If you're on the lookout for simple wooden learning toys, then you'll want to take a look at these 26 wooden play and learn blocks that Asda have up for grabs for £3.

• Click HERE to see the wooden play and learn blocks

I'm a huge wooden toy fan; I also love toys that have educational and skill development value, so these 26 wooden play and learn blocks really do appeal to me, and if I had a child young enough to get value from them they'd already be in my basket.

They are made from 100% ethically sourced wood  that has FSC approval and each block features two letters of the alphabet and four pictures, which are carved into the wood, of things beginning with the corresponding letters - you just know there's going to be a cat accompanying the letter C!

You can teach letters, shapes, names of objects, colours (as the letters and block edges are colour coordinated) and your child will also be able to develop their basic spelling and word recognition through ordering their blocks to form simple words.  Fine motor skills can also be developed through stacking the blocks too.

I think these are truly fabulous and a bargain for just £3 - you can collect your 26 wooden play and learn blocks for free from the Asda store of your choice, or you can pay an additional £2.95 and have them delivered to your front door.

Happy playing and learning 

Debenhams are selling this wooden doll's house for £19.99 rather than it's original, rather hefty, price of £79.99.

• Click HERE to take a look at this wooden doll's house

I admit it, I have never been a fan of doll's houses, or anything like that that's 'dolly' or girly - give me Star Wars figures and four-wheeler go-karts made from bits and pieces from the tip any day!

However, I realise I'm very much in the minority and so, for all my lack of doll's house and playing 'harriet home-maker' empathy, I decided to write about this wooden doll's house rather than something Lego Star Wars (I loved playing with Lego too!).

The one thing I DO love about wooden doll's houses is this - they don't require batteries, they don't have any flashing lights, bells or whistles and require just 100% imaginative play; for that I have to say 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 (dont' aske me why because I have NO idea)  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 from what I've read it's not going to require you to hold a degree in architecture or home construction.

Standard home delivery is free too, you really can't say fairer than that!

Thanks to mummy2two at HUKD

I'd pay full price, and then some, for this classic Melissa and Doug ABC building block cart - it's the sort of traditional, wooden children's toy that makes my heart jump for joy; Amazon are currently selling it for £9.38 rather than £12.99.

• Click HERE to take a look at the Melissa and Doug ABC building block cart

If I had a child young enough to appreciate this Melissa and Doug ABC building block cart it would already be in my basket, paid for and on its way to my house ASAP.

When my youngest was little, me and his dad went off in search for an ABC building block cart and were stunned as to how expensive they were and not that interesting.

The one we got in the end was basic and did the job but was nowhere near as lovely as this Melissa and Doug ABC building block cart!  It has 30 wooden blocks each featuring letters, numbers and pictures and all fit neatly into their little pull-along cart.

You can line them up in order, stack them, sort them into little groups and EVEN...just pull them all around for kicks (radical, I know!).  It doesn't take any batteries, it doesn't make any noises or have any flashing lights - it's a proper piece of traditional toy heaven.

Thanks to lucerysmum 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

I came across the Little Green Earthlets website yesterday and saw lots of lovely things to tell you about, that would make great stocking fillers.

I love puzzles - which you'll know if you're a regular PlayPennies reader - and Little Green Earthlets have some lovely deals on wooden puzzles just now.

• Click HERE to see all the wooden puzzles

There are all sorts of puzzles here that will not  only provide lots of fun for your little one, but will also help them develop their hand eye coordination, their problem solving skills along with pattern recognition.

All of them are brightly coloured, all of them will appeal to young children and I think they're wonderful as the pieces for all of them fit inside their own wooden board, making them the perfect introduction to the marvellous world of puzzles.

My youngest would have LOVED the tractor puzzle a few years ago (he was a bit obsessed with them) and I particularly like the duck reflections one.

Prices start from £2.99 and delivery cost you £3.95, even for multiple puzzle orders.

Happy puzzling!

Oooh, I do love a good wooden tricycle; I love them even more when they're less than £20 - this wooden tricycle is £19.54 (it's original price was £39.95) and you'll need to add on £3.95 for delivery.

