Our deep love for toys

I have always had a deep love for toys that goes beyond the actual idea of having something to play with. It is more the idea that toys bring such joy to the individuals receiving them.

They are catalysts for creating stories, playing make-believe, building on ideas and developing a child both mentally and physically.

The sad thing is that many toy manufacturers have jumped onto the money-making toy bandwagon to produce inferior, not to mention dangerous, and unreliable toys.

The heart sinks when you give your child a toy to play with and it stops working after one play session! #tearsandtissues

I am very selective about the toys I give to my kids and my preference is always wooden toys for a variety of reasons. But when I give them a plastic toy, my first choice will always be from Fisher-Price.

As a child, my well-loved toys were from Fisher-Price (Remember the farm with the barn doors that opened?

Or the till that you inserted the coloured plastic coins into?

What about the record player that used the brightly coloured records?).

The happy memories that were created by playing with those toys also created brand loyalty and a trust in Fisher-Price.

The quality was and always has been excellent and the highest safety standards have been adhered to.

For example, all their toys are tied down to the packaging using very large plastic disks that you have to unscrew to release the product. This prevents any #safetyhazard caused by odd pieces of plastic your child might choke on.

Also, all their children toys are non-toxic so your child can safely bite or chew on them. The battery cover has to be unscrewed in order to insert and secure the batteries.

Most of their toys can grow with your child depending on their age by offering stage 1, 2 and 3 settings, with increasingly advanced features and settings.

As a parent, I appreciate the amount of research and development (R&D) Fisher-Price puts into all their products.

This includes focus groups where they watch children play with their toys in their R&D centre in the USA.

In fact, I hope to one day visit this centre and see for myself just how Fisher-Price develops their toys. Even their simplest cute and cuddly toys have changed to suit the trend and developments in colour, sound, pattern, texture and, of course, technology.

You can find one of our reviews on a favourite new Fisher-Price toy here.