I'm never sure whether I should call The Toy Shop 'The Toy Shop' or 'The Entertainer'!  Well whatever they're called, they have Leapster Explorer Leaplet download cards up for grabs for £5 instead of £10.

• Click HERE to leap on over to The Toy Shop

Leapfrog have a HUGE range of toys and 'things' for kids and you really won't go far wrong with any of them.

Whilst the original set-up might feel rather expensive, their systems like Leapster are very expandable and when you consider the hours and hours or educational fun your child will get, they are in fact great value for money.

So what we have here are two Leapster Explorer Leaplet download cards; Leaplet download cards allow you to download extra learning apps for your Leapster Explorer from the Leapfrog website.

You can choose from 20 games, ebooks, and more fun learning tools, that download to your child's Leapfrog Leapster Explorer; each card allows you to download one app, and this set comes with two download cards.

I also have a free download code for you for Alphabet Stew: 5813079046104973

Thanks to hanksy at HUKD

The Crazy Chefs game from Orchard Toys is currently on sale at Amazon for £5.64 instead of £7.25 – a lovely 22% saving. Amazon says this offer is valid until midnight tomorrow (Sunday).

• Imaginative cooking at its best with Crazy Chefs

If you’ve never heard of Orchard Toys, I strongly suggest you head over to their website and have a browse around. I’ll even make it easy for you and give you their link: Orchard Toys. They are a really interesting company with fantastic games for your little people.

You just have to read some of the reviews on this game at Amazon to know I’m not the only one that thinks so.

“I think I may be developing an undying gratitude to the people at Orchard Toys” says one parent.  “This is the fourth Orchard Toys game I have purchased and they have all been durable and enjoyable”, says another.

The game is a game of memory, where you have to collect all the ingredients you need to ‘make a meal’.

According to the parents, again, the game has taught their children about recipes and ingredients, of matching pictures, and most importantly – and mentioned by a few reviewers – taking turns.

If you don’t know Orchard Toys, do check them out, and this game does sound like a winner too.

Amazon are selling Lego Duplo Play With Numbers for £15.29 instead of £24.99

• Click HERE to go over to Amazon

Oooh Lego combined with numbers; I'm a very big fan of anything that combines play with learning for very young kiddies, and it's never too early to introduce them to numbers in my opinion.

There are 58 bright, colorful numbered bricks that will have your titchy one learning their numbers without realising it or feeling they're having to try.

Lego Duplo Play With numbers includes a Lego Duplo child figure, dog, and wagon which allows for imaginative role play too.

Pattern recognition skills will also developed when your child plays with Lego Duplo Play With Numbers, as you can play matching games with the bricks that have pictures on them.

Lego Duplo Play with Number has also been granted a 'National Parenting Seal of Approval' award; parents who've already bought it are very happy parents indeed:

"My 2 year old daughter was thrilled to play with this set when she was given it. The bright numbers and pictures drew her in instantly. She is counting more and more and since being given this set she uses it all the time to count the pictures as she builds.

Not only with the lovely colours and pictures you get a really sweet boy and dog figure and a car, fencing & flowers to play with too. So there are many different ways to build and count at the same time.

I would definitely recommend this item to anybody and would buy as a gift for either a boy or a girl. This set will no fail to impress. A must have!"

Happy counting with Lego Duplo Play with Numbers!

Amazon are selling this Vtech Pop and Play Elephant for £12.49 at the moment.  That's half price as he should be £24.99 and is the price he's being sold for with all the other usual suspects, apart from Play.com, they're letting him go for £17.99.

• Click HERE to pop on over to Amazon

This little Vtech Pop and Play Elephant is CUTE!

He will introduce your child to animals, numbers and colours with a fun magical blowing theme.

There are four interactive balls which pop up and bounce as the elephant blows them through his fun jungle surroundings counting along the way.

Four colourful interactive piano keys play fun sound effects when they're pressed, along with five melodies and two sing-along songs.