• Click HERE to bag yourself a wooden tricycle

There's just something a little bit special about wooden toys, in my opinion.  They're simple, elegant and timeless; there's rarely a hint of garish neon paint and I would go for wooden toys over plastic wherever possible.

Of course you can't leave a wooden tricycle out in the rain but, quite frankly, you shouldn't be leaving any toys out in the rain!  This particular wooden tricycle is made from beech, measures 51cm x 36cm and is painted in plain, but bright, red, yellow and blue.

As for age suitability, well there's no guidance on the Little Green Earthlets site so you'll have to use your judgement and common sense.  It's all going to depend on how quickly your baby can sit and hold on to something without falling off!

I've tried to find out the last date for Christmas delivery for you, but there's nothing - so if you need to wait a few days before you can order this wooden tricycle then you might want to give them a quick ring and find out; here's the number for you 01435 811555.

Thanks to rose_ginger at HUKD 

Mini Marmalade are half way through their 4-day extravaganza, actually, so you just have today and tomorrow left to bag a bargain at this lovely boutique shop. Standard delivery starts at £2.25.

• It’s an Extravagaza at Mini Marmalade

There’s a variety of stuff on offer and all at different prices and varied offers, so it’s well worth having a browse through.

You’ll find things like the Boo Boo Baby Lotion with £2 off, reducing it to £5.99.

There are Farmyard Organic Bodysuits in packs of 5 that were £28, but are reduced to £20.

I also think the wooden Food and Beverage Set which was £16.99 and is now £13.50 is really cute and would make a brilliant addition to a play kitchen. In addition to that, the gorgeous Wooden Toaster which was £21.99 is now £16.99.

There are some lovely goodies from all the baby categories available in this offer, but remember that it only runs until Monday, so don’t delay!

Marks And Spencer have 50% off a whole lot of toys and books, and one of the items in the sale is the My First Wooden Train Toy Set which is currently selling for £14.75. If you have it delivered, standard delivery is £3.50, but click and collect to store is free.

• Start off  baby’s wooden train collection

My First Wooden Train Toy Set at Marks and Spencer consists of 34 pieces, including a toy train with carriages in bold, bright colour, with funky red wheels. It comes with a bridge that allows the tracks to double back over itself and a tunnel to go through.

The track is put together in segments, but they seem to be quite fixed – I’m not sure how changeable the layout is.  Annoyingly there’s also no indication of whether this track and train are interchangeable with other wooden train sets.

It does conform to the EN71 and Toy Safety Directives, as you’d expect, and is not suitable to under three’s due to small parts.

Amazon have 41% off the BRIO Flying Scotsman Train Set, and are selling it at £35.66 instead of £59.99, which really is a lovely saving.

• Fly into imaginative play with the Flying Scotsman from BRIO

The BRIO Flying Scotsman Train Set is a complete wooden train set, made up of 45 pieces.

There’s a train, tender and two carriages, 20 wooden tracks in a figure of eight, including switching and stop tracks and a classic viaduct bridge. There are trees, people, houses and cars to stimulate hours of imaginative play.

The set is made durable and to BRIO’s high standards.

The Flying Scotsman completed the first non-stop London to Edinburgh run on May 1st 1928 – 392 miles in 8 ¼ hours. In 1934 it became the first steam locomotive to record a fully authenticated speed of 100 miles per hour. This historic locomotive was acquired by the National Railway Museum,York,UK in 2004 and forms part of the National Collection. The world’s most famous steam locomotive – No. 4472 “Flying Scotsman” – with Tender and two LNER Passenger Cars, all faithfully reproduced in wood in this lovely set.

Butterflies and Dinosaurs is the kind of shop I could simply get lost in. They have a gorgeous range of wooden toys, baby skin care, bibs and clothing, gift sets and organic teas and mum-to-be products available, as well as beautiful unique personalised artwork.

Funky things for little people, with 10% off

• Discount:10%
• Expires: 5 November 2011
• Discount Code: READING

There’s a stunning range of wooden toys at Butterflies and Dinosaurs, a lot of which I haven’t actually seen before, so they’re not from the ‘major’ wooden toy brands. I love the ten brightly coloured Soldier Skittles that come with two little balls to knock them down with. Each skittle is around 19.5 cm in height, so they’re a pretty decent size, and cost £19.99.

