I am very excited to have been invited to see the unveiling of the winners of this year’s Slow Toy Awards later this month.

Without meaning to we have become players of slow toys in our house and I cannot wait to see this year’s Slow Seven.

To be a slow toy a product must

× Encourage traditional play

× Boost creative thinking

× Inspire the developments of one’s own imagination

× Not be made of plastic

× Not use batteries

× Be sold in independent toy shops

× Be durable, stand the test of time

× Not have thousands of different functions

I think that we have found the perfect slow toys.

Paper cups and pom poms!

When we went on holiday this summer I took with us pink, purple and white paper cups and a packet of craft pom poms.

I then completely forgot about them until we arrived back home.

One late summer day when we did not have much to do I got out the cups and pom poms and gave them to Esther and William to see what they would do.

William was immediately drawn to the cups and Esther to the colourful pom poms.

William started stacking and together we explored building towers.

We talked about spacing out the cups evenly and balancing one cup on top of another. We talked about building walls and making different levels.

William loved it.

He loved counting out the cups for the bottom layer and carefully balancing the next layer of cups on top of the originals.

As we placed each cup we said ‘link’ he liked the idea of creating links.

He also like breaking the links and knocking the towers down.

We spent a long long time building different towers and walls and structures, using our linking technique.

William loved extending the bottom layer each time.

He liked the challenge of building a wall with a slight curve.

And he loved building towers that were taller than him.

The concentration William demonstrated during this activity was admirable for a boy who was only just three.

Meanwhile little Esther was busy with the poms poms. Little fuzzy balls of different colours and size.

She used the cups as pots. For scooping and sorting, collecting and pouring. She had a wonderful time.

With Esther I focused on colour sorting and exploring patterns.

I also showed her how to create little creatures. Pink and purple caterpillars. Blue and brown baby owls.

We were definitely using our imaginations to create creatures and bring them to life.

William also enjoyed the pom poms.

He spent a lot of time transferring them from cup to cup.

He thought it was wonderful fun to thrown the poms poms in the air and try to catch them again.

He made a glorious, colourful mess! They both did. But they both had fabulous fun!

The paper cups and poms poms together cost me less than £5 and we have had hours and hours, days and days of play.

Slow play.

Slow play but fast learning and lots and lots of fun!