You really won't go wrong with Vtech toys; they're bright, colourful, interactive and educational and this Vtech Pop and Play Elephant will not only teach your little one all the things I've already mentioned, but their fine motor-skills will be developed along with their understanding of cause and effect; just brilliant, I love Vtech things.

He also comes with the 2AA batteries included; bravo Vtech.

Thanks to sarah2004 at HUKD

Amazon are selling this wooden alphabet set for £11 instead £16.99.

• Click HERE to mooch over to Amazon

Yes, that's right, you can mooch over to Amazon this time instead of dashing, as this wooden alphabet set is an Amazon 'Deal of the Week' which means the £11 price is fixed for the whole week; hurrah!

I love wooden toys, I love educational toys and I love puzzles too - this wooden alphabet set ticks all of those boxes and if I knew someone who had a little young who was the target age for this sort of toy, then I'd buy it for them.

This wooden alphabet set is made up of chunky wooden pieces that are perfect for little hands and fitting each letter into the proper place will help to develop their fine motor skills.

Pattern recognition skills will also come into play along with, of course, being well on their way to learning the all-important alphabet.

My youngest had something similar to this and he thoroughly enjoyed playing with it; he still does in fact, even though at almost five years old now he finds it easy peasy.

Happy Alphabetting!

Amazon have knocked a fiver off this Leapfrog Cook and Play Potsy - it's up for grabs for £12.99 instead of £17.99.

• Click HERE to pop over to Amazon

Whilst I have a real love for traditional wooden toys that don't require batteries, you really won't go wrong with Leapfrog toys.  Kids love to play with them and they'll be learning all sorts of skills and aquiring knowledge without realising it.

This Cook and Play Potsy will help them to learn about opposites, listen to music and rhymes and explore counting, colours and more.

Your little one will also be developing their fine motor skills when they put the food items into Cook and Play Potsy, who'll magically respond when they do this or when they put on and remove the lid.

He's aimed at littlies aged between 12 and 36 months; he has a British voice too and comes with the 3AA batteries he needs as well.

Not only that you can connect him to the Internet and download personalised messages and custom playlists.

People who've already bought Cook and Play Potsy are thrilled with him...

"I bought this Cook and Learn Potsy for my grandaughter, she absolutely loves it as she can put plastic vegetables in the pot and stir them with a spoon provided, there is also music and songs, she loves to pretend she is cooking with her mum. My grandaughter is nearly 2 years old. I think this is a fun and educational toy."

"This is a great toy my little one is 1 and loves it. She loves throwing in all the food and giving it a good stir and hearing potsy speak to her. I think it is educational as the toy talks to you whilst you are playing and describes the food and colours.
I would recommend it."

Thanks to missgem at HUKD

Amazon are currently selling this Lamaze Pyramid Play House baby gym for less than half price - £29.96 instead of £64.99.

• Click HERE to dash on over to Amazon

You really can't go wrong with anything Lamaze, they might be a bit more expensive than their alternatives but they're certainly worth it.

The Lamaze Pyramid Play House baby gym will last you a long time too as it transforms with each stage of baby’s development providing more ways to play.

It features a double-sided cushioned play mat which quickly folds to create an engaging environment with soft side walls, it's wipe clean and machine washable too - VERY important.

Other features include little boy and girl dolls to encourage imaginative role play.  There's the obligatory tummy time mirror for self-discovery and a baby activated sun with lights  and music which is stimulates visual tracking.

The sun has two music modes: baby activated or continuous play and it can also be attached to a stroller bar for amusement whilst out and about.

Of course the Lamaze Pyramid Play House baby gym wouldn't be very Lamaze without the rattle, crinkle, and squeaky soft shapes which make learning colors and shapes fun.

The gym folds for easy storage and portability and it requires 3 AAA batteries which aren't included (booo!).

Happy lazing around with Lamaze!

PS - if you get here only to discover Amazon have put the price up, go to Tesco Direct and keep your fingers crossed they still have one in stock as they're selling for the same price there.

This Tomy Mr Colour Maker toy looks GREAT and Play are selling him for £17.99 instead of his usual £26.99.

