Toy Reviews 2022 | Toy Talk ®

3 November 2022 by Nikki Bush 0

Toy Talk® with Nikki Bush showcases and endorses educational games and toys every child should have during their formative years, as well as games for family fun and connection. Nikki Bush, Human Potential and Parenting Expert has been helping parents to buy with confidence since 2004. This is her list of recommendations for the 2022 festive season, as discussed in her weekly parenting interview on 702.

Smashers Mega Light Up Dino by Zuru
Ages: 5 – 10 years
Approx price: R699
Stockists:

Takealot
ToyZone
Timeless Toys
Play Toys
The wooden toy Co.
Little Amber Rabbit

This is the lucky packet to end all lucky packets, and it’s not full of junk, either. It’s a great unboxing activity for Christmas Day as your child smashes open the egg and finds 25 lava volcano surprises. The interactive activities will keep them busy and entertained for hours.

SMASH IT OPEN: Smash open the NEW Smashers Mega Light Up Dino to discover the 25 surprises inside. Collect all the pieces to start building the Dino T-REX or Spinosaurus.
SCRATCH & FIND HIDDEN CLUES: Use the official Dino Light Up Scratch Map to find all of the hidden pieces inside. Collect compounds like the Fossil Rock, Lava Slime & More!
EXCAVATE ALL NEW SURPRISES: Over 25 lava surprises to slime, fizz and smash your way through. Find the parts to one of two Dinos, and build your T-Rex or Spinosaurus!
ROARING PLAY: Insert the Dino DNA into the Dino SMASH-O-SAUR and flick the tail of the Dino to activate the Dino noise and sound.
COLLECT AND BATTLE: Collect the Smashers Eggs and create the most epic fight between your lava Dinos! Who will win?

Skills being developed:

Building
- Fine motor skills
- Spatial planning
- Part-whole relationships
- Following instructions
Sensory stimulation with the slime
Experimentation with the fizzing and excavating
Collecting dinosaurs in the Smashers Eggs
- Patience
- Delayed gratification
Battling dinos
- Comparing
- Winning and losing

LEAPFROG A TO Z LEARN WITH ME DICTIONARY
Ages: 3-7 years
Approx Price: R899
Stockists:

ToysRUs
BabiesRUs
Makro
Takealot

The LeapFrog A to Z Learn With Me Dictionary is fabulous for building your child’s word power and creating a fascination for words. Every child needs an illustrated dictionary. I know I loved mine and used it for years. LeapFrog is a leader in integrated electronic toys, and this product is a perfect example of combining a real book with the power and magic of electronics.

This chunky dictionary will help your child discover over 200 words, exploring what they mean and learning about letters and phonics. I love the three different modes of play. With no stylus involved, children can just use their fingers to play with the dictionary.

Explore mode:

Your child presses any word or picture, and the book will read the word and definition out loud

Letter mode

Hear the letter names and sounds to help build phonic skills

Game mode

Look for letters and words in categories like food, animals and more. The dictionary will give your child clues so that they can select the correct word on the page. Of course, each word has a picture which makes things both easier and more interesting. The LeapFrog Dictionary praises your child when they make a correct choice and encourages them to try again should they get it wrong. I like that.

There is also the Word Search function that uses colour-coded beginning letters to hunt for words. The music button plays learning songs about vocabulary and the alphabet. Just tap on a page anywhere to play a word game.

Apart from having so much fun, your child will also learn how dictionaries work and how letters represent different sounds in print. This product makes a great travel toy for long-distance family car journeys in addition to being used at home. You can’t go wrong with this purchase.

Skills being learnt:

Listening
Phonics
Vocabulary building
Problem-solving
Following instructions
Matching words and pictures
Eye-hand co-ordination

KID K’NEX
Ages: 3-5 years
Price: R399 – R799
Stockists: www.timelesstoys.co.za

An unusual construction toy that works differently to Lego and Mega Blox as they are not rectangular building blocks. This click-and-connect building set has angled pieces enabling the building of unusual shapes. The Kid K’nex Junior range has chunky, colourful pieces with googly eyes for extra appeal to little ones.

