Toy Box

BACKGROUND

My little boy is a huge fan of Bob the Builder. He is also into a variety of other characters from CBeebies. I like to get him a magazine every now and then for a treat. Because he is into so many different characters, it would cost me a small fortune to buy a magazine for each of them. I needed something with a bit of everything in it.

THE PRODUCT

The magazine I found was Toybox. It cost me 99 pence and looks as though it comes out about every three weeks. It normally comes with a free gift - such as crayons, stickers and mini games. It is one of the BBC magazines.

WHAT'S IT ABOUT

This magazine basically contains all the characters that appear on 'CBeebies', such as Bob the Builder, The Tweenies, and Balamory etc. I would say that the age range on this magazine would be from the ages of three to six.

There is a section at the front of the magazine, which is for grown ups. This tells you what your child will learn from the different parts of the magazine. For example, there are activities to help improve a child's hand and finger control and to improve the imagination and build confidence etc.

The magazine usually includes some sort of basic recipe that you can make with your child. It is simple enough so that they can help you out with it to an extent.

There is also a story include in every issue which contains one of the characters/programme from CBeebies.

The magazine also contains pictures for children to colour in, copy a drawing into a blank square, that sort of thing.

The particular magazine I am reviewing today is dated 10 to 30 January. I have not gone into every page of the magazine because it would take to long. I have just included some of the activity pages to give an example of what kind of content the magazine has.

The free gift that came with this edition is a golf game, consisting of a small golf club, ball, flag, and something for the ball to be putted into (please note that this particular free gift is unsuitable for under three's due to the risk of choking on small parts).

On the inside cover of the magazine is a colour match game with the Fimbles. This I thought was a nice section because it goes through the basics of mixing colours to make other colours, such as red and yellow make orange. What they have also done is written the name of the colour in dotted lines so that your child can go around the dots to make the word.

On a double page is a Bob the Builder section, which gives you a step by step guide to make a simple golf course to use with the free golf game that came with the magazine. There are also some flags to cut out with some Bob the Builder characters on to use with the game. I liked this because it was made from everyday household items such as bottle tops and empty toilet rolls. A young child could help you in making this.

There is a double page with a recipe for some gingerbread cookies. What I liked with this part is that as well as the normal list of ingredients and instructions on how to make, they have also included a template for you to cut out so you can make your gingerbread cookies in a specific shape.

There is a single page on exercising with the Rubbadubbers. I liked this section because it shows that exercise is another way that children can have fun. It's nice, simple things that young children can do, such as hopping on one foot, doing star jumps, so it isn't too complicated for them.MY OPINION

It's a great magazine for children aged I would say between three and six. It's a bargain at only 99 pence. There are so many different magazines around now that feature just a single CBeebies character/show, costing anywhere from £1.50 to £2.50.

If your child is like mine and loves several of the CBeebies characters/shows, then you could end up spending quite a bit of money on magazines that are read and then cut up to enable them to do the activities inside. With this one being just 99 pence and containing all the shows, then there is no real need to buy another magazine and for the price it doesn't matter so much about it being cut up.

What I also like about this magazine is that it is only out once every three weeks, making the weekly cost of this just 33 pence. A lot of children's magazines tend to come out on a weekly basis, and when they cost anywhere from £1.50 onwards then they can prove to be expensive.

I liked that the magazine didn't just contain stories. While children do like having a magazine read to them they can become slightly bored after a while. With this magazine having so many to do's in it keeps the little ones interested.

It was nice that they kept the activities different. It wasn't all just colouring in. The magazine has also included cutting out, making up your own instrument and drawing a picture of it.

I thought it was good that the magazine also included a page on exercise. With figures saying that more children are becoming obese then having a magazine giving children some fun exercises to do is a good idea.

The magazine covers a variety of different skills for your child to master, from building confidence to using their imagination.

I find that this magazine gives parents some ideas for things to do with their children and it also allows a bit of special time together where a parent and child can sit down together and spend quality time together, having some fun.WOULD I RECOMMEND

Yes I would recommend. I have bought several editions of this magazine and me and my little one have had lots of good fun together playing the games and making different things. It's a nice magazine which allows your child to have fun, whilst also learning.

Thanks for taking the time to read my review, Cath. xx