• Click HERE to go over to Play

Do you remember learning about colours when you were a little kid; mixing red and yellow poster paint to discover what colour you'd get? I do and it was messy - fun if you're little, not so fun now you're the grown-up.

Tomy have come to the rescue my fellow parents, all hail Mr Colour Maker - I think he's genius and there's so much to tell you about that I'm going to end up going w a y over my word limit (oh the rebellion!).

Mr Colour Maker teaches colour and colour creation in an engaging, and interactive, way AND without a single drop of paint.

He speaks over 50 phrases and gives easy to follow instructions in a clear English voice.  There are three modes of play: You Create Mode, Follow-Me Mode and Sing-a-Rainbow Mode.I

In 'You Create Mode' you hold one of the colour pots over the mixing pot and listens as Mr Colour Maker says hello to the colour “Hello Red, how are you?”, at the same time the mixing pot  turns that colour.

Take another colour pot and do the same thing again, then mix the two colours together with the magic paintbrush and Mr Colour Maker will tell your child which colour they've made, for example, “well done you coloured me green!”

Mr Colour Maker is rather intelligent,  he'll adapt and adjust the difficulty as your child learns.

Shades of colours come into play depending on how long a colour pot is held over the mixing pot for and, as he runs on 4AA batteries, he switches into standby mode after 60 seconds to save power.

Mr Colour Maker is suitable for little people aged two years or over and I'm rather taken with him, can you tell?

Now, sometimes Play fiddle with their prices like Amazon do, so if they have put the price of this Mr Colour Maker up before you have a chance to buy him, then go and have a look at Amazon as well, as they were selling him for the same price.

They are your only two discount options though as Argos, Tesco Direct, Toys R Us and Boots are all selling him for £26.99, in fact Boots have Mr Colour Maker priced at £27.57. You can read the full Mr Colour Maker review here.

Thanks to gizzygoo at HUKD

Argos are selling this rather cute Fisher Price Laugh and Learn Piggy Bank for half price; he was originally £16.99 but is now £7.99.

• Click HERE to oink on over to Argos

There are certain brands of toys that you really can't go wrong with; Fisher Price is one of them and their toys have been delighting and entertaining children since the 1930s.

It's never too early to teach your kids about money and numbers but this Laugh and Learn Piggy Bank will encourage learning about more than just that though.

With the Laugh and Learn Piggy Bank your child will learn about numbers, counting, colours, animals and sizes.

There are 10 colourful coins to drop into slots for musical rewards and if you press the nose you will hear friendly sounds and songs.

Music  plays  when the door is opened and his tail wiggles too which is bound to have little ones giggling away like loons and he has rather excellent reviews too.

The Laugh and Learn Piggy Bank is currently unavailable for home delivery, but then at an over the top £5.95 I can't say I'd even consider having him delivered.

Reserve him online and go and collect him.

If you're not going into town anytime soon ask someone else, who is, to pick him up for you.

Thanks to babyblue at HUKD

Amazon are selling this Leapfrog Learn and Groove Musical Table for HALF PRICE - £16.99 instead of £34.99 and the GOOD NEWS is *drum roll please* it's guaranteed at this price ALL WEEK; hurrah!

• Click HERE to groove on over to Amazon

I do love a good activity table and this one ticks all the boxes for me.  The Leapfrog Learn and Groove Musical Table is suitable for little people who are six months and over; it almost seems a shame they can’t enjoy it from birth – well they could I suppose if YOU played with it with them on your lap!

With this Leapfrog Learn and Groove Musical Table your youngster will be able to unleash their inner musical genius.  Think Mozart! Think Beethoven!  Think Tchaikovsky!!

Ok, maybe not, but who cares?  Your mini groover will be having so much fun and there’ll be time for classical genius later.

The legs of the Leapfrog Learn and Groove musical table come off too; I think this is a brilliant idea as it means young ones who can’t stand yet can still enjoy playing with it.

Everything is brightly coloured to engage and excite your child’s senses and there are 15 musical activities in English and French with over 40 songs and melodies – now isn’t that a GOOD idea, the introduction of different languages at the earliest opportunity….what a shame the Government haven’t caught on to this yet – LEAP FROG for Government I say!