Dino Dudes set R749

100 pieces
30 models to build from the instruction leaflet and more designs online
Build 3 models at the same time which means more than one child can play
Add the googly eyes to the characters you are building for extra appeal

Skills being developed:

Fine motor/eye-hand
Spatial planning
Copying
Imagination
Putting together and pulling apart
Part-whole relationships

Lots of other inter-changeable sets to choose from such as

Safari mates R269
Zoo Friends building set R399

MAGICAL TANGRAM NUMBERS AND ALPHABET
Ages: 3-10 years
Approx Price: R179
Stockists:

Lilliputs
Greenbusters
Pops Toys,
in Cape Town Toys @Pinehurst
Star Dot Toys in Hout Bay

Panda Juniors has a lovely range of magnetic educational products. Magical Tangram Numbers and Alphabet comes with the magnetic tangram pieces with which to solve the letter and number picture challenges. There are over 30 different beautifully designed challenge cards. Where there are clues, your child will place the matching shape on top. They will then have to use other shapes to complete the picture where there are blanks.

Each card has a sentence. Read it to your or your child can read it out loud to learn their phonics – the sound of the letters, such as ‘T is for Tiger. Every challenge card also has either a picture of the number or a picture of the word they are solving for to provide clues. There are a number of solutions cards where your child will be able to check that they have completed the card correctly.

If your child battles with the concept of doing a tangram, let them build using the solutions cards as a guide so that they get the hang of what to do, building their confidence as they go. This is a well-designed product with good-quality packaging at a great price.

Skills being learnt:

Spatial planning
Problem-solving
Directionality
Part-whole relationships
Eye-hand co-ordination
Fine-motor control

K’NEX building sets
Ages: 6 years to teens
Approx. price: R239 – 1 299
Stockist: www.timelesstoys.co.za

Unusual building sets that work differently to Lego and Mega Blox as they are not the standard rectangular building blocks. This click-and-connect building set has angled pieces enabling the building of unusual shapes and designs. The K’nex range has sets that include motors and gears to enable motion. Good value for money with multiple model designs in each set and additional designs to be found online.

K’Nex is great for enabling kids to experiment with cause and effect. STEAM principles (science, technology, engineering, art and maths) are in play. This product range will grow with your child from simpler models to more advanced ones. The price varies depending on the number of pieces in the set and whether there is a motor or not. Encourage your child to explore design and science. These are skills they will need in the future.

Some of the K’Nex building sets I recommend include:

K’Nexsaurus R569Beginners building set 125 pieces/10 models R239
Rad Rides building set 206 pieces/ 12 models R295
City builders set 325 pieces / 20 builds R469
Motorised creations 325 pieces / 25 builds R649
Education STEM Explorations swing rides R799
Wheels and Wings 500 pieces / 30 builds R699
Classic building set 700 pieces / 40 builds R899
Power and Play Motorised building R1 149
Thrill Rides Typhoon Frenzy Rollercoaster R1 049
Thrill Rides 3 – 1 classic Amusement Park R1 299

Skills being developed:

Fine motor control/eye-hand co-ordination (building sets with lots of small pieces for detailed design)
Spatial planning
Copying
Imagination
Putting together and pulling apart
Part-whole relationships
Experimentation

Tiger Tribe Bath Rocket
Ages: 18 mths+
Price: R479
Stockists:

Timeless Toys
Play Toys
The wooden Toy co
Little Amber Rabbit

Bathtime just got better with the Bath Rocket from Tiger Tribe. Submerge this beautifully crafted rocket in the water and then lift-off. The water will pour out of the vents in the rocket just like a space rocket. Your child will be fascinated.

