I’m a big lover of wooden toys, and as Ameli gets a little older, I’m hoping we’ll be able to build up a great collection of wooden playthings for her.
We were recently offered a few items from the Wooden Toyshop, which included the Food Groups set from Melissa and Doug and a green shopping bag from BigJigs.
While the shopping basket from BigJigs is lovely, it is much smaller than I anticipated. It’s still big enough for playfood, but is a playbag. It has a wooden frame, and the material part is collapsible, so it is easy to pack away, and easy to pop in my handbag if we’re out and she gets tired of carrying it. It really is a lovely little bag, and is well made and I love the idea of introducing the use of reusable bags at an early age.
The Food Groups set from Melissa and Doug is lovely. There are four ‘crates’ like you’d find at a farmers market and in them are foods in four categories: breads, red and white meats, dairy and eggs, and fruit and vegetables. There are nineteen foods in the set, which I thought was quite good value for money.
It was really great saying all the names to her as we unpacked them, and within a week Ameli was saying them back to me, so I have found it to be really educational too. It’s been really great watching her play with these, and she will pick a few at a time, and walk around with them all day.
For example, there’s an egg which splits in two so you can see the egg yolk (kind of like a hardboiled egg) and for some or other reason, Ameli will walk around with it and randomly and repeatedly say “Eggâ€. It’s amusing.
Made of wood, I’m happier for her to ‘pretend eat’ these than the plastic set she had for a while, and they don’t become dented or show toothmarks – although after a lot of dropping and knocking there are a few bits that have lost paint, but that’s normal for painted wood.
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The Wooden Toyshop have offered Diary of a First Child readers a chance to win the Food Groups set from Melissa and Doug and a shopping bag from BigJigs. To stand a chance to win, leave a comment below telling me about your favourite childhood toy.
The competition closes on the 11th of July, and the winner will be drawn randomly using Random.org.
You can follow Wooden Toyshop and Diary of a First Child on Facebook. If you do, be sure to let them know I sent you, and leave a comment below to tell me you have. Â (They’re having a fantastic competition to win a dolls house in July. Follow on Facebook to find out more!)
The winner is Lisa Day
You do not have to tweet or share this competition to enter, but doing so helps ensure that I can keep bringing you giveaways! You can subscribe to Diary of a First Child by RSS or email. You can also follow us on Facebook or on Twitter. We hope to see you back again soon!
I just wanted to say a big thank you for my prize.I recieved it and it’s fantastic,providing hours of fun and a great learning toy too.It’s a great set and a lovely printed bag too.I made some pretend money so as we can play supermarkets and it’s now Rachel’s favourite toy by far.It was a lovely surprise to win and i’m really pleased with the prize.
Thank you once again
Lisa
My favourite toy was my (fisher price)little people tree house. I thought it was amazing with its lift and rooms you could turn round, dog house and swing. It’s really nice to know that little people are still going (although altered a bit since my day lol) my sons have a few sets and they love theirs as much as i did! xx
I commented on Wooden Toyshop FB page
My simba and my shaky bear are (still) my fave childhood toy
Mine was a doodle dog that you could write on and then wash and start all over again.
Mine was Barbi doll
My roller skates were my favourite, I kept them on my feet from getting home from school til I went to bed lol.
@srobbo71
I think mine would have been my dolls house and the “bendy people” that lived in it!
I adored my Sindy dolls and Sindy house in the 80s. I thought she was much more attractive than Barbie until they changed her head!
So many favourites over the years of my childhood…. but Sindy dolls were probably the most played with. I remember going to the topshop to choose new Sindy outfits for my birthday presents.
my favorite toy was the glow worm i had a collection of them i use to love it when the lights got turned off and they would glow in the dark x
Barbie
skipping rope
My matchbox garage or my r2d2 robot!
I loved my Lego and big yellow Tonka toys (bit of a tomboy) and also my Pippa doll but my favourite “toys” were my books – I was addicted to reading and still am!
A DOLL WITH REAL HAIR
my favourite toy was a skipping rope
My fave toy was polly pocket
My favourite was a toy post office.
Had to be my carebear
My facourite was my Hornby train set. Had miles of track!
my favourite toy was the tree tots tree house!! had hours of fun with this even had a little house for the dog!! still have it and my 3 year old loves it!!
I loved Legos so much when I was a child!
It was My Little Pony!!!
I follow diary of a first child on facebook
I follow wooden toyshop on facebook
Sindy dolls
Tonka toys and lego
My favourite toy was Tiny Tears I Still have her sitting on my bedroom window sill
My favourite was my baby doll called Rosebud.