Oh and those lovely people over at Leapfrog have also given the Learn and Groove Musical Table volume control; marvellous.

The Leapfrog Learn and Groove Musical Table needs 3 AA batteries which aren’t included - well, I suppose we can't have everything - but even so, this is  still a great deal as elsewhere it’s selling for between £25 and £35.

Happy Grooving!

Amazon have reduced the price of this Leapfrog Scribble and Write from £19.99 down to £13.99

• Click HERE to Leapfrog over to Amazon

You really can't go wrong with Leapfrog - kids love all their toys because they're fun, us parents love Leapfrog toys because they're educational and great value for money.

This Leapfrog Scribble and Write will help your child get to grips with the very early stages of writing.

All they need to do is trace the lights to get practice drawing simple shapes and pictures.  When they've got the hang of that they can move on to learning upper- and lowercase letters with step-by-step guidance from the Leapfrog Scribble and Write (in a British Voice too).

There are also fun learning games to help reinforce letter recognition and pencil control skills and the Leapfrog Scribble and Write is nice and portable so you can take it out and about with you without feeling like you're going out with everything including the kitchen sink.

Parents can connect to the online LeapFrog Learning Path for customised learning insights and ideas to expand the learning.

The Leapfrog Scribble and Write is appropriate for children aged three years and over and the three AA batteries it needs are included.

Thanks to herpic at HUKD

Argos are selling Leapfrog My Pal Violet for less than half-price at £7.99, she should be £19.99.

• Click HERE to leap on over to Argos

You really won’t go far wrong with anything Leapfrog.

Their educational value is fantastic; their fun value is just as good and their build quality and value for money is excellent.

Here’s what you can expect from Leapfrog My Pal Violet!

She’s a cute little interactive puppy who connects to the computer; you can tailor her to the wishes and whims of your child through customising the music and personalise learning with your child’s name and favourite food, animal and colour.

Leapfrog My Pal Violet comes with five, pre-loaded songs. If your little one is a bit of a music butterfly, you can download more learning tunes and lullabies from an online list of 30 songs.

The learning skills include first words, daily routines, early number sense, feelings and emotions, and animals.

Leapfrog My Pal Violet has icons on her paws that indicating what each one does – press a paw to play music, to learn or hear songs and play games, another turns her off and the other is sleep mode which triggers the nightlight in her collar.

She’ll need 3xAA batteries and is recommended for children from one year, although reviewers have bought her for children younger than this and they love her too.

Leapfrog My Pal Violet isn't available for home delivery, so you'll save yourself the OTT £5.95 delivery charge; use www.icheckstock.co.uk to search all the Argos stores nearest to you.

Thanks to MrJinxy at HUKD

Argos are selling this Vtech Challenger Laptop (in blue) for £18.49 instead of the £27.99 rrp.

• Click HERE to go to Argos

If you’re sharing your laptop, or desktop machine, with your youngster and they’re not hard at work sorting out the budget on Excel, or writing letters in Word for you, then they might enjoy messing around with the 40 games that this Vtech Challenger Laptop comes with.

Oh yes, PlayPennies parents, it's time to take back ownership of your computers!

The Vtech Challenger Laptop has a real mouse and the 40 games and activities which are based on the national curriculum, the subjects include English, maths, music and basic French and fun quiz show game play.

It has a full QWERTY keyboard and a 2-player mode so they can play with friends or, perish the thought, brothers and/or sisters; it's also the winner of a Practical Preschool Electronic Toys Bronze Award and the activity

The Vtech Challenger Laptop is suitable for little computer bods aged four years and over and the 3AA batteries it needs are included. I can't find any reference to a mains adapter, so you might want to invest in a decent set of rechargeable batteries or buy shares in Duracell (other battery manufacturers are available *grin*)

Thanks to lucerysmum at HUKD

Argos are confused. They clearly still think their Christmas sale is on and are selling this Vtech VSmile Pocket Learning System for £18.99 instead of £59.99; crazy, but GREAT.