All children learn how to do rocket countdowns. This is a good numeracy exercise counting backwards from 5 or 10 to lift off. Why not count forwards to 10 while submerging the rocket in the water before lift off. Add to the maths learning by counting fingers and toes. Young children need a concrete learning experience of touching real objects to be able to fully understand and appreciate quantity. You can also talk to your kids about the rocket being full of water and then after lift off it is empty. These are all concepts that kids need to learn about as well as the fact that you are showing them opposites. Another is that when the rocket is full of water, it is heavy, and then it becomes light.

The bath rocket can definitely be used as a swimming pool toy or even outside with a bucket of water on a hot day. Why not encourage your child to combine the rocket with construction toys, or transport it to the launch site on the back of a toy truck. If you think outside the box, the play possibilities are endless.

Skills:

Gross motor control (big arm movements)
Experimentation
Opposites (up and down, full and empty, heavy and light, etc)
Vocabulary
Counting

Marble Waterslide (Tiger Tribe)
Ages: 3+
Price: R425
Stockists:

Timeless Toys
Play Toys
The wooden Toy co
Little Amber Rabbit

Why not engage your child’s curiosity in the bath? This marble waterslide from Tiger Tribe consists of 21 high-quality, sturdy pieces that click together and stick on the bath or tiles with suction cups. It also includes two water wheels and three marbles. With younger children, you will build the marble run, and they will drop the marble into play, marvelling as it rolls down the various chutes. As your child gets older, they will be able to plan and build the marble run, in many different ways, to make it work.

This toy will provide hours of fun while also stimulating the STEAM skills (science, technology, engineering, art and maths). Your child will be experimenting with gravity, speed, space and distance. There will be wins and fails as they see what works. In addition to letting the marbles run down the waterslide, your child can also pour water down the slide, watching how the water turns the water wheels.

I love the fact that this bathtime toy is also a construction/building toy that will stimulate spatial planning, fine motor control and eye-hand co-ordination. A really clever, high-quality product to enhance bathtime magic.

Skills:

Fine motor control
Eye-hand co-ordination
Part-whole relationships
Analysis and synthesis
Spatial planning
Problem-solving
Experimentation
Creativity

My Pal Scout/Violet Smarty Paws
Price: Approx R850.00
Age: 6-18 months

Toyzone
Baby City
Toys R Us
Makro
Takealot
Other online e-tailers

Every child needs soft toys to cuddle and nurture. They provide a tactile way for children to self-soothe. Now they can cuddle with the lovable My Pal Scout/Violet Smarty Paws, a 30cm interactive plush that will teach first words, feelings and emotions, as well as playing lots of music as well as lullabies for bedtime soothing.

When you first unpack Scout/Violet, connect to your phone or computer to programme in your child’s name, favourite things and more, and these will find there way into what Scout says and some of the personalised songs. A really cool feature.

Press Scout’s learning ear for feeling words, animal sounds and more.

Press Scout’s musical ear to hear three personalised songs and 20+ additional songs and tunes.

Scout’s collar lights up when music plays and glows softly with lullabies. When in sleep-time mode, you can set Scout to play lullabies for 5, 10 or 15 minutes.

Make a pawful connection by creating a circuit with two people and Scout. Each person touches one of Scout’s paws with one hand and touches fingers with each other, and Scout will play music like magic!

Skills:

Listening
Talking
Memory skills
Fine motor control
Eye-hand coordination
Self-soothing

Panda Juniors About The Felt Puzzle
Price: R250.00
Age: 4 to 10
Stockist:

Lilliputs (Jhb)
GreenBusters (Jhb)
Pops Toys (Jhb)
Toys @Pinehurst (CT)
Start Dot Toys (CT)

I have such fond memories of fuzzy felt puzzles as a child. Playing with felt is a completely different sensory experience to playing with wood or plastic. Your child will make pictures with the geometric felt pieces on the felt board. The fibres of the felt ‘stick’ lightly together

There are 177 felt pieces in 9 different geometric shapes. The game comes with 40 double-sided copy cards with three levels of difficulty, which is why you can have both younger and older children playing with this game.