What really caught my eye though was the superbly cute Noah’s Ark set, with seven pairs of animals (mostly African, it seems,) and Mr and Mrs Noah – this is a  little more at £34.99, but I’m having a hard time not just clicking ‘Add to Cart’. It’s so cute.

If there’s a baby shower or new baby in your future, there are some gorgeous gift sets to choose from, and the personalised art work is really precious too.

Take 10% off the prices listed above, and throw in free delivery and hopefully you’ll love their products as much as I do!

Toys R Us have a wooden dolls house on offer for £49.99, 50% off the original price. Aparently it’s been that price for a while, and we even wrote about it about a year ago, but with a birthday coming up, and the big “C” just over 100 days away, now seems as great a time to remind you as ever!

• Play with a fully equipped dolls house

No matter how long it’s been at this price (I don’t know, actually, it’s the first time I’ve seen it), this dolls house is still great value for money.

For under £50, you get a doll family, consisting of mum, dad, boy, girl and baby. Furniture wise you have a dining room with table, chairs, cupboards and accessories; a cooker, cupboard, washing machine and accessories for the kitchen; sofas, a table, TV unit and shelves for the sitting room; a bed, bedside tables, vanity unit, and wardrobe for the master bedroom; the kids share a room with bunk beds, rocking chair and a crib, and a bathroom with a sink, toilet, and cupboard.

Delivery will cost you £4.95, or you can click and collect from Toys R Us.

Thanks to ljfx at HUkD

The Toy Shop - or The Entertainer, if you prefer - are selling Brio toys for half price at the moment; there are some rather nice bargains to be had!

• Click HERE to go over to The Toy Shop

Brio make wooden train sets and toys; I'm a bit of a fan of wooden toys, rather than plastic, and if my youngest was still in to train sets then there would be lots of things he'd love here.

There are wooden engines for £4.50 instead of £9.00 and they're not just wooden-shaped engines either, their detail is rather lovely.

There are straight sections of track (4 for £3 instead of £6), curved corner track pieces (4 for £2.25 instead of £5), two mechanical track switches will only set you back £6.50 instead of their original £13 and there's a mechanical turntable available for £7.00 instead of £14.

There are stations and cranes to buy too or you can buy complete sets and add to them with expansion packs.

The Brio Crane Set has been reduced from £44.99 down to £22.50 and the big play table for building your train sets on is now £39.99 instead of a whopping £159.99.

Delivery is free if you spend over £30 otherwise standard delivery will cost £3.95, OR you can collect in-store for free if you have a Toy Shop near you.

Thanks to amibees at HUKD

The P’kolino Twirling Trompo toy is a seaside themed spinning top toy for babies and toddlers.  By seaside-themed, they mean an octopus with a squeaker hidden inside its ‘body’ and a spinning top as its base.

You can give the Twirling Trompo a twirl and his legs spin out in a way that is spellbinding for little ones.  The wooden top can be separated from the material part, which is probably preferable for very young babies. But from around six month, babies can attempt to spin the top, which is meant to be good for developing fine motor skills.

The fabric is machine washable, which is useful when you’re dealing with a teether that likes to gnaw on everything.

I do like this toy, and my daughter enjoyed and still does enjoy playing with it, but I did find it more of a parent toy in the sense that it was a bit hard for her to get the octopus to spin round – indeed, unless I kind of bend the tentacles up a bit, they interfered with the spin completely. But as a toy, she doesn’t seem to mind that and I can’t complain about its quality at all.

While we only have the Twirling Trompo, I am really keen on many of the other products in the range, which include other toys such as this beautiful wooden teether toy, art supplies, and stunningly functional children’s furniture.

P’kolino are a US brand and while not everything is available in the UK yet, you can find a few items, including the Twirling Trompo at both Nubie and Peanutandpip.

There’s 10% off play food at the Wooden Toy Shop. There doesn’t seem to be any indication how long this sale will be on for, but the products are so reasonably priced anyway, it’s just an added bonus. There’s free delivery on orders over £50, otherwise delivery will be between £2.95 and £3.95.

