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

Home Bargains are selling this Little Tikes Baby Born Cookin' Around Sounds Kitchen for £29.99 rather than £79.99.

• Click HERE to take a look at the Little Tikes Baby Born Cookin' Around Sounds Kitchen

If you're a regular PlayPennies reader you might have gathered I'm not a fan of play kitchens - it comes from the fact they're usually pink and aimed at girls and, quite frankly, get the men in the kitchen I say! - and would rather stick forks in my eyes than write about another one.

BUT this one looks pretty cool, if you're into the whole play kitchen thing.

It's round, so more than one young chef can play at the same time, and it features various electronic cooking sounds.  When you put a pot or pan on the hob you'll hear boiling sounds, frying sounds, popcorn popping sounds, along with a timer ticking and the bell to let you know you're food is done.

It also comes with eight accessories: an attachable baby seat (you'll have to provide your own baby doll), table area, microwave cooking centre, sink, refrigerator and lots of storage.

You can arrange to collect your Little Tikes Baby Born Cookin' Around Sounds Kitchen in-store, or you can have it delivered to your home for around a fiver.

Happy play cooking!

Tesco are selling this Hello Kitty Kitchen, with kettle and toaster, for £24 instead of its full-priced £60.

• Click HERE to take a look at this Hello Kitty Kitchen

Play kitchens - I know kids love them but they just make me want to poke forks in my eyes, especially plastic-fantastic pink ones like this Hello Kitty kitchen.  But you can't argue that £24 rather than £60 isn't a good deal if you're in the market for a play kitchen.

The Hello Kitty kitchen has a pink Hello Kitty cooker, a white worktop above and a sink for the dishes.  There's a shelf for pots and pans, hooks to hang utensils on and a drawer under the oven for extra storage.

The Hello Kitty kitchen is suitable for little girls (I can't imagine anyone buying this for their son, no matter how much we try to abandon gender stereotypes) aged three years and older and requires 3AA batteries - this is so the toast actually pops up out of the toaster (ooooh, I fancy toast now!) and allows the hob to make sizzling pan sounds.

You can arrange to collect your Hello Kitty kitchen, not forgetting the kettle and toaster, in-store for free OR you can now pay just £3 for standard delivery.  HURRAH!!  Well done Tesco, it's about time there were more options other than the £5 next-day!

Thanks to dudebar at HUKD

If you have a budding DIYer in your family then might I suggest you pay Amazon a quick visit and take a look at this kid's Tool Carrycase - it's currently on sale for £5.97 rather than £8.99.

• Click HERE to have a look at the kid's Tool Carrycase

Even though I'm a girl, I do have a bit of a 'thing' for tools generally considered the domain of men; the prospect of a new drill with lots of shiny drill bits just does something for me - strange, but true!

Perhaps it comes from my childhood days gone by when I loved helping out with DIY 'stuff'; I'm pretty sure I wasn't actually much help, but I thoroughly enjoyed banging nails into things and generally being 'handy'.

This Tool Carrycase would have been a great gift for me as a child - it would have kept me out of the grown-up tool box but totally satisfied my love of building, banging and putting things together.

Thirteen pieces are crammed into this Tool Carrycase (I'm not entirely sure how they've managed that!) and includes: a workbench top and legs, a saw, one set square ruler, a wrench, hammer and screwdriver, along with two nuts, bolts and pegs; awesome.

There won't be any additional delivery charges to pay on your kid's Tool Carrycase if you choose the SuperSaver delivery option, which usually takes around three to five working days.

Thanks to wishihadadonkey at HUKD

Amazon are selling this Pintoy doll's buggy for £29.99, rather than its full £37.99 retail price - it's also an Amazon Deal of the Week so this price is guaranteed until 11.59pm tomorrow night; marvellous!

• Click HERE to take a look at the Pintoy Doll's Buggy

If I lapse into calling the Pintoy doll's buggy a Pintoy doll's 'pram', it's because it looks like a pram to me - a buggy is a pushchair or stroller in my language.

Anyway, whether you call it a buggy or a pram, it looks SO much nicer than the cheap plastic tat versions you can get for pushing dolls around in.

I'm not, and have never been, a fan of playing with dolls and I tend to shy away buying anything 'dolly' for any of the little girls in my life BUT, you know, I'd actually consider this Pintoy dolls buggy!

It's elegant and has a touch of class about it; it's made from wood and rubber that come from replenishable sources and also comes with a pillow and blanket for keeping 'dolly' warm and cosy.

Your Pintoy doll's buggy doesn't require any self assembly, so you can put your Allen keys away, and is suitable for little girls aged three years and older.

