We are actually still waiting for some of our toys to arrive from Toys R Us HQ but we were keen to get started with our first review anyway and to spread a little happiness on a gloomy rainy day.

We decided to invite Esther and William’s friend, Willow, round to play.

All three children had a lovely time and before having crumpets for lunch we asked 3 year old Willow to test our Pink Sticker Collection from Melissa and Doug.

This extensive sticker collection states on it’s packaging that it is suitable for ages 3+ but actually Willow’s Mummy and I feel that it would be even better suited to children aged 5 and above as the stickers are quite small and tricky for tiny fingers to manipulate. Willow enjoyed looking at and choosing stickers, she loved sticking them down but had some trouble removing them from the sheet. Mummy had to operate on at least one headless animal!!

There are so many stickers to choose from in this selection pack but there is no real guidance as to what they might be used for especially with the smallest children this product is aimed at.

We gave Willow some A4 paper to stick her stickers to but I am sure that she would have had much more fun if there were coloured backgrounds provided for her to stick her stickers too. Perhaps a yard for the farm animals, a dance studio for the ballet stickers, a garden for the bugs? This would change a sticker collection instantly into an activity pack.

With older children this pack would be great for developing language skills such as vocabulary and storytelling. It could be great for developing sorting skills, thinking about colour and size. It also provides potential for learning about position; the bee is on the flower, the bird is in the garden, where is the horse? etc …

The stickers would make great decorations for school books or could be accessories for making birthday cards, adding detail to collages, pictures, scrap books and crafts.

The concept of the sticker collection reminds me of fuzzy felt but can only be used once and you have to make your own backgrounds. Perhaps you did with fuzzy felt?

If it is volume of stickers and value for money you are after then this might tick your box. £4.99 is a great price for so many stickers, covering such a wide range of topics and interests. There is a pink collection for girls and a blue for boys. I wonder which you would buy for a boy who likes fairies or a girl who loves cars?

Melissa and Doug present 10 themed pages with over 700 stickers. The categories include tea party, fairy, horse show, fashion, zoo animals and pets.

3 year old Willow enjoyed using the stickers to make pictures for her Daddy but she needed a lot of help from Mummy. This encouraged lots of talk which was great for Willow’s language development and meant this was a really great way of sharing an activity with Mummy but it did clearly illustrate that this is not something that could be used independently by many 3 year olds.

Willow did not really understand the concept of creating a picture with the stickers such as a party scene or garden landscape, she just wanted to collect together all the stickers that she liked on one page.

This product would need some thought by parents as to how to use this effectively with toddlers and pre-school children. In my opinion this collection of stickers would be much better for school age children who have a better idea of narrative and setting a scene and are more experienced with imaginary play and have a wider repertoire of stories to draw ideas from.

Having said all of the above, our 3 year old reviewer, Willow was very proud of her finished pictures and I am sure that as I type they will be taking centre stage on Mummy’s fridge at home!

Thank you Willow for a lovely day. What a terrific toyologist you are!

Would you like to be a toyologist like Willow?

Would you like a chance to write a review for Toys R Us and Edspire?

One such opportunity is coming very soon!!