• Stock the play kitchen with fab play food

I really love the Wooden Toy Shop and have ordered myself a few toys from them, and I can’t wait for the toys to arrive. While I’m a huge wooden toy fan, most of the time they’re totally out of my price range – but not at Wooden Toy Store.

While items are still more than you’d pay at Pound Stretcher, these are stunning toys which I think are on a price-par with high street alternatives and have many more options available.

Just look at this beautiful Salad Selection (pictured) for £9.49 (now £8.54), these hunger inducing cakes and buns for £13.13 or this awesome tiered cake,(pictured) now £17.83.

Or, if you want play to be at least a little educational, there’s four baskets of food separated into different food groups(pictured), and a Young Chef’s Baking Set (£8.81), for getting them play-play involved in the kitchen.

I think this is a brilliant selection of play food that should inspire hours of kitchen fun.

These lovely wooden farm animals are £6.58 at Amazon at the moment, making them 59% less than the £15.99 RRP. These aren’t available in all the ‘normal’ places, but if you wanted them elsewhere, you’d find them at SP Models for  £17.63, Precious Little One for £17.95  and at the Wooden Toy Store for £19.95.

• Enhance playtime with these wooden farm animals from Amazon and Plan Toys

I love this little wooden farm animal set. The toys are made from non-chemically treated rubberwood, and make a fantastic alternative to plastic toys.

The set includes a cow, a calf, a piglet, a sheepdog with a moveable head, and a sheep with removable wool for the seasonal sheep shearing!

There’s not a lot of information around on this set, sadly, except that it is compatible with other toys in the range, which include everything from a farm house to people, farm equipment and so on.

These are suitable for children over three years, says Amazon, I guess because of ‘small parts’.

Thanks to grumpyat3 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!

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

I'm trying to think how best to describe Hampton Blue to you...

You know when you come across a little shop which sells things that are a little bit different to all the usual run-of-the-mill things, whether it be clothes, toys, gifts or little trinkets that are just for the sheer hell of it?  Well that, to me at least, is Hampton Blue.

Hampton Blue is a family run business set up by two sisters who were, and I quote, "... inspired to set up our own online boutique offering a treasure trove of desirable accessories and gifts at affordable prices."

The banner headline on their website reads 'Temptation at your fingertips' - it won't take a long browse around to realise that this is very true...you've been warned.

We were sent two toys from Hampton Blue to review - a Pirate Tap A Shape Box (£4.95) and a Lanka Kade Wooden Snail Jigsaw (£5.95) - which we sent off to PlayPennies mum, Laura, to try for us.

Pirate Tap A Shape Box

Laura and her six-year-old son were a little bemused with the Pirate Tap A Shape Box.  Firstly, there's not a box in sight as everything comes packaged in a round metal tin.

Secondly, Laura tells us that name on the tin caused some confusion too, "The name on the tin is Tap A Shape Pirate in a Tin Game. Except, there are no instructions in there for how you are meant to play with this as a game."

She goes on to say, "What you do get are lots of little pieces, beautifully crafted out of wood, that can be moved about to create all sorts of different types of pictures. At six, my son was soon quickly bored with it though, and he didn't really get it either."

Laura explains the age advice on the tin is from aged three years onwards which, whilst she understands due to the small pieces presenting a potential choking hazard, she feels is a bit of a shame as, in her opinion, it's more suited to younger children.

However, all was not lost with the Pirate Tap A Shape Box!

"The tin was a huge hit though, with it's see through lid and cute pirate graphics. I've since noticed that the contents have been emptied and substituted for some of his 'treasures', such as a foreign coin, a plastic spider, and a domino."

It sounds a bit like the well known 'cardboard box' syndrome to me - where the packaging is FAR more fun than its contents.

Lanka Kade Snail Jigsaw

The Lanka Kade Snail jigsaw is described as a educational wooden counting jigsaw in the shape of a snail and Laura loved it.

"This is a delightful toy," she says, "there are five parts to the snail, each numbered. It works as a puzzle, and as a counting toy. It's made of wood, in primary colours. The label on the back says it is hand made in Sri Lanka, and that it is made of rubber wood."

