Argos are selling this Chad Valley Knight's Castle and Foam Sword play set for half price, £9.99 instead of £19.99.

• Click HERE to take a look at the Chad Valley Knight's Castle and Foam Sword play set

It's amused me, greatly, that someone felt the need to make it clear that the sword included in the Chad Valley Knight's Castle and Foam Sword play set is indeed a FOAM sword - you can imagine the board meeting discussion can't you...

"I really think we need to make it clear the sword is foam.  You know, just in case someone misunderstands, expects to receive a real sword and then complains in the comments!"  The same concerns clearly didn't extend to the Knight's Castle element - so just to clarify, you're not getting a REAL castle either *grin*

What you'll get is a play tent castle that features a fold down door and peep through windows, along with a foam sword for slaying (presumably) pretend dragons.  It's suitable for indoor and outdoor use, and wannabe knights aged three years or older.

You can arrange to collect your Chad Valley Knight's Castle and Foam Sword play set in-store for free (if your nearest Argos shops have stock) or you can pay £5.95 for next day home delivery.

Thanks to wishihadadonkey at HUKD

If you're in the market for a wooden doll's house then you should pop over to The Entertainer and take a look at the wooden doll's house that they've reduced down to £19.99 from a whopping £79.99.

• Click HERE to go and see the wooden doll's house

Whilst I've never been a fan of doll's houses, or anything 'dolly' for that matter, I have always been a fan of wooden toys - I'd even go as far as saying, and have on numerous occassions, that I'm a wooden toy snob; give me the choice of buying a bit of plastic tat for a few quid or paying more for something wooden, I'll go for the' pay more' and 'wood option' every time.

For all my lack of doll's house and playing 'harriet home-maker' empathy, I love that doll's houses don't require batteries, don't have any flashing lights, bells or whistles and require just 100% imaginative play; for that they're rather awesome.

This wooden doll's house is painted in pretty shades of pink, and its three stories measure 51.5cm.  It comes complete with two wooden dolls wearing pyjamas (I've NO idea why, but hey there's nothing wrong with lounging around in your PJs all day....well, sometimes!) and a wooden furniture set including a bed, dining table, an oven and a sink.

Some simple home assembly of your wooden doll's house is required but I'm lead to believe it's nothing too taxing - you won't need a degree in architecture or home construction.

If you have an Entertainer shop local to you then you'll be able to collect your wooden doll's house for free, otherwise you'll need to pay and additional £3.95 for home delivery.

Thanks to Civichyde at HUKD

Yes I know it's another play kitchen, but it's a Hello Kitty Cook and Play Kitchen, it's portable too and you can grab one from Debenhams for £22.49 instead of the usuall £49.99.

• Click HERE to see the Hello Kitty Cook and Play Kitchen

Now I suppose your point of view is going to influence whether you think this Hello Kitty Cook and Play Kitchen is great or disappointing.  It measures 56cm tall by 34.5cm wide which is NOT very big even by play kitchen standards; however, it seems to have been designed for kitchen play on the run as it packs away into a storage case, making it easy to take with you when you're off visiting rellies etc.

If you want a huge play kitchen then this Hello Kitty Cook and Play Kitchen clearly isn't going to be for you, but if you want something small and compact, that's not going to dominate your home and can easily be packed up and taken with, then I think it could be just the thing.

The published price on the Debenhams website for the Hello Kitty Cook and Play Kitchen is £24.99, just enter code - DB2U - into the promotion code box in your basket to bring it down to £22.49.

There's nothing to pay to have your Hello Kitty Cook and Play Kitchen delivered to your home - the last date for Debenhams Christmas postage is 22 December according to HUKD, which I think is risking it a bit to be honest - or you can go and collect it from your local Debenhams if you prefer.

Thanks to pontygirl at HUKD

The JCB Case and Tools set for kids is on sale at a number of places right now, including Argos where it’s £6.49, but at The Hut it’s £5.99, with free delivery, which is a pretty great deal at 60% off.

• Get play fixing around the house this Christmas

The JCB Case and Tool set comes up on HUKD from time to time, and it’s regularly confused with a real tool kit for an amazing price. It is not real though… It’s really just for kids.

The case is durable, hard and portable and makes a great storage kit for the tools when they’re not in use.  The kit itself comes with twelve pieces, including a wrench, spanner, pliers, a saw, screwdriver, hammer and  a bunch of other things I don’t recognise. (2 Large Bolts, 2 Nuts, 3 Bars with holes and second screwdriver tip, according to Amazon!)