Happy dolly pushing!

The Entertainer are selling this Cosy Cottage My First Kitchen for a staggeringly cheap £5, rather than its full retail price of £20.

• Click HERE to take a look at the Cosy Cottage My First Kitchen

Even though it's 'poke forks in my eyes' time again - I really do loathe pink plastic play kitchens, wooden ones in non gender specific colours I can just about 'do' - this is THE cheapest I've ever seen this Cosy Cottage My First Kitchen so I feel it would be remiss of me, and against the PlayPennies principles, for me not to tell you about it.

So (deep breath) here we go...

The Cosy Cottage My First Kitchen features a hob, a toaster, a sink for doing the washing up (make the most of your little ones wanting to do that, even if it is just pretend, because when they hit 14 they won't want to do it anymore!) and an oven complete with opening door.

I'm glad about the opening door because an oven with a door that doesn't open is a pretty useless oven, in my opinion.  The Cosy Cottage My First Kitchen also comes with 14 kitchen accessories.

If you have an Entertainer local to you then you can collect your Cosy Cottage My First Kitchen for free, otherwise standard home delivery is going to cost you an addition £3.95 - even with postage this is still a GREAT deal for a little play kitchen.

Thanks to lucerysmum at HUKD

This Colour and Build Play Shop looks awesome and is just £7.99 at Home Bargains.

• Click HERE to take a look at the Colour and Build Play Shop

I don't know what it is about 'playing shops' that does it for kids but it seems to be a universal truth that they all like it.  I loved playing shops when I was a child, my two teenagers were forever buying and selling things to each other (now they just 'borrow' from each other without asking - you can imagine the WAR that always ensues!) and my youngest had a shop in the corner of the little nursery he went to.

This Colour and Build Play Shop is going to seriously earn its keep when you consider how many hours of fun your child will get from it versus its cost - first of all they'll colour, paint and personalise their Colour and Build Play Shop.  When that's done you can help them build it and after that endless days of role play shopping can follow.

If you have a Home Bargains close to you, or someone you know, then you (or they) can pop in and collect your Colour and Build Play Shop for free.  Alternatively, you'll pay around £2.95 for home delivery.

Happy play shopping

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

If you have a little one who loves role play games, loves riding on their ride-on toys then I think they'll love this Dream Town Gaskett's Garage and Workshop - it's on sale at Home Bargains for £14.99 instead of £29.99.

• Click HERE to go drive over to Home Bargains

I'm staying away from the gender stereotype that boys 'do' car and mechanic things because I would have LOVED this as a child! I've always had a thing about playing with cars, bombing around on little ride-on toys and, later, making a four-wheeler go-kart from bits and pieces salvaged from the rubbish dump (back in the day when you could do that sort of thing).

Imagination is great and I dreamed up all sorts of events and scenarios but something like this Dream Town Gaskett's Garage and Workshop would have been the icing on the proverbial role-play cake.

I think it's properly awesome and if I had a youngster young enough to buy it for, I would!

If you have a Home Bargains local to you then you can arrange to collect your Dream Town Gaskett's Garage and Workshop for free, otherwise you'll pay up to £2.99 for delivery to your home.

Happy car and garage role-playing!

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

If you've been looking for a wooden play kitchen to take centre stage as the main present of the year - whether it be for Christmas or a birthday, or even a combined birthday and Christmas pressie - then look no further than this wooden diner kitchen that's up for grabs at the Early Learning Centre.

I would strongly advise against thinking 'I'll get round to that later' though, if past experience is anything to go by this wooden diner kitchen tend to go out of stock pretty quickly - things like this are always very popular, especially when it's been reduced from £150 down to £100.

• Click HERE to go over to the Early Learning  Centre

Give me the choice between wood and plastic toys and I'll choose wood every time.  Not just because I'm PlayPennies' resident toy snob, but because there's just something fabulous about playing with something made from a natural material.

Just look at it - there's not a garish plastic toy colour in sight, it's solid, doesn't have any flashing lights and is fantastically retro.  It features a two-ring hob with dials, an oven, a sink, a microwave, chalkboard, cupboard, chopping board, hanging rail, work surface and lots of shelf space for storage - you can never have too much storage in a kitchen!

This has to be one of the best play kitchens I've seen in a long time and my inner toy snob approves too; amazing.

Thanks to staceymacdonald (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!

This Chad Valley Wooden Dolls House is back on sale for half price at Argos again - it's £22.49 instead of £44.99.

• Click HERE to go on over to Argos

I liked this Chad Valley Wooden Dolls House the first time I saw it and I still like it now, which is rather amazing considering I'm the least 'dolly' person in the whole wide world.

