There are two undeniable facts about the Tomy Discovery Dome Deluxe – it’s fantastic, and it’s expensive.

At over £50, it’s not a cheap toy, but then, it’s not just a toy either – it’s at least four toys in one and is suitable for a good range of ages.

First, it’s a playhouse and it’s a great size for indoor play as you can just about fit a toddler inside, but wouldn’t be able to fit more than one at a squeeze. It is made of material and plastic so it’s fine for outdoor use, but couldn’t really live outside as it would get ruined pretty quickly.

Apart from the  entrance, it has three other ‘walls’ and each wall is stuffed with activities that are supposed to teach a child colours, numbers and shapes. There’s an ‘entrance bell’ for when they climb in and out of the dome, and a plastic mesh ‘roof’ so that you can see inside from the top if you need to. The four corners have large paws to keep the play dome steady, which for all intents and purposes, it is.

Activities include a ball that you pop in the top cup on one of the walls and it runs down a slide type thing running inside and outside the tent until it comes to a stop at the bottom on the outside. Another is a ‘helter skelter’ ball on the back wall that’s basically a large noisy thing and the littlies love it.

There’s also a set of shaped sorting keys.

The Tomy Discovery Dome Deluxe is bright, colourful, and stands up to a bit of rough and tumble. It’s great for one child to play with alone, and equally great for play dates and so on as everyone can play together and interact with it and each other.

It’s suitable from 1 – 3 years, but I’ve even seen five year old’s having fun with especially the ball and tunnel activities, so while I do think it’s pricy, it’s one of those things that I think is a pretty good investment, especially as it packs up pretty compactly and can be stored under the bed or behind the sofa.

There’s 60-something percent off this Magical Melody Maker toy from Toys-R-Us, selling for £9.99 instead of £29.99.

• Make magical music with Tomy Discovery and Toys-R-Us

So the way this Tomy Discovery Magical Melody Maker works is that you place a muscical instrument on the ‘stage’ which makes it play a melody. You then add the other instruments, and as they start to ‘dance’, they join in with the melody.  Each instrument apparently plays it’s own chords and riffs, and you can choose between five different melodies.

There are only two reviews, but they’re both five star reviews,  with absolutely no ‘cons’ listed for the toy.  Both reviewers say that the children have had hours of fun playing with it, and are totally fascinated by the musical instruments dancing and making music – which makes it sound like good value for money anyway, but now at this price, it must be a winner.

One of the reviewers has even bought some as gifts since, which seems like a really good idea, especially as you can get three for the price of one now.

It does require 3 x C-size batteries, which you’ll have to buy separately.

Thanks to sapphire2 at HUKD