The case is size 35cm, 30cm x 9cm, and it should be dispatched within 24 hours, so will be under the tree well in advance of Christmas.

Thanks to matthewcrobertso at HUKD

There’s 40% off the Wooden Pretend and Play Cakes and Stand at Amazon, which is selling them for £8.40 instead of £13.99.

• Pretend Play with Pretend Food from Voila

I’ve wanted these for simply ages, and as my daughter is just getting into imaginary play, making cakes and teas for her teddies, I’m thinking this might be the right time to invest in them, especially at such a good price.

The  set  contains doughnuts, Swiss rolls, crème brulee, biscuits and more, and I think they’d make perfect accompaniment to the playfood we already have.

These are made in Thailand from sustainable wood and child-safe paints and 75% of the reviews on it have given it five stars, with one even buying it for her two year old, but her five and nine year olds enjoy playing with it too.

The ‘worst’ reviews are two 3 star’s which say that the toy is smaller than they expected.

One of the positives, however, is that this set comes with a lot of cakes, so you really get value for money.

I think this will definitely find it’s way under our tree this year.

Thanks breadnbutter at HUKD

Here we go again then with a play kitchen (forks > eyes > POKE!) as Toys R Us have a rather nice deal on this Hello Kitty My First Kitchen at the moment - they're selling it for £14.99 instead of £49.99.  How could I not tell you about it at that price?

• Click HERE to go over to Toys R Us

As with most plastic fantastic play kitchens of a certain price, this Hello Kitty My First Kitchen is PINK (with a splash of purple)! It's decorated with lots of little Hello Kitty images and features a sink, hob, lots of storage and an oven with the obligatory opening and closing door.

It also comes with 15 kitchen accessories, is suitable for young chefs and wannabe washer-uppers who are 18 months or older; the dimensions of this Hello Kitty play kitchen are: 72 (l) x 30 (w) x 80 (h) cm.

You can arrange to have your play kitchen delivered to your home for £4.95 or you can reserve and pay and collect at your nearest Toys R Us store.

Thanks to Tyranicus66 at HUKD

It's almost got to the stage, for any of us here at PlayPennies, where if any of the toy kitchens we write about come with forks, we want to poke them in our eyes!

It's not that there's only so much you can ever say about things like this Cosy Cottage My First Kitchen, it's the hideous gender stereotypical product descriptions we have to read through first.

• Click HERE for this Cosy Cottage My First Kitchen

Thankfully, this one's not so bad as, and I quote, "Little ones who love copying mum and dad will cook up a storm in My First Kitchen," - it's rare that dads get mentioned in kitchen role play spiel!

So, this Cosy Cottage My First Kitchen is pink (do little boys, who love cooking up storms in the kitchen like dad, mind if theirs is pink?) and it stands 60cms tall and has a hob, a toaster, a sink and an an oven complete with opening door - good job really, it'd be a pretty useless oven otherwise.

It also comes with 14 accessories: two plates, two cups, salt and pepper shakers, two knives, two forks (ooooh goody, where are my eyes!), two spoons, a spatular and a frying pan.

The original price for the Cosy Cottage My First Kitchen was £20, now it's all yours for £9 - a rather tasty little Christmas bargain methinks!

Standard home delivery takes around four days and is currently free. However, if you live in the Scottish Highlands or Channel Islands, then the Cosy Cottage My First Kitchen isn't available for delivery at all; sorry.

Thanks to Chalico at HUKD

Amazon have reduced the price of this Mini Mouse Play Kitchen by 33% - it's £23.44 now instead of £34.99.

• Click HERE to go over to Amazon

I'm not usually a fan of play kitchens, but I have to confess I find this Mini Mouse Kitchen rather cute.  There are three separate play modes: Cooking, dining and washing up - if this toy kitchen was in my house, THAT would be the mode least played with unless it came with a real nagging mummy too.

A food mixer flips up from the body of the Mini Mouse play kitchen and is operated by hand (there's no need for any batteries with this toy kitchen - hurrah!); when the mixer is folded down out of the way there's a draining rack for all the washing up.

The oven has a timer, there's a fridge and a BBQ grill, ceramic hob, sink with taps (handy I always find, to have a sink with taps) and there are 17 accessories included too, such as pots, pans and a rolling pin.

