Chad Valley Cash Register

...our trusted Woolworths was the Chad Valley Cash Register. This was one that my daughter had looked at longingly for about a month before we actually paid the £14.99 Woollies were asking and made her day.

You get quite a lot for your money to be honest because as well as the cash register itself, there is also a selection of toy food, a basket, some money for the till and credit cards. A nice little selection.

--The ...
...the toy is very good actually. In the centre of the piece there is the till itself, which has a real calculator as the till face. There is a large orange button on the bottom which will open the till with a satisfying "ping", and sections inside the till drawer for the various coins or notes you are using to play with.

On the left of the till is a conveyor belt, attached by a piece of plastic so it is moulded to it. It has ... more

Another spur of the minute purchase from our trusted Woolworths was the Chad Valley Cash Register. This was one that my daughter had looked at longingly for about a month before we actually paid the £14.99 Woollies were asking and made her day.

You get quite a lot for your money to be honest because as well as the cash register itself, there is also a selection of toy food, a basket, some money for the till and credit cards. A nice little selection.

--The Cash Register --

The main part of the toy is very good actually. In the centre of the piece there is the till itself, which has a real calculator as the till face. There is a large orange button on the bottom which will open the till with a satisfying "ping", and sections inside the till drawer for the various coins or notes you are using to play with.

On the left of the till is a conveyor belt, attached by a piece of plastic so it is moulded to it. It has a moving strip of material for the belt on it. To the right of the till is the scanner and scanner holder for your child to swipe the food as you shop, which has a sound and light feature to match the real thing.

There is also a microphone on the top of the till, which is you press and hold the mic button, then speak into it, actually works.

-- The features in play --

My daughter has just turned three years old (the recommended age for this toy) and is getting more and more interested in role playing games. This has to be one of the easier ones to play with her as we take it in turns to be either the shopper or the shopkeeper and if I have a choice this will win over playing mummy and baby every day! (I usually have to be the baby!)

The cash register is not too small for little people; although my daughter does have to lean right down to speak into the microphone, which is a bit awkward. However for me, when I am the shopkeeper, it feels much too small and makes it hard to interact properly with her during the game. The till drawer is too small for my hands but perfect for hers and this usually means I play the shopper. There is a key for the till drawer which does lock it and when we temporarily lost it, I thought we were stuffed, but my son got a normal key and put it in the lock, twisted and the drawer opened. Excellent news, otherwise the key would have been a real waste of time and play opportunities.

The calculator on the till is great though. Each button gives a little beep as it is pressed and the corresponding number appears on the digital screen. This did grasp my daughter's interest for a while and even now, a couple of month's after purchase, she seems quite amused that numbers appear on the screen when she pushes a button. I will need to start trying to associate the number with the key soon, so she can recognise what they look like.

I was disappointed with the conveyor belt however and felt it could have been designed much better. It is marketed as a moving conveyor belt, when in reality it is a flimsy piece of material that can be slid along the flat surface, using the food separator, which is permanently attached to the material. This means it can be moved all of about 2 inches at most really, and certainly not enough to be able to include it in any kind of role-playing game. There is just not enough leeway in the movement to be able to put food on the belt and move it as well.

The scanner faired better, and my daughter really enjoys clicking the red LED light on the scanner over the bar codes on the toy food. If you press the button on the top of the scanner it gives a satisfying beep, just like Sainsbury's. When we first got the toy I thought it would read the bar codes on the food supplied but I think I may have been asking a bit too much for a £14.99 toy.

With all the beeping and moving features this has, my daughter's favourite has to be the credit card feature. You are supplied with two thick plastic pretend credit cards and there is a slot running down the side of the till, where you can swipe the cards. Every time you do this a flag pops up on the top of the till, with VISA, written on it and it is easily pushed back down for the next go. This has been used over and over again, it's funny how many times a credit card can fail its transaction in our games! Ha ha. (Bit like real life really!)

The microphone is OK, but nothing special. I thought it would be a favourite aspect of the till for my daughter but she only uses it every now and then. You literally have to have your mouth practically touching the end of the microphone for it to make your voice sound slightly louder. It does make it sound like a real supermarket tannoy but is just too uncomfortable for continuous use and may well use up the 3 AA batteries it takes much quicker anyway.

-- How will this toy help --

I am no child expert, other than by hands on experience, but it is easy to see that this cash register will encourage imaginative play. This has been proved as my daughter is coming out with things that I was surprised at, like speaking into the microphone that the shop is closing and it is time to pay. That is forward thinking, getting me to go to her till with my purchases rather than spend anymore time browsing the toy food shelves!

It will also improve hand to eye co-ordination, as the shop keeper will be picking up the food and scanning it and also operating the till itself, with the drawer and so on, and as the box says it will provide light and sound stimulation as well.

What I like the most though is that it allows for interaction with others and this is something I have been trying to encourage with my daughter as she is having a tough time settling into pre-school. I need to encourage her to play with her friends when they come to my house, in order to show her that it is fun to play with other people apart from me. This will in turn improve her confidence and maybe just get her to accept pre-school. This till is definitely better as a two-person toy and so is great for this purpose, although she does play alone as well, which is good to see.

Overall, I am happy we spoiled her that day as it has provided a lot of good fun games that I think have encouraged her to become slightly more confident and imaginative. Her toy food has come in very handy and we have our own little Sainsbury's in the lounge every few days. 

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