• Click HERE to dash over to Argos

Reading the spec' for this Vtech VSmile Pocket Learning System, I learned that there's software out there called Zayzoo - that sounds much more fun than any of the software I use...Adobe just doesn't have the same sort of ring to it.

Zayzoo software teaches word matching, spelling, maths, puzzles and all sorts. So all of the things that we want our children to learn through playing with toys like this.

The Vtech VSmile Pocket Learning System is is compatible with all VSmile learning games APART from: VSmile Art Studio, Dance 'n' Learn or Pocket Power Packs. It aslo requires four AA batteries which aren't included.

The recommended age range for the Vtech VSmile Pocket Learning System is between five and seven years, but I think you could get away with going a litle younger perhaps.

The reviews are excellent and whilst I don't normally write about things out of stock for home delivery (which this is), it would be worth being prepared to chase around a little bit to find an Argos store that has one, if your nearest one doesn't.

Thanks to louise.123 at HUKD

Ahhhhh amazing Lamaze toys!

They trigger such fond memories of tiny baby days for me and this Lamaze Sir Prance-A-Lot would have been a welcome addition to our Lamaze family of toys.

• Click HERE to prance on over to Amazon

Lamaze, I’m sure, should be pronounced ‘La-mars’ or as it’s written ‘La-maze’, but in my household it very quickly became pronounced La-maisy – I can’t remember why, I just know that I can’t pronounce it any other way now.

If you’ve never come across Lamaze toys (did you hear/pronounce that as La-maisy then..?) then you’ve been missing out! They are simply some of the most awesome developmental toys for babies and young children, EVER.

Lamaze have been around for a long time and conducted a ton of research into what makes babies tick, the developmental stages they go through and designed their toys accordingly. We had an Octopus for my youngest and he adored it.

They aren’t always the cheapest toys in the world to buy, but they are worth every penny and with Amazon's deal on this Lamaze Sir Prance-A-Lot you'll save more than a few pennies - he should be £9.99 but you can pick him up for £6.46 (as long as Amazon leave his price alone for a while).

He's cute, he rattles, he squeaks, he crinkles and your little one will love him!

Thanks to Sarahwoo at HUKD

Amazon have a lovely price reduction on this Vtech Winnie the Pooh Walker at the moment - they've reduced it from £32.99 down to £18.49

• Click HERE to walk on over to Amazon

Actually, I'd run rather than walk to Amazon and grab one - if you're in the market for something along these lines - this is such a good price that they'll either go out of stock a bit sharpish, OR Amazon will put it back up again (I wish I knew what the trigger was for putting their prices back up...).

My niece had a Vtech walker when she was younger and she absolutely loved it.

There are lots of lovely activities for little kiddies on this Vtech Winnie the Pooh Walker; plenty, even, for those who aren't walking yet.

There's a light-up honey pot, buzzy bee button, turning book page, sliding caterpillar, fun roller and spinning flower disk with mirror for self discovery.

The Vtech Winnie the Pooh Walker also introduces animals, sing-along songs and music through two modes of play.

It has textured wheels, an easy grip handle and folds away flat so it's easy to store when you're little one isn't playing with it.

The two AA batteries it needs are also included; hurrah!

I'm not sure what I think about this LeapFrog Scout Text and Learn Messenger, but it's not about my personal opinion, it's about whether someone out there in Internet Land has been waiting for a deal on one.

• Click HERE to text and learn over at Argos

Mind you...my youngest has an iPod Touch so I really can't criticise. I hasten to add that I didn't but it for him...and he is rather nifty at all the amazing educational games he's got on it; that and Angry Birds *grin*

So, how can I spin the LeapFrog Scout Text and Learn Messenger so I don't feel like I'm condoning teaching toddlers how to SMS...?

Well, as long as they don't learn text speak (which I loathe - I'd rather pay more and write words in full, than resort 2 txt spk!) then the LeapFrog Scout Text and Learn Messenger will assist them with their spellings.

It has a full Qwerty keyboard which will help them become familiar with its layout; fight it all we like, keyboard skills is something which will serve them well.