If you want more accessories for your Mini Mouse Kitchen then you can buy them separately, but just for good measure a set of real recipe cards have been included for you to try out in your real kitchen.

All the usual Amazon delivery options apply - you can have your Mini Mouse Kitchen delivered for free with the SuperSaver Delivery option, or pay a little bit more to have it delivered faster.

Thanks to lucy75 at HUKD

So, you're the proud owner of a brand new, top of the range, wooden diner kitchen but you haven't got any kitchen tech' gadgets to put in it!  Pop over to the ELC and you'll be able to pick up a Bosch Breakfast play set for £15 instead of £40.

• Click HERE to go over to ELC

I have to say, this Bosch Breakfast play looks pretty fabulous, if there was a real-life, fully-functioning version I'd be pretty tempted to have it my own kitchen - especially if I could get it all for £15!

It features a kettle, toaster, coffee machine (essential!) two plates, two cups, two saucers, two knives, two forks, two spoons, two teaspoons, two slices of toast and a fried egg - no sausage or hash browns?!  Well I suppose you can't have everything for less than £20.

I really wish the ELC had a free collection/delivery to your local store option as their delivery charges are £4.95 - if you combine this with the wooden diner kitchen then delivery is free, but if you just want the Bosch Breakfast play set then it might be worth a quick nosy in your local ELC, if you happen to be passing, to see if this discount applies in-store too.

Thanks to staceymacdonald (still no relation!) at HUKD

Argos have reduced the price of this Peppa Pig Kitchen Playset by £15, bringing it down to £32.24 from £47.49.

• Click HERE to go over to Argos

I always find it too easy to slip into gender stereotyping when it comes to toys like this Peppa Pig Kitchen Playset and assume that it's only girls who will love it.

However, if there are kitchen toys to be played with then that's where you'll, more than likely, find my youngest.

He's five and has ALWAYS loved messing around in the kitchen - real and pretend ones - helping to bake things and cooking dinner.  He also loves playing with his Transformers and Star Wars Light Sabers, but he's already a mean cook...perhaps he's the next Raymond Blanc in training!

This Peppa Pig Kitchen Playset has a ton of great features that will really bring kitchen play to life for your child.

It features the Peppa Pig theme tune and has interactive effects and phrases.  Food and utensils can be washed in the sink with real running water (you'll have to put your plumber's hat on and fill up the water tank every now and then), there are lots of cooking accessories and play pancakes to toss and you can set the oven timer and watch the hob glow too.

I wasn't a fan of play kitchens when I was little, but then none of them were as cool as this Peppa Pig Kitchen Playset.

Happy pretend cooking!

I have a new love in my life – it’s pretty much anything from Wooden Toyshop.co.uk – and today my passions fall on this BigJigs Pink Flower Tea Set. A few weeks ago I told you about the 10% off offer they had on food toys (which seems to still be active) and we ordered a few items from them.

When the BigJigs Flower Tea Set arrived, I opened the box and my little girl’s face lit up. The box it comes in is pretty sturdy and has become pretty much a handbag for her play food, which she carries around everywhere.

As we unpacked the teapot with its cute little lid, four teacups, saucers and spoons she was full of ‘ooohs’ and ‘aaahs’ – it was really sweet, actually.  There are also four plates, a picnic blanket or tablecloth and napkins, as well as a cloth with shaped storage for the spoons.

In the lid of the box we found a serving tray decorated in the same style as the rest of the set.

Now, while it says for 3+ on the box, my 20-month old absolutely loves it. She is quite rough with it, and sometimes will throw things across the room, but so far we’ve not had any chips off the paint or even dents to the crockery itself. Despite the name of the shop, this tea set is made out of some kind of steel, and is really very hardy.  I saw some of the Amazon reviews about it falling apart and so on, but we’ve certainly not had that problem.

Now we really just need a nice little play kitchen to go with it, but in the meantime, Daddy and I have drunk our fill of imaginary tea, and Kyra hasn’t yet tired of playing with her teapot.

The 10% off offer is still active, and is applicable to this set, making it £11.66 excluding postage (which is £2.95) which makes it £14.61, which still makes it cheaper than most other retailers.

We recently ordered a few items from the Wooden Toyshop's 10% off offer, which included the Food Groups set from Melissa and Doug and a green shopping bag from BigJigs.

