Collection: Kids Activities and Play

This is the screen-free side of the shop: craft kits, making sets, magnetic play, bath things and colouring, chosen to suit different ages from toddler upwards. Most of it costs under twenty dollars, and nothing here needs a screen or a battery.

Magneti'book is the piece to know about if you are buying for a toddler. Janod pairs a magnetic board with a sheet of printed tiles, and the range covers dinosaurs, unicorns, fairy tales, firemen, jobs and funny faces. Everything resets in a second, the whole thing packs flat, and it is quiet enough to take to a restaurant or on a journey. That combination is why it gets recommended more than anything else in the collection.

The crochet and clay kits sit a step up in age. They walk through a project stitch by stitch rather than assuming you know what you are doing, which makes them work for a child who has outgrown simple craft and for an adult who has never tried it. The origami sets cover twenty-four designs and are the cheapest way into paper folding.

For younger children, the bath bombs and coloured bath things turn an ordinary evening into something to look forward to, and they are small enough to be an add-on rather than the present itself. The colouring pads and pads of paper are the same idea: cheap, used up, replaced. The colouring books cover the older end.

The squishies are worth mentioning because they sell better than anything else here. The Nee Doh Nice Cube and Gum Drop in their solid and stretchy versions are the two that move fastest, and they cost little enough that a child can buy one with their own money. There is a wider range of them in the squishy collection.

There are also the books that come with something to do, from the Dangerous Book for Boys to the activity titles on the shelves, which work when you are not sure whether a child prefers making or reading.

If you know the age, that narrows it faster than anything. A magnetic set suits a toddler, the kits suit roughly six and up, and the origami and calligraphy suit older children and teenagers.

We keep the range in stock. If there is something particular you are looking for that you are not able to find on the website, reach out to us and we will be glad to help.