Another fabulous feature of this particular game is that the felt board opens up flat like a book, so two children or a parent and a child can be building their felt pictures next to each other. Don’t underestimate the importance of spending quality time playing with your child. It is the best gift you can give them!

In addition, you can also set the felt board up like an easel giving your child the opportunity to build their pictures up against gravity. There are two sides to the board in this upright position too.

The challenge cards shift from building a single object out of shapes to building an entire scene. Your child will learn how to make things out of geometric shapes. Good preparation for maths later on. There are two ways to play with the Felt Puzzle Game:

Creative free play to engage your child’s imagination
Copying pictures and patterns from the cards which is a skill that will stand them in good stead for copying from a book or the blackboard at school

Skills:

Problem-solving
Spatial planning
Part-whole relationships
Fine-motor control
Eye-hand co-ordinations
Creativity

Spotty Sausage Dogs Game
Price: R269.00
Age: 4 and up
Stockist: www.timelesstoys.co.za

Who will build the Spotty Sausage Dog with the most spots in this fun-filled game for the whole family?

Spin the spinner, find the matching card paw card, then turn it over and add it to your sausage dog. Now count the spots! The exciting and engaging gameplay is sure to hold your child’s attention game after game. The quirky, cute sausage dog characters will provide lots of laughs too! Remember, it’s not the longest sausage dog that wins the game, it’s the one with the most spots on their jumper!

A young child will also enjoy playing this game alone:

They will build all 6 sausage dogs
They will build one loooong sausage dog
Help them count all the dots

Designed for children aged 4 years + and with the opportunity to play with up to 6 players, Spotty Sausage Dogs will provide lots of fun for the whole family.

Skills being developed:

Counting all dots, counting by colour
Colours
Matching
Turn taking
Winning and losing
Following instructions

Contents:

40 sausage dog cards (6 heads, 6 tails, 28 middles)
1 spinner
7 coloured disks
1 instruction leaflet

My First MathDice®
Price: Approximately R350.00
Age: 3-7 years
Brand: Think Fun
Stockist:

There is nothing abstract about learning through play with My First Math Dice. Your child gets to see, touch and feel the actual counter chips that represent the numbers on the dice, which gives them a real understanding of quantity. Three simple games in the instruction leaflet will give you a head start. With two counting towers, this can be a one or two-player game. with children learning about matching the number on the dice to the number of actual counter chips, discovering what more than and less than looks like, as well as simple addition.

Play with My First Math Dice at home or when out on the run. It comes with its own drawstring bag making it a perfect game for taking with you when you go on holiday or spend time in a restaurant or doctor’s waiting room. Turn this time into quality time with your kids.

Three simple games that will provide a deep learning experience for your child through play:

Number Match

Each player organises the chips into groups of 1 to 5 in front of them
As they roll the dice, they collect the matching group of chips and stack them on the tower
Roll a star and collect any group of chips
If there isn’t a matching group, you don’t collect anything (winning and losing is a great concept for kids to learn)
The first player to collect all their groups of chips is the winner

More than or less than

Put all the chips in the middle of the table
Players roll their dice at the same time
The player who rolls the bigger number takes that number of chips and stacks them on the tower. If you roll the star, it represents zero.
If both players roll the same number, they both collect chips.
Play until the chips on the table run out
If you win more chips than you can stack on your tower, just pile them up on the table next to the tower
The player with the most chips wins

Add ‘em up

Place all chips in the middle of the table
Players take turns to throw both dice together.
Add up the numbers on the dice to get an answer
Collect the corresponding number of chips and place them on your tower
Play until the chips run out
The player with the most chips wins

By giving children fun experiences with numbers in the early years, you are setting them up for embracing maths at school with confidence.