I ordered them together as I thought it would be nice to carry the food in a shopping basket.  While the shopping basket from BigJigs is lovely, it is much smaller than I anticipated.  That said it is big enough for play food, so is probably ideal. This toy says it’s for children 3 years and up, which I don’t really understand as my 20-month old loves having her own shopping basket to carry things around in and there aren’t any small parts or anything potentially dangerous.

The bag 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. We chose the bag in green, but it’s also available in blue and yellow and costs £5.95.

To go in the shopping bag, we also selected the Food Groups set from Melissa and Doug. There are four ‘crates’ like you’d find at a farmers market, I guess, 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. Most of the foods look pretty realistic, with the exception of the chicken and the meat, but my daughter didn’t seem to notice.

It was really great saying all the names to her as we unpacked them, and within a week she was saying them back to me, so I have found it to be really educational too.  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.  While I expect that in time the paint will start chipping, as all painted wood does, it hasn’t happened yet.

I think this play food from Melissa and Doug is really fantastic, and I’m hoping to add to our ‘kitchen’ soon. (P.S. That offer is still valid, so go to Wooden Toyshop for 10% off food toys)

Yellow Moon are selling this toy cash register for half price, it was originally £13.95 but is now £7.99.

• Click HERE to cash in on this deal

I never had a toy cash register when I was a little girl; my best friend had one and I loved going over the road to play 'shops' at her house.

I enjoyed my Saturday job in Argos most when I was 'on the tills' and I wonder if this explains why I'll tend to use the self-service checkouts at Tesco whenever I can?!

When my youngest went to nursery the 'nursery shop' was always one of the most popular play areas and there were often tears from those who didn't get to push the buttons on the toy cash register.

This one is rather grand - it features a fully working calculator, play microphone, receipt dispenser, play tin cans and cartons plus assorted play notes & coins; how AWESOME, I would have gone mad for this 35 or so years ago!

You'll need 2 x AA batteries to power your toy cash register and it's suitable for little checkout staff aged three and over.

Thanks to lady lowe at HUKD

My youngest would love me forever if I bought him this JCB workbench that Argos are currently selling for £12.49 instead of £19.79.

• Click HERE to drill on over to Argos for this deal

Kids always want to help out when you’re doing DIY or gardening things until they hit 14 and 15 and then breathing is almost too much effort.

But I digress, if you’ve got a budding Bob The Builder in your house then this JCB workbench could be just the thing for them and when it’s time to get the tools out and engage in a bit of proper ‘Bob the Buildering’, you can let your little builder’s mate loose with their own child-safe JCB workbench complete with its 74 accessories.

It suitable for young builders aged three year or over, all the bits and piece pack away neatly into their own portable tool case and it measures 46 x 43 x 69cm (18 x 17 x 27in).

The JCB workbench and all that comes with it is a bit of a bargain at £12.49 in my opinion and if your local Argos has this in stock then you can collect it for free, if not you’re looking at a £5.95 charge for next day delivery.

Thanks to missgem at HUKD!

Debenhams are selling this Tower Crane set for £4.05 instead of £15.00.

• Click HERE to go over to Debenhams

If you're the sort of person who clicks the link first and THEN reads the post then you'll have noticed the Debenhams site has the published price for this Tower Crane set at £4.50, if you use the following codes at the checkout not only will you get 10% off (making it £4.05) but you'll also get free home delivery too:

Use code PV79 for 10% off and SHD1 for free delivery.

If your child - boy or girl, let's not conform to gender stereotypes here - is a bit of a construction site fan, then their going to love this Tower Crane Set.

There is something fascinating about huge cranes (I think), perhaps it’s the fact that they’re so big and look like they could just pick you up at any moment and move you w a y over somewhere else?  Or maybe it’s just because if you’re the tower crane driver, YOU get to be in control of such a mechanical monster.

My youngest has something very similar to this Tower Crane set and he’s spent many a happy hour winching things up in the bucket, swinging the crane arm round and lowering whatever was in said bucket somewhere else.

This Tower Crane Set is nice and simple; no batteries required, no bells, no whistles just the crane and a crane driver figure.

Thanks to leecroot at HUKD

Tesco Direct are selling this Little Steps Wooden Doll's House for half price - £20 instead of £40.