My Favourite childhood toy had tobe my skates i used to love them!They used to just go over the top of my shoes and expand with your feet as you grew! They were yellow and blue and i used to always have them on my feet doing dancing shows for my mum at the front and even getting my friends to do some with me lol I used to have so much fun! Cant wait to get my little girl her first pair of skates : )
My sylvanian mansion !
My favourite was definately Lego, my brother and I spent hours and hours playing with it. Designing our dream house, dream car, etc
Has to be the spinning top, played for hours with it
Dog on wheels
definately a pogo stck 🙂
a wooden pull along horse, i had hours of fun with it!
MY best toy was my sylvanian families set
Tippy Tumbles was my favourite.
i loved my farmyard set
I had a Holly Hobby Rag Doll which I loved for years.
now following wooden toy box on facebook
follow diary of a first child on facebook
i loved being outside as a child so anything outdoors but favourite toy was probably a teddy that i still have today
Following wooden toyshop on facebook too! 🙂 x
Following Diary of a First Child on FB. 🙂 x
My favourite toy was my brothers scalextric! 🙂
A small, rather strange looking, orange teddy (which I still have all these years later!)
I was a proper tomboy and my favourite toy was my lime green and yellow Chopper bike!
My favourite toy was my Big Yellow Teapot!
My favourite toy was Tiny Tears … and i only got rid of her a few weeks ago !
A big bag of shells from the beach – they were play money, used to create the outlines of pretend houses and vehicles, created collages, the list goes on – endless hours of fun.
My favourite toy was a baby doll named Tommy, I still have him and my son plays with him now even though he’s a bit worse for wear (I was severely traumatised by Jesse’s song in Toy Story so I’m really glad Tommy is played with again!)
Meccano
Has to be a garden cane, some string and sticks I’d find, to make a bow and arrow set 🙂
Mousetrap! I adored playing it, holding your breath for fear the trap would spring on its own, great memories
My favourite toy was definately my Barbie Doll x
I loved my cabbage patch, Mandy. I have now passed it onto my daughter.
My favourite toy was my Kermit the frog toy – I loved him so much!
My favourite was a blue car which you had to keep dragging backwards and then let go!
My favourite toy was Knex!
Scalectrix
my favoutite toy was my scaletrix set – always was a tomboy!!
I had a big bear which i use to call CHUBBY bear,I spent hours playing with and cuddling him.I still have CHUBBY to this day my little boy has taken a shining to him and also loves to cuddle him.Not the most expensive toy in the world but he was all mine 🙂
I loved my My Little Pony Show Stable! I had lots of My Little Ponies and played with them all the time – plaiting their tails etc! I had all the accessories!
I had a play post office which I loved!
A whip & top
A rag doll clown called Walter!
My favourite toy was a teddy bear called Ted. Over the years his fur rubbed away and his eyes fell out (my mum replaced them with buttons) but he still has pride of place on my bedroom dressing table.
My favourite toy was a tatty rag doll…I loved it to bits!
My favourite childhood toy was a scruffy teddy bear called Joanna.
Barbie
Fvourite toy was a big box of goodies in my Aunt Edith’s understairs cupboard. The box had plasticine, jigsaws, books and a huge tin of buttons.
Aunty showed us how to make pictures with the buttons. She taught us to play with things that had very little value. Very different from today’s children.
My favourite to was BABYTALK, it was amazing it used to say the same thing over again like ‘I Love you’.
action man
My doll’s house. I loved it so much and played with it all the time – now the little people have hairbands holding their trousers up as they’ve been so well loved they needed some help! I can’t wait until my little girl is old enough to play with it too!!
My favourite was a mattel toy called a “talk up doll. it’s head was fastened to a string and when pulled said phases such as”Whoops! I lost my head for a moment!”
My favourite toy was a soft black panther..I used to take him everywhere with me
My favorite Toys was my dolls house
My favourite toy was my Barbie doll.
My favourite toy as a child was my beloved doll which I called Becky-Sue, she’d cry and when you tapped her back she’s stop and coo instead!
Jacks. Hours of fun playing with then
my favourite toy was a smurf cuddly toy. the girl one lol.
my favourite toy was my bike. I enjoyed the freedom of jumping on it even back then.
My favourite toy was the teddybear knitted for me by my grandmother who was called Alice Poole. My bear was called Paul (Poole) and my twin sister’s was called Alice.
