We are a family on the go

And wherever we go the children like to play

William will often take trains

Esther fairies and ponies

It is nice when we go out

Or go away

To have something new to discover

And play

I like to buy surprises for the children

That link to the places that we go

When we went Coombe Mill

Back in April 2015

I took both Esther and William

A new toy in a tin

From the rather fabulous The Wooden Play Den

Esther had a farm

And William a fishing port

I have to be honest

William has shown no interest in either set

But Esther adores them both

And I think that

Farm in a Tin

and

Fishing Port in a Tin

Are perfectly portable travel toys

Totally topical for farm visits

Or trips to the sea

These miniature sets are perfect for small world play

Super for storytelling

And make great gifts for family and friends

For any children aged 4 and over

The intricacy and delicacy of the sets

Definitely appeals more to Esther than to William

She loves to arrange the sets

She acts out stories

Bringing the scenes to life

We have also used the pieces as stencils

For drawing around, labelling and colouring

These toys in a tin offer

Lots of potential for imaginative and creative play

As do many of the toys available from The Wooden Play Den

When we were at Coombe Mill

Esther used to use the farm set

To act out her own version of The Feed Run

She loved setting out all the pieces

And acting out in this mini play world

The things that we had done on the farm each day

We have also used the set to act out some of our favourite farm stories

And to accompany some of our best loved rhymes and songs

These complete scenes in tins are also great accessories

For making animated films

Which we love to do using Zu3D on the iPad

The wooden pieces are beautifully made

And painted beautifully with lots of little details

They are great for budding photographers

To arrange and capture on film

The fishing village set

We love to talk about together

We always talk about naughty seagulls

In Mousehole and Polperrro

We have encountered greedy gulls

Trying to pinch our picnics

And we also know them from the stories of

The Lighthouse Keeper

I think there are ways to engage William with these toys

Using train track to connect the farm to the port

Talking about transporting goods to and fro by train

Linking the tins to stories and sharing the books together

Adding the sets to a messy or sensory small world experience

But he certainly has not got as much from the sets as Esther thus far

Esther is much more still and focused than William

She will find a quiet corner to set up and play

And then she will immerse herself in her imaginary world

These beautiful wooden toys in tins

Are perfect for traditional imaginative

Small world play

And the tins make them perfect for taking away

On holiday or to the homes of family and friends

They are also great for restaurants as along with the wooden pieces

The tin contains a play mat

Which means that the noise from the wooden set is softened by the felt

A lovely toy for travelling

A perfect present

One to set imaginations spinning

And to encourage real life role play

Home or away

We were sent Farm in a Tin and Fishing Port in a Tin for the purpose of this review