Nope, no Tiny Tears for me when I was little!  It was climbing trees, go-karts (with or without engines) and Star Wars action figures all the way for me.

That said, a friend of mine who lived two doors down had a dolls house and I distinctly remember being completely enamoured by the fact that the lights worked when you flicked the switches on; not enough to make me want one of my own though.

If you have a little girly who's into dolls and arranging houses then giving her this Chad Valley Wooden Dolls House is bound to win you a STACK of parental brownie points.

It has a kitchen, lounge, bathroom and one bedroom; ideal for couples, making it the perfect size for the two clothed dolls it comes with - their arms and legs move too.

The scope for imaginative play is endless and batteries are not required due to the peaceful lack of bells, whistles, flashing lights or annoying tunes.

You can arrange to collect your Chad Valley Wooden Dolls House for free from your local Argos, or have it delivered to your front door for £5.95.

Thanks to davidmac1097 at HUKD

Amazon are selling this Smart Cash Register, complete with Chip and Pin, for £4.66 instead of £8.02 (how random is that 2 pence!).

• Click HERE to cash in on this deal

I remember when cash registers had numeric buttons, maths symbols and pre-set cash amounts; I remember when the cashiers had to ring everything up as though they were adding on a giant calculator and the financial value of each item popped up on numbers - not LCD numbers but REAL pop-up numbers - in the cash register window thingy on the top!!

None of these Smart cash registers with chip and pin back in THOSE day you know!

But toys have to keep up with the times so the Smart cash register comes with interactive sounds (lots of beep beeps I imagine), chip and pin, a moving conveyer belt and a credit card (heaven forbid, kids with credit cards!).

It also comes with the important bits like a play basket and food items and cold hard cash (pretend cold hard cash I'm afraid).

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.

Cash register toys have to be one of the most time enduring of them all, I adored going over the road to play with the one my best friend had - I never had one of my own.

So there you have it, I'm off to find another deal for you before my 'I didn't have a cash register as a child' sob story takes hold; you'll never hear the end of it, my mum didn't for y-e-a-r-s.

Thanks to wishihadadonkey at HUKD

Argos are selling this rather cute little Chad Valley Fruit and Veg basket for half price, it's £2.99 now instead of £5.99.

• Click HERE to go over to Argos

I can't help it, things like this bring out my inner market trader and I want to start shouting, "Apples for a pand a pand! C'mon ladies and gents, they've all gotta go today!" (that was my best market trader voice, what do you think?  Rubbish? Oh, alright then).

There are 20 pieces of fruit and veg in this Chad Valley Fruit and Veg basket and it's perfect for teaching youngsters the names of the foods they (hopefully) eat.  It will also be a great opportunity for teaching colours and for encouraging role-play games.

This is the sort of thing my youngest son would love, he's very domestic when it comes to shopping and cooking - I thought I'd start training him to be self-sufficient at a young age, so he doesn't need a replacement mother, ie dogs-body girlfriend, when he leaves home - and the 'shop corner' at school is a big hit with both boys and girls, so don't write toys like this off as being just for girls.

Reserve your Chad Valley Fruit and Veg basket online and pop into town to collect it.

Thanks to razam at HUKD

Argos are currently selling this Baby Annabell doll for half price, £22.49 instead of £44.99.

• Click HERE to go over to Argos

I find posts about dolls really difficult to write; I loathed dolls and baby things as a kid, I was more into Star Wars, Lego, cars and go-karts and, to be honest, I still find them a bit creepy!

My great niece was given one of these Baby Annabell dolls for Christmas and she spent the ENTIRE day playing with her, putting her clothes on, taking them off, putting them back on and then taking them off again.

It was lovely to see her SO engrossed and, apparently, playing with dolls is good as it encourages responsibility - perhaps I should buy one each for my teenagers then!  But I digress, back to the Baby Annabell doll...

She< comes dressed in a pink romper suit and is like a real baby with realistic sounds and features (let's hope not realistic smells too!).

She drinks real water from her bottle and if you take it away from her, or she is woken up, then she cries real tears (someone please explain to me how this is 'fun'..?)

If you rock her she closes her eyes and goes to sleep and if you talk to her, she will 'talk' back with happy sounds.

Unlike a real baby this Baby Annabell doll requires 4AA batteries, which aren't included, and 3AG13 batteries, which are included (I have NO idea what they're like as I've never heard of AG13 batteries!) so if the crying gets a bit too much you can just take them out and she'll be v e r y quite.

Baby Annabell dolls are suitable for little people aged three years and over.

Thanks to 1616french at HUKD

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!