I had a lovely little stuffed dog, I suppose the nearest “real” dog bread would be a yorkshire terrier if it was almost bald!! It was given to me when I must have been about 3 1/2 by a friend of my Nanna and she had had it when she was a little girl. I used to take Bozo every where with me. Mum used to meet me from school with hm as she wouldn’t let me take him into school. I still have him and he sits in pride of place on my bed whilst I’m around, one day I’d like to pass him onto one of my future grandchildren when they are old enough to care for him and love him the way I do.
My favourite toys were He-Man figures! I was such a tomboy!
my favourite toy was a little plastic seal called wee-wee (cause he went weee-weee! in the water) he used to be flocked (like sylvanians) but of course, he went in the bath and all the fur came off. i still have him. (:
My favourite childhood toy has to be a beautiful green hippo made from a smooth velvety material. I loved it to bits and it was so big I used it as a pillow. The googly eyes came loose and I tried to fix them when I was about 7 so they looked hysterically bad, he gained a few other battle scars where I ‘fixed’ splits in the seams but was always with me!
my favourite toy was my little people – I used to have hours of fun and kept them all for my children to play with – I love seeing my daughter playing with the same toys that I had so much fun with.
My favourite toy was my Sunshine Bear who I still have packed away even now.
It was a typewriter! Geeky, I know but I wanted to be a writer 🙂 @pipersky1
have liked on facebook
my fave toy was a doll called bunty i took her every where with me :o)
my lego, i used to have hours of fun building tractors and farm buildings with my brother
mine was my playmobile. I had hours of fun.
my favourite toy was my bike. I enjoyed the freedom of jumping on it even back then.
I used to love playing with Sylvanian families. I tried to collect as much as i could using my pocket money and for Christmas and Birthdays, but realise now, just how expensive they are, so i was really lucky to have so many to play with.
My fav toy was my major morgan,I use to run around dialing out terrible tunes on it all over the house.I had my Major Morgan in one hand and a spud gun in the other lol
My fav toy was my rocking horse.
A doll, I still have it, my daughter plays with it at her grandmas
please could you delete one of my posts as ive already entered the comp once sorry about that i forgot x
following you both on facebook x
my favourite toy was my doll and pram
my favourite toy as a child was a looby lou rag doll. my sister had the red and white doll and i had the blue and white doll, they had candystriped legs and blonde hair.I have a daughter now and her name is Louise, her nickname is Looby!!!
my favorite doll was a cabbage patch doll i loved it so much
a ragdoll
My favourite toy was my Tiny Tears- there was something rather magical about feeding her real water and then seeing her…..wee!!
My favourite toy was my dolls house, which I would collect furniture for, wall paper, paint and recarpet. There was lots of small toys and dolls that would play in the house and sometimes would misbehave and break the furniture. I also had a farm that I put next to the house where I’d put straw and water for the animals 🙂
My favourite toy was a duplo train set, loads of trains, huge amount of tracks, a level crossing, small platform & a little controller man! what else do you need! hours of fun!
My favourite toy was a teddybear called Ronnie.
A wooden buzzy bee!
My favourite toy was a spanish doll about 2ft high with a beautiful red spanish dress that i got one christmas must of been about 6 years old at the time. Thats one christmas thats always fresh in my mind.
My favourite toy was blocks.
My favourite toy was a dolls house, not what you might think however, it was four cardboard boxes glued together and I used to wallpaper the insides and use old pieces of carpet for the flooring. I loved that dolls house had hours and hours of fun with it – I do wonder whatever happened to it tho, it could now be a family heirloom what with the 70s wallpaper that is now back in vogue.
Bumblelion – the most awesome teddy ever. Oddly, it was a mixture of a lion and a bee and it’s been with me since I was a newborn baby. Perfect memories 🙂
I had a little wooden dog that you pulled along on a string and it made a raspy noise that was supposed to sound like a bark. I loved it.
My favourite childhood toy was my Sindy house which my dad made for me out of wood and he put green carpet on the top to make a rooftop garden – how cool?
Wish I still had it for my daughter.
My favourite toy was my Tiny Tears doll.
My favourite toy (if it counts as a toy) was a brilliant wigwam my aunt made for my brother and I using my old duvet cover. We both loved it and played in it constantly.
A one eyed, mottled, smelly teddy who I loved with all my heart!
My dolls house I loved it!
my fav toy was an elephant, he was so squashy, I carted him everywhere for years, he was large, so when we went on holiday,naturally he had to go too! so we had to take a suitcase just for him to fit in!
he was bought for me on a holiday in Blackpool, money was tight and I saw him in a shop window, but thought he would be too expensive. My Dad secretly went back to the shop and bought him!