• Click HERE to step over to Tesco Direct

Hello, my name is Sarah and I'm a wooden toy snob. Give me the choice between paying next to nothing for a bit of plastic tat or through the nose for its wooden version, then I'd rather part with substantially more cash for the wood.

However, with this rather nifty little deal on this Little Steps Wooden Doll's House from Tesco Direct you won't be paying through the nose for anything (unless you choose to pay £5 for home delivery rather than collecting it in-store for free!).

The Little Steps Wooden Doll's House is Georgian in style and has two floors, included in the price are 15 pieces of furniture along with two dolls - they could be your Wooden Doll's House lodgers, or staff.  I'd go for staff - a housekeeper/cook and a gardener sounds pretty good to me.

This Little Steps Wooden Doll's House will encourage imaginative play; even though there are benefits to all the bells and whistles educational toys, you can’t beat playing just for fun, where everything comes from your own imagination rather than being led by buttons and voices telling you what to do.

If you're still unsure then check out the reviews on the Tesco Direct site, they're pretty good and should help you along a little bit in making up your mind.

Thanks to missgem at HUKD

Toys R Us are selling this Sand and Water Activity Centre for half price - £14.99 instead of £29.99

• Click HERE to go over to Toys R Us

It's a universal truth that kids, wherever they live in the world, absolutely LOVE playing with sand and water; I'll even confess to the fact that at, not too many years off 40, I still do.

When my youngest was at nursery, every single day there'd be a mass bundle to their sand and water activity centre and there'd be tears and tantrums from those who just weren't quite fast enough.

This sand and water activity centre from Toys R Us has four sturdy legs and a firm fitting lid; with the lid on, this also enables it to be used as a desk as well as keeping the sand dry and free from visiting cats at night time (you get my drift with that, right? The neighbourhood moggies will LOVE digging around in your child's sandpit, it's just not imaginative play they're doing it for).

You'll have to buy the sand separately and if you choose not to reserve the sand and water activity centre online and collect in-store, then home delivery will set you back £4.95.

Thanks to twinkleplease at HUKD

Amazon are selling this fab' Caterpillar Bulldozer for £9.98 instead of £24.99.

• Click HERE to bulldoze your way over to Amazon

It's the end of an era in my household.  It would seem, for my youngest, that Lego and Wii Sports Resort now have precedence over dump trucks, JCBs and other things similar to this Caterpillar bulldozer.

On the one hand my bank balance and his dad are heaving a sigh of relief (they were seriously running out of digger machine storage) but on the other it's SAD, he's been able to say Joseph Cyril Bamford since he was two and can identify various models of JCB diggers from 100 paces...and now that could all be over.

However, I'm free to tell you all about this Caterpillar bulldozer without fear of hearing, "OHHH!!! I L O V E that! Can I have one?"

I was going to say it doesn't do anything, which is true but not true at the same time; it doesn't require any batteries as it doesn't have flashing lights or make 'realistic' beeping noises (although you can connect it to a the Light and Sound Module, but  you'll have to buy that seperately) it does, however have moveable parts.

The driver's cab tips forward so you can see the engine and the mirror of the driver's cab can be folded out. The low loader trailer has a fully functional fifth wheel clutch and folding support legs that ensure stability.

The loading ramps can be folded down and the vehicle locking device for securing the loaded vehicle can be adjusted.   The Caterpillar bulldozer has a fully functional front loader and the backhoe moves up and down and swings from side to side and the soft rubber tires have real tread; awesome.

Thanks to nidgesy at HUKD

Amazon are selling this rather fabulous little toy shopping basket, which comes complete with play food and other groceries, for £5.

• Click HERE to go over to Amazon

This toy shopping basket took me back to being in infants school; in my class there was a big wooden wendy house and we also had a little shop, I loved playing shopping and picking up all the things off the shelves to put in my basket.

I can assure you that the novelty of this has subsequently worn off and I don't look forward to my weekly trips to Tesco in the same way.

I wonder what it is about playing with toy shopping baskets that all kids, boys AND girls, enjoy?

This particular toy shopping basket comes with a wide variety of food stuffs like cardboard boxes, milk and juice cartons, plastic tins and play fruit and vegetables, it also contains 4 sets of cutlery.

The toy shopping basket itself measures 23cm x 16cm x 12.5cm and makes the perfect role play toy and will allow for all sorts of imaginative games to be played.

Thanks to no1john at HUKD