Early maths skills in My First Maths Dice include:

- One-to-one correspondence (the objects – the counter chips match the number on the dice)
- More than/less than
- The concept of zero or nothing
- Number recognition of 0 – 5
- Addition up to 10 (this is the foundation of all maths)

Mindware Marble Circuit Junior Solo Game
Price: R599.00
Age: 4 and up
Stockist:

It’s the multi-directional marble maze with 64 puzzle challenges!

Choose a challenge card and place the multi-directional tiles on the board in the right places to enable the marbles to run. You will have to work it out and turn your pieces this way and that way to create a continuous pathway. Release the steel marbles to see if they land in the right place. If you’re off base, keep moving the tiles until your marble circuits deliver a picture-perfect landing!

Marble Circuit Junior is a single-player brain game of logic and strategy. It’s pretty addictive too and will be enjoyed by children and adults alike as the challenge cards are graded in difficulty.

If your child battles with getting started, let them begin with the solution side of the challenge cards. Once they get the hang of this, they can start working from the challenge side.

Skills being developed:

Problem solving
Spatial planning
Logic (higher order cognitive skills)
Cause and effect
Eye-hand co-ordination
Fine-motor control

Contents:

Includes game board, 64 puzzle cards, 10 multi-directional tiles, 8 steel marbles and instructions

Mindware Marble Circuit Solo Game
Price: R699.00
Age: 8 and up
Stockists:

It’s the multi-directional marble maze with 64 puzzle challenges!

Marble Circuit Solo Game is a single-player brain game of logic and strategy (more challenging than the junior version). It’s pretty addictive too and will be enjoyed by children and adults alike as the challenge cards are graded in difficulty.

If your child battles with getting started, let them begin with the solution side of the challenge cards. Once they get the hang of this, they can start working from the challenge side.

Skills being developed:

Problem solving
Spatial planning
Logic (higher order cognitive skills)
Cause and effect
Eye-hand co-ordination
Fine-motor control

Contents:

Includes game board, 64 puzzle cards, 10 multi-directional tiles, 8 steel marbles and instructions

Q-Ba-Maze
Price: R1 999.00
Age: 5 to 15 years
Stockist: www.sugardots.co.za
702 Interview

The Q-Ba-Maze range is a unique system of colourful cubes that interlock to form a marble run. A construction toy and a marble run all in one! This amazing range consists of over 8 products priced from R699.00 – R4 999.00. All Q-BA-MAZE kits are compatible with one another.

What’s the big difference with other construction toys? You can create marble maze sculptures in the form of animals, geometric shapes or whatever design you want! The colours are also simply amazing!

Challenge your child’s spatial skills with hours of continuous play. Configurations are unlimited – one of the reasons I love this range. Experimenting with gravity, speed and direction will fascinate your child as different routes are created.

Your child can follow the instruction booklet for ideas and to strengthen their copy skills, or engage their own inner creativity to build whatever they can imagine.

It’s a live demonstration of probability, physics and art all in one! Cubes are made from phthalate-free and BPA-free ABS plastic. Marbles are nickle-plated steel balls. They are not magnets.

Skills being developed:

Problem-solving
Spatial planning
Doing hard things
Experimentation
Physics
Concrete problem-solving as a precursor to abstract problem-solving
Fine-motor control
Eye-hand co-ordination
Part-whole relationships
Proprioception
Creativity

Mindware Q-Ba0Maze 2.0 Big Box Set
Price: R1149.00
Age: 5 and up
Stockist: www.sugardots.co.za
702 Interview

Q-BA-MAZE is a unique system of colourful cubes that interlock to form exciting marble runs. The configurations are unlimited! Build shapes like flowers, fish or dinosaurs!

Challenge your child’s spatial skills with hours of continuous play. All Q-BA-Maze kits are compatible.

This kit includes:
The fun-sized Q-BA-Maze Big Box set features 72 cubes with 3 types of exits and 20 steel marbles! It’s a variety set great for hours of entertainment without too many parts to overwhelm younger builders. Double-exit cubes allow for several different pathways in one construction.