It has three learning modes so your child can practice with letter names and sounds, they can also exchange messages with their puppy pal scout (three year olds texting, I almost feel I should go and wash my hands!).

The LeapFrog Scout Text and Learn Messenger comes with the 3AAA batteries it needs and is available for home delivery (if you want to get fleeced for £5.95) or to collect in store, subject to your local stock levels.

Thanks to rimz790 over at HUKD

This Leapfrog Scribble and Write is currently half price at Argos, having been reduced from £19.99 down to just £9.99 it's a lovely Christmas bargain!

• Click HERE to leap on over to Argos

Currently in stock for home delivery and store collection, this Leapfrog Scribble and Write has rave reviews and is a Toy Talk Awards Educational Toys winner!

Your little one will be helped along in their reading, writing and pattern recognition skills by tracing the lights that appear on the screen.

They'll start by following simple shapes and patterns and when they've mastered those, will move on to upper AND lowercase letters.

There are fun games for your child to play and the Leapfrog Scribble and Write will also help them develop their fine motor skills through pencil control.

Here's what some parents who've already bought a Leapfrog Scribble and Write have to say about it...

"This is a must buy for anyone that has small children,the screen size is perfect,the voice is understandable and clear,it does lower case and capital letters.. Everything your little one needs to start scribbling away!!"

If you buy an award winning Leapfrog My Pal Scout from Sainsbury's, you'll get him for £13.50 instead of £17.99.

• Click HERE to leapfrog over to Sainsburys

You really won't go far wrong with anything Leapfrog.

Their educational value is fantastic; their fun value is just as good and their build quality and value for money is excellent.

Here's what you can expect from Leapfrog My Pal Scout!

He's a cute little interactive puppy who connects to the computer; you can tailor him to the wishes and whims of your child through customising the music and personalise learning with your child's name and favourite food, animal and colour.

Leapfrog My Pal Scout comes with five, pre-loaded songs. If your little one is a bit of a music butterfly, you can download more learning tunes and lullabies from an online list of 30 songs.

The learning skills include first words, daily routines, early number sense, feelings and emotions, and animals.

Leapfrog My Pal Scout has icons on his paws that indicating what each one does - press a paw to play music, to learn or hear songs and play games, another turns him off and the other is sleep mode which triggers the blue nightlight in his collar.

He'll need 3xAA batteries and is recommended for children from one year, although reviewers have bought them for children younger than this and they love him too.

Thanks to leanneduk_89 over at HUKD

This Lamaze Elephant is just CUTE!

• Click HERE and scoot over to Amazon

I am such a fan of Lamaze things and ever since the Lamaze octopus my youngest has was renamed ‘Lamaisy’ that’s the only way I can pronounce them (instead of Lamars or Lamaise); regardless of which you choose to call them, you can’t fault the quality and educational/entertainment value of their products.

The lovely Lamaze Elephant has all the things you can expect from a Lamaze toy: firstly, he's CUTE! Then he has the necessary elements to stimulate your child’s senses and encourage their development.

Lamaze Elephant has bright contrasting colours for visual stimulus, different textures to grip which develop your baby’s motor skills along with a squeaky tummy, "clinky" rings and a knotted tail.

Reviews for him are worthy of Oscar nominee with glowing 5 stars reviews all over the place.

"This is absolutely gorgeous. It is made from different textered materials, has a squeaky tummy, rattle rings, a teething disc and crinkly ears and feet. An entertaining toy for a reasonable amount of money. It was also much bigger than I expected it to be."

"Good value for a lovely toy. My daughter loves it. She's 5 months old and loves the crinkly ears the most. She talks to it as well (in baby language obviously)and is very vocal as a result haha. Personally, I was very surprised as it's bigger than what I thought it would be and is very colourful. 10/10 I'll be purchasing the other toys in the collection soon."

This Lamaze Elephant usually retails for £6.99 and has a couple of quid knocked off at the moment, making him £4.99 - even without the small discount I'd still say he was definitely worth the money.

Thanks to kittykat09 over at HUKD