I was so surprised and so happy and he certainly was well loved and well worn!
My favourite toy was my life size bugs bunny.
And can you please delete the post showing my email.
Thanks 🙂
My farm set was my fave toy
My favourite toy was my life size bugs bunny.
My favourite toy wsa my dolls house i was always making little chest of drawers out of matchboxes and bedclothes out of scraps of fabric.
My favourite toy was my ‘Whippersnapper’ train set. A cheap plastic toy train set. Loved it to bits. was such a tomboy!
My favourite toy when I was younger was in the shape of a tree,it was the Family Tree House that I loved and still remember playing with it now.
I loved to play Mastermind – the computerised version doesn’t quite have the same feel as the original
I don’t really remember – babies i think or dolls of any sorts
i loved my sindy hairdryer that actually worked 🙂
I’m afraid I was a typical Barbie girl.
My favourite was Baby Alive it use to drink and eat it use to make a right mess, I suppose gave me basic training for the ones.
@MrsPmt
Cabbage Patch Kid Dolls. I loved them
I loved Meccano too!
My teddy bear given to me by my much missed god mother. I called him Christmas as he was given to me at Christmas (how original lol) I still have him now and he sits in my kids room to keep an eye on them 🙂
Will share and tweet for you @Wendy Collard x
Liked you both on Facebook and commented
@littleboo_21
I loved my Barbie dolls, especially the Barbie campervan
@littleboo_21
my barbies
Hi 🙂
I used to have a Rainbow Brite soft bodied doll that I loved the rainbows off ! I used to try and model myself on her and everything .I told my mum I wanted to be Rainbow Brite when I was older ….but instead I’m a mummy of 4 that has passed on my love of her to my gorgeous pixie moos 😀 x
My favourite toy was duplo
as a child i loved mecano, but Jacob my great gran son loves lego
My favourite was a fluffy dog – so hairy you couldn’t see his eyes – a bit like the Dulux dog.
My favourite toy was my tiny tears doll.
My favourite toy was a walking doll which must have been ever so expensive to buy. Still have it today but the mechanism for walking has completely broken.
My fav toy was my Cindy doll – a poor girls Barbie.
My favorite toy was my dolls house, i still have it up the loft. Hopefully when my little girl is older she will play with it too!
my favourite toy was my cars!
My favourite toys were jigsaw puzzles – I loved them and still do!
my favourite toy was an old paper theatre with paper puppets on sticks!
My favourite toy was my Playmobile hospital set. I loved it so much x
Thanks for the great giveaway
@medsdemon
My favourite toy was Sylvanian families.I had a whole town set up and my fox family used to live under our christmas tree as their were four base sections so ideal for seperate rooms.There was so much you could do with them and the furniture and items were so detailed.It was excellently made and good quaility also the toilet used to actually make a flushing noise.
@Lisa Day, Congratulations on winning this set from the Wooden Toyshop!
Thank you very much that’s excellent news and i’m really pleased 🙂
my favourite childhood toy was a dolls pram,which I loved so much, that I bought a full size version when I had my Baby,- I was proud as a peacock!!
My favourite toy was Lego and I’m glad I never got rid of it as now my son plays with it!
My favourite childhood toy was my Girls World, although I always really wanted my next door neighbours Evil Kinevel wind up toy.
I think Sindy was my favourite toy for a long time. I had a horse to go with it, and I loved them both
I was also a big fan of the Big Yellow Teapot – ours was a “hand me down” and I remember playing with it loads – especially if I’d been sent to my room for being naughty, by the time I was given permission to come out again I was too engrossed in playing with it haha.
A doll my grandmother made out of crochet for me.
My favourite toy was that Yellow Teapot house that everyone had – it had little people, furniture & a car…loved it!
@Isis1981uk
i love my Sindy doll and had a large array of clothes and accessories i would spend hours dressing her up in. I also had a camping set for her and used to love setting up her tent in the garden, great memories x
my barbies
My favourite toy (well I had two actually) was Major Morgan and my speak and spell. Major Morgan was majorly irritating and as a child I was well aware of this – as too were my parents (he he he)
Speak and spell – well that was a different toy altogether. I remember overhearing the odd word that I shouldn’t have and trying to spell it. Speak and spell wasn’t quiet when it came to repeating it. It did stay quiet whilst I got a huge telling off though.
My favourite toy – lego
tiny Tears
Sindy House !
I remember it being bigger than me.