Laura also explained to us that Lanka Kade is an approved Fairtrade supplier and that the Snail jigsaw was suitable for littlies aged 18 months or over, "As I don't have a baby in that age range, I gave it to my best friend's son to play with (he's 20 months) and he loved it too."

Laura said it was fun showing him how it went together along  with helping him 'count' through the pieces, " He played with the body part of the snail as a toy too, and his mother tells me that he takes it about with him when they go out too.  She finds it is a great toy to keep him occupied if they're on the train."

You can't get a much better endorsement than that - a toddler who wants to take a toy with them whenever they go out.

Laura also told us that her friend's son was particularly interested in the individual shapes that make up the snail, "The pieces of the snail aren't just rounded parts of the shell spiral that fit together. The parts of the shell sort of interlock. This keeps the snail together more than it would if it all just sat together, and that's probably the intention."

The unusual interlocking shapes of the pieces proved utterly fascinating in their own right making the Lanka Kade Snail jigsaw a huge hit.

And finally...

If you're looking for original little toys or gifts that won't break the bank then it will be well worth paying a visit to Hampton Blue.

Both Laura and her friend felt that both items were perfectly priced and even though the Pirate Tap A Shape box seemed a bit 'random', the tin is still providing plenty of joy and storage for those special little things.

www.hamptonblue.co.uk

Tell me these FUNKY looking wooden bikes don't loook the bikes from Tron!

If you don't want to be like every other kid on the wooden bike block then you might like to consider one of these seriously cool looking BIT bikes from Glodos.

They're a Spanish company  - hence the 95 euro price tag, what's that in real money? About £70?  - and when the page opened I came face-to-face with lots of Spanish words; as luck would have it I have a cousin who's been living in Spain for the last seven years.

Me: "Morning, could you do a bit of translating for me please?"

Cuz: "Sure!"

Me: "What does all this say...?"

Me: "Para realizar una compra en GLODOS.COM deberá rellenar el formulario siguiente. Una vez finalizado el proceso de compra le será enviada a la cuenta de correo facilitada una copia de la orden de compra."

Cuz: "It says: to buy on Glodos.com you must fill in the following form..."

Me:"Oh wait; WAIT! If you click on the little 'EN' at the very bottom of the page you can look at the English version HAHA!"

Cuz: *SIGH!*

Is pretty much how our conversation went.

On the form it asks for your National ID or VAT number and it's a compulsory field - well, we don't have National ID numbers (unless you count our National Insurance numbers, but I'm not putting THAT down!) and, I'm guessing, most of you aren't VAT registered either, so I tested out the form by just putting in 1234567890 and it was quite happy to accept that.

I'm not sure if they can really be classed as bikes as they don't have any pedals, but who cares about such minor detail when you can be scooting around on something that looks as cool as the Glodos BIT Wooden bike?

Argos are selling this Chad Valley Wooden Table and 80-Piece Train Set for half its full retail price - £29.99 instead of £59.99.

• Click HERE to go to Argos

Before my youngest started school he went to nursery, they had one of these Chad Valley Wooden Table and 80-Piece Train Sets and every morning, without fail, most of the kids (the girls too) would head straight for it; it was one of the most popular play items.

It's suitable for little train fans aged three years and over - when there were open parent play days at nursery a lot of the dads made a beeline for the train set table too - and it comes with a whole host of train set bits and pieces.

The Chad Valley Wooden Table and 80-Piece Train Set includes four trains, three vehicles, 10 road signs, two stand blocks, one track with bridge, one track with a gate, 14 trees and bushes, 10 building pieces, seven figures, 28 normal track pieces and a table to put them all on.

This is currently out of stock for home delivery which means you're going to have to go out into the big wide world to pick one up.

It can be a laborious task searching for stock on the Argos website so I was rather 'excited' when I came across istockcheck.co.uk which searches for, and lists, stock for your searched item in ALL the Argos stores across the country, starting with the ones nearest to the postcode you entered.

It will also tell you how far away each store is; hurrah. I've entered a fair few postcodes for various parts of the UK and there are quite a few of these Chad Valley Wooden Table and 80-Piece Train Sets around, so you shouldn't have too much trouble getting your hands on one.

Thanks to shadow1 at HUKD