just as necessary as I don't want my little boy being sent off to dream-land on an unhappy cloud! Which is why when ToyJeanius asked me to review Djeco's bedtime game Night-Night Kisses I was more than happy to oblige.Night-Night Kisses (or Bisous Dodo to give it its proper name) is a lovely little game by Djeco, designed to play just before bedtime to encourage your child to feel loved and happy. The above box has a slide-out drawer that is used as the 'bed' for either of the adorable little characters that are 'put to bed' during the game. There is a little boy or a little girl, on one side they are awake and on the other their eyes are firmly closed as they've drifted off to sleep.

For hubby, the time when he comes in from work up until when The Boy drifts off to the land of nod, is precious. He always does bedtime, with the exception of a Wednesday and Thursday (when I work all day so also want some time with The Boy), and he loves spending that time with him. Night-Night Kisses gives him the ideal opportunity to spend some quality time with The Boy before we start the bath etc. routine.

The game involves laying the bed out and placing the boy (not The Boy to avoid confusion!) on top of the soft blue mattress. The cards are then placed face down and little one lifts them up in turn to reveal what's on the card. Some of the cards represent items, for example a sheet or a pillow, and these you lay under the boy's head or over his legs. The remaining cards represent actions such as tickles, cuddles and kisses. As each card is selected the parent must do that action to your child. When the game is finished, you turn the little boy over (again not The Boy, he's not a doll) so his eyes are closed and off he goes to sleep. If only all children obliged so easily, hey?

The Boy really liked the game; he and daddy had great fun playing it. It does require the adult to read the instructions first as there are a few different cards and you need to know what they represent. The feather and music cards are obvious, but there's also a 'kiss' card which means you have to kiss your little one wherever the heart features on the card. There are also birdy and butterfly kisses which can be bestowed upon your precious bundle, much merriment happens as a result of this; we're fond of butterfly kisses in this house!

As this game is aimed at 3-6 year olds, and The Boy is only just two, we adapted it slightly. For example there are 32 cards, but we only had out one of each choice otherwise we'd have never got him into bed! When they are a little older, then the game is designed to take ten minutes and they will also be able to remember what all the different cards mean.
This is a lovely game to play with your precious bundles of joy and happiness before bedtime; they will end up feeling so loved from all the kisses and hugs.
Night-Night Kisses is available to purchase from ToyJeanius for £11.45. Readers of this blog can use a special discount code of 'TheBoyandMe' to get 10% off this and any other purchase.


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Toy Genius: Djeco Animal Puzzle

You may have seen me rave about an amazing independent online shop called ToyJeanius in the past or on twitter, and quite frankly I don't think I will ever stop adoring the toys that they sell. Over the past two years I have come to realise that there is a lot of old tat out there, especially bright and garish plastic which ensnares the child with it's fairground style flashing lights and noises. Yes, we have some but I'd rather The Boy play with better quality, more traditional style toys, and I am fortunate that he seems to prefer them as well. I am fortunate that we have recently been chosen to be Toy Geniuses/Genii (the debate ensues) and therefore will get to enjoy a lot more of the amazing toys that are chosen by Jean personally and with much thought.

With that in mind, we were recently sent this gorgeous little toy to review, made by the fabulous French company Djeco. It really is completely stunning and it has become one of The Boy's favourite toys. And Mummy's. And Daddy's. Oh, and Nana's.

The toy is a traditional wooden box with a slide lid, inside it contains fifteen colourful wooden pieces; five animal heads, five arms/torsos and five sets of legs. They fit together to make five different animals; bear, owl, cat, dog and a mouse. Each 'set' is colour-coded in attractive colours and patterns, which is great and awful for my OCD tendencies. Great because they look fabulous laid into the hollow holder in the lid; awful because The Boy mixes them all up, just like a two year old would!

The Boy loves making up the different animals, and has started to lay all the pieces out onto a surface selecting a head and legs and inserting all the arms in between. He them makes a cat-erpillar, or a mouse-erpillar, or an owl-erpillar with the pieces. Seeing him choosing the different pieces, fitting them into place and then disagreeing with his choice is so funny. From such a simple traditional toy, he has had hours and hours of pleasure. Everyone who has seen it has admired it, and quite rightly so. The box is a really handy size being approximately 16x13cm, so it fits into a handbag or changebag with no problem whatsoever. It's hardwearing wood, and the quality of the paint on each piece is extremely tough as he's been playing with this for three weeks with no damages whatsoever. Also I am happy to report no lost pieces, because that would really screw with my OCD!

One last thing that I have to mention before you 'coo' over the video is that it carries both the CE mark and the FSC logo, meaning that this long-lasting, heirloom of a toy has come from a well-managed forest. Now isn't that better than bright orange plastic?

I am lucky enough to be able to offer a 10% discount available for my readers. Simply enter the code 'theboyandme' at the checkout. Happy shopping!

We were sent this toy without charge to review. My opinions are as always honest.


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