It had a lovely purple toilet mat with tassels . Teenie little silver spoons with the dinner set . I so wanted the real crackling Sindy fire place but never got it…Sob sniff blubb.
The first toy I remember is wooden blocks in red, blue, yellow, green and raw wood all stored in a large cardboard box. I used to spend hours blocking my brother’s bedroom doorway with the box, piling the blocks on top and playing shopkeeper by selling them as bread, milk and butter to any family member who passed. I don’t think we were ever bothered by having toys or not as we had the woods and the fields and the haystacks. We need to bring back childhood, children nowadays are severely deprived!
my favourite was my lights alive!!
It is hard to choose just one as I had different favourites at different ages, but my
Favourite childhood toy was probably my bicycle, if that counts as a toy! I used to ride it everywhere!
A red plastic pram that I carried a load of soil and worms around in!
@cheepcheepcheep
I had hte heart family doll set, it was a canadian vwrsoionof ken and barbie, loved it,my brother also loved it but he prefered to pull the heads off!
Liked both Wooden toy shop and Diary of a first child on facebook. 🙂
I loved my doll, it was a boy and had boys bits which was fairly new back then. I made sure to show everyone too!
My favourite toy as a child was my Sindy stuff. I had lots of furniture but no house as they didn’t make one for Sindy so my dad made one for me.
I am following Wooden Toyshop and Diary of a First Child on Facebook
My favourite toy was a teddy bear
my favourite toy when i was little was a 4ft tall rupert bear stuffed toy, i adored him 🙂
following on facebook and have tweeted too 🙂
@clareandtribe
Marbles were my thing, we used to play marbles at school and I got quite good in the end and built up a nice collection. I’ve passed them on to my daughter now, but she doesn’t seem quite so impressed!
My favourite toy was a mat with the layout of a town on it and my toy cars (ever the tomboy). I’d spend hours playing with them!
My favourite toy when I was little was my dolls house – my uncle made it for me and my sister, it was an exact replica of our house with real working lights – it was awesome!
Following on Facebook and tweeted @glitterbaby40
My favourite toy was a box of mathematical shapes that was my Mum’s (she was a Maths teacher!) – complicated things like a dodecahedron and a pyramid! I used to spend hours playing with them, although they were impossible to stack one on top of the other!
I always loved drawing and painting, so those were my favourite things, or anything arty or crafty. Loved my Lego too. Still do, and luckily my little granddaughter lets me play with her Duplo!
I follow Wooden Toyshop and Diary of a First Child on Facebook. I also let them know you sent me. (@pandcands)
I don’t remember toys, but do remember I was obsessed with books. (@pandcands)
These look fab, I was just thinking about getting Chloe a play kitchen for her birthday soon!
Mine was a ride on Lamb/walker, I’d spend ages trying to get teddies to stay sitting on the Lamb whilst I pushed it or so my nan says!!
@Fluffy_Mummy
I loved my Cabbage Patch dolls….such a product of the 80s! 🙂
Follow you on facebook already and will have a look at the wooden Toy Shop and follow them if I like what I see! (which I most likely will as I love wooden toys too) -makes me nostalgic.
My favourites were Sylvanian families! I loved them
I like you both on Facebook too 🙂
I loved my Barbies when I was younger. They had more clothes than I could dress them in, a McDonalds drive thru, a car and a house. I used to spend hours playing with them!
My favorite toy was Tinker Toys!
PS Am following on FB
My favourite childhood toy was the original Fisher Price figures. We had loads of it. I could set up a town and play with it for hours. Such a shame they changed the design. Still brings a smile to my face everytime I see some classic Fisher Price at a bootsale or church hall 😉
following you both on facebook my favourite toy when i was little was my dolls x
I am following you both on FB. My favorite toy was a little stuffed leopard that I named Lickety Split 🙂
I liked blocks 🙂
My fav was a big red toy post office counter. 🙂
this is a great giveaway, would love to win this for my daughter. My favourite toy was my doll!
I have so many great memories of my toys like My Little Ponies, Care Bears, Rainbow Brite but one of my favourites was my A La Carte Kitchen, my mum said it was sold out eveywhere and took her ages to get it!
My favourite childhood toy was a wooden crockodile 🙂
My favourite childhood toy was probably my chemistry set!
A Strawberry Shortcake doll..when you squeezed its belly a strawberry smell blew out its mouth.
A purple my little pony 🙂
I already follow Wooden Toyshop and Diary of a First Child on Facebook
katherine sara grieve
BIG YELLOW TEAPOT 🙂