Little Tikes Pretend Play Toys at Asda.

I am a huge advocate of the importance of imaginative play for a child’s learning and development.  I believe it is important that children are provided environments and toys that allow them to role play and express their imaginations.   

Bug loves role play; he especially loves playing kitchen and house, expressing his imagination as he plays with his wooden kitchen filled with accessories and his playhouse that is home to his baby doll and teddies who love joining him for the tea parties he hosts. 

Even though Bug’s imagination sparks regardless of whether he has a role playing toy to hand as he often pretends objects represents something else, for example pretending the TV remote is a car giving it action and motion as if it was the racing care he imagines it is, we are huge fans of toys that encourage imaginative and pretend play.

As we love pretend play toys I was delighted to hear that Asda stock a large range of Little Tikes pretend play toys.  Asda kindly sent Bug two Little Tikes pretend play toys that would encourage him to bring pretend play to life and express his imagination as he learns whilst playing and having lots of fun.

Little Tikes Popstars Microphone.

The Little Tikes Popstars Microphone is a durable, plastic microphone for children aged 3+ years that features tunes and flashing lights.  As well as featuring a flashing lights button and a melody button for tunes to blast out the microphone the Little Tikes Popstars Microphone also feature a Sound Effect button, a Voice Change button and a Talking button.  Requiring 3 x AAA batteries to work, the microphone also features an ON/OFF switch.

The microphone is the perfect toy for little ones who like Bug love music allowing them to sing their little hearts out as they pretend to be a popstar singing to an admiring crowd.  Even though the microphone may not have music studio sound quality Bug has loved playing with the microphone dancing around the room as he sings into his microphone.  Bug is particularly amused by the funky Sound Effect button and the Voice Change button that changes his voice to sound weird and wacky.

Not only is the microphone a fun pretend play toy that encourages imagination, I think it is also a great toy to encourage and help develop language skills in children as they babble, talk and sing into the microphone.

The Little Tikes Popstars Microphone is available exclusively at Asda for the bargain price of £6.

Little Tikes Mini Mechanic Set.

The Little Tikes Mini Mechanic Set consists of –

*  1 aeroplane

*  1 submarine

*  1 power screwdriver

*  1 manual screwdriver

*  3 different drill bits

*  Spare screws

The Mini Mechanic Set is a multi-play toy as children can use their imagination as they play with the two action toys, the aeroplane and the submarine, as well as use the screwdrivers and drill bits to dismantle and build the vehicles. 

Both the aeroplane and the submarine are robust toys that would easily withstand lots of flying, driving, banging and clattering as they are played with.  The vehicles are great interactive toys perfect for imaginative play.  Not only can children pretend to fly the aeroplane in the air but they can also practise taking-off and landing the aeroplane by rolling it along the ground on its wheels.  When children roll the aeroplane on the ground it becomes a play of action with the wings flapping up and down.

The power screwdriver is battery operated, requiring 2 x AA batteries to work which are included so that little ones can play straight away.  The power screwdriver is multi-directional allowing children to take apart the aeroplane and submarine and then flip the direction switch to drill the screws back in place as they put the aeroplane and submarine back together again.

The screws for the aeroplane are red whilst the screws for the submarine are blue, with the screws for both the aeroplane and the submarine being quite big they are not too small for children to find them fiddly especially when handling them as they take them out or put them in the vehicles.  The grooves in the screws are also deep and the screwdriver slots into them well allowing for children to get a good grip for screwing which prevents slipping as they screw making it easy and enjoyable for children to dismantle and build the vehicle.

For parents concerned with safety the screwdriver bits are blunt making risk of serious injury less likely and the individual pieces of the vehicles when dismantled are not too small.

As Bug loves any form of transport and is currently fascinated with fixing cars he was delighted with the set and loves using the manual and the power screwdriver to be a mechanic as he dismantles and builds the vehicles again and again being mesmerised with drilling the screws in and out, often calling on mummy to be his assistant mechanic.

The Mini Mechanic set is a great toy for imaginative, pretend play and as it is a practical, hands-on toy it is great for developing children’s hand eye coordination, fine motor skills and improving their patience as they focus their minds on the puzzle of dismantling and then reassembling the vehicles.

The only downside of the set is that I can see that it would be easy to misplace one of the screws, drill bits or screwdrivers.  It would be a great addition to the set if it came with a tool box to store the spare screws, drill bits and the screwdrivers safely and ready to hand for when a mini mechanic is needed to rush into action to fix the aeroplane and submarine.

The Little Tikes Mini Mechanic set is available at Asda for £15 which is good value for money for a multi-play toy that is of high quality and provides lots of fun for little ones.

There are lots of other Little Tikes pretend play toys available at Asda which are perfect for imaginative, fun play for little ones.

*  Asda kindly sent us the Little Tikes Popstars Microphone and Little Tikes Mini Mechanic set to review for free, despite this I have written an honest review that contains my own words and opinions as well as the opinions of the master tester Bug *