February 8, 2018

Chad Valley Toys Review

If you’ve read any of our previous posts, then you’ll know that we are big fans of Chad Valley, which is stocked in Argos. They incorporate play and learning together really well and make toys which help to capture and expand your child’s imagination. Little I, who is three, is at such a great age for role play and the Chad Valley toys help her little games come to life.

We were sent four toys that were perfect for role play and we thought we’d share our thoughts with you guys!

Post Office

First up is this super fun little Chad Valley post office playset. I think this was Little I’s favourite toy out of this selection. It’s a clever little toy that converts from a post box, where you can post letters etc, into an actual little post office shop, with lots of accessories, such as stamps, ink, airmail stickers, parcels, postcards, envelopes, play money, tax disc, driving license and savings books. It also has a handle so it can be carried about easily.

Little I loved pretending to box up parcels, fill out forms, sell stamps, and all the usual things you do at a post office. She didn’t like it when L came along and stole all the letters and parcels though!

The Chad Valley post office is a really fun toy, and something a little bit different. We have had a few issues with getting parts to stay in the right place, such as the post office sign, but that might just be me not being able to figure out where it should go. It is a great toy for the price of £16.99 and I’m sure we will get a lot of use out of it.

Play Chef Toy Kitchen

I’ve yet to find a child who doesn’t like playing with a toy kitchen and this Chad Valley play chef toy kitchen looks loads of fun! There is something about cooking and serving that kids just find fascinating and it’s so much fun to watch. Little I loves to come and take our order and then boss L about to make things for her to serve up. She also likes to make the noises when she helps with the ‘cooking’ and says things like ‘mix mix mix’ and ‘oh this is a little bit hot’. Too cute.

The little fridge part and the hot plate section is something you don’t see in a lot of other toy kitchens so that is a nice touch. The fact the oven has two different levels is good. And the accessories (26 in total!) and play food that come with it are great too – we especially liked the menu and order notepad.

Little I particularly liked that you could use real water in the sink and all the lights and cooking sounds. She liked switching roles between being the chef or the waitress.

It’s not as sturdy as a wooden kitchen but that’s to be expected. For the price of £54.99, you’re getting a fun, interactive kitchen that will keep your little ones entertained time and time again.

Shop Play Tent

The Chad Valley shop play tent is SO much fun. It’s super easy to pop up and put together (and put away – folds up great) and gives ‘playing shoppies’ a whole new 3D dimension. The shop features a shop counter shelf, a little shopping bag and a stick on bell and shop sign.

It can be used indoors or you could take it outside in the summer, in good weather.

We have played so many games of shoppies in our Chad Valley shop play tent and Little I loves setting up all her bits and bobs to sell. L regularly gets banned from the shop for being a shoplifter but apart from that our games go pretty smoothly! It’s a great toy for £21.99.

Shopping Trolley

This Chad Valley shopping trolley is a great accessory for our pop up shop tent. It’s another toy that adds to the role play experience and makes it all seem more ‘real’. It comes with 25 grocery accessories which are cardboard and need to be assembled, but it doesn’t take very long at all.

£11.99 is a good price for this cute little trolley and Little I loves pushing it around.

Pirate Activity Table

The Chad Valley pirate activity table is full of lots of fun things to do and L got stuck in straight away, even before I’d managed to put all the stickers on! It’s really easy to set up and barely took me any time at all.

There’s a ball tower, a flip book, a ball launcher, spinning toys, a water canon and removable plastic shapes. L particularly liked the ball tower and ball launcher.