This Big Box Set is just one of five different Q-BA-MAZE 2.0 builder sets—check them all out!

Your child can follow the instruction booklet for ideas and to strengthen their copy skills, or engage their own inner creativity to build whatever they can imagine.

It’s a live demonstration of probability, physics and art all in one! Cubes are made from phthalate-free and BPA-free ABS plastic. Marbles are nickle-plated steel balls. They are not magnets.

Encourages imaginative thinking, STEAM skills and cooperative play
• Follow the step-by-step directions or experiment with your own original creations
• Well-crafted and durable pieces are made from phthalate-free and BPA-free ABS plastic
• Double exit cubes allow for several different pathways!
• Marbles are nickel-plated steel balls. They are not magnets.

Skills being developed:

Problem-solving
Spatial planning
Doing hard things
Experimentation
Physics
Concrete problem-solving as a precursor to abstract problem-solving
Fine-motor control
Eye-hand co-ordination
Part-whole relationships
Proprioception
Creativity

Story Time Chess
Price: R899.00
Age: 3 – 99yrs / 2 – 4 players / 20 mins
Stockist: www.timelesstoys.co.za
702 Interview

The benefits of learning chess for children
Strategy, planning
Working memory
Maths etc.

Introducing Story Time Chess – a revolutionary new game that lets you teach your child how to play chess as young as the age of 3!

Story Time Chess is a board game that teaches chess to young children using silly stories, vibrant illustrations, custom chess pieces, and a unique chess board. The stories and supporting materials communicate the rules of chess to children ages 3 and up in a way that makes learning chess simple and fun. Best of all, no chess experience is required for parents or children to learn.

By both seeing the characters and touching the pieces, kids can make the connection about how the pieces move and why. The double-sided chess board and custom chess pieces are made from high-quality, child-friendly materials. They’re also regulation size for tournament play. Players can either use the story-themed side with all of the characters or the standard chess side for regular chess.

Learning chess has so many benefits for children, including increased test scores, stronger critical thinking skills, an ability to plan ahead, improved executive functions, and so much more.

Contents:

Story Time Chess Instructions
Standard Chess instructions
1 Double-sided chessboard (Story Side and Standard Side)
1 Set of custom Chess pieces- 16 white, 16 black
32 Character Cutouts- 16 Team Chomper and 16 Team Shaky
1 Storybook
30 Crown Tokens- 15 Pizza Tokens and 15 Jewel Tokens
1 Crown Card game mat
30 Crown cards

Story Time Chess has won multiple awards, including Parent’s Choice Toy of the Year 2021 to Time’s Greatest Inventions of 2021! Order today and enjoy free delivery from Timeless Toys.

Teeter Popper Pink
Price: R1 359.00
Stockist: www.timelesstoys.co.za
Age: 3 – 10 years of age

Teeter Popper (Fat Brain Toys)

Comes in pink with green poppers or blue with green poppers, green with blue

A unique instrument for sensory play… how it’s used is up to the kids! They can:

Wobble, stand, sit, kneel, rock
Make it pop every time they rock on it which kids find so satisfying
Use their curiosity to play with the Teeter Topper through movement
Physical exploration of how to use forces of the body to balance

There are unlimited ways to play with the Teeter Topper. Also a very good therapeutic toy for children with ADHD and autism.

Skills being developed:

Core strength
Balance
Gross motor skills
Proprioception
Sensory stimulation, including auditory (popping)

Specifications:

Colours: Pink with green suction cups, green with blue suction cups, blue with green suction cups
Dimensions: 71cm x 29cm x 19cm
Weight limit: 50kg

About Author

Nikki Bush

Nikki Bush has long been regarded as a sane voice in a world full of confusing opinions and choices when it comes to child development and parenting. She founded Toy Talk® 12 years ago to provide parents with trusted, independent opinion when it comes to the toys and games they buy for their children.