REVIEW – Dodo & Bilby Toys

Ever since Erin was tiny I have always loved wooden toys. There is something special about a more natural traditional toy, that helps encourage imagination, creativity and fine motor skills whilst at the same time being made from sustainable materials as opposed to being full of plastic or including batteries.

We were recently approached by Dodo & Bilby to see if we wanted to review their website. After a few moments looking around on the site, I knew instantly that their range of products would be a hit with both the girls and I!

About Dodo & Bilby

Dodo and Bilby is an online toy shop specialising in toys and fry friends for little humans – children between 0 and 4 years (with big plans to soon extend their range for children up to 10 years). Their super easy to navigate site even splits products into age categories and types, making it super easy to select a gift no matter who the recipient.

The toys on their site are CE marked, meet all Euripoean requirements of standard EN 71 and are made from fully sustainable materials, which is reassuring for any parent!

Here are our thoughts on the products we received.

Activity Cube

This sturdy Activity Cube reminded me very much of something similar I had as a  child. A traditional wooden shape sorter with five different shaped blocks (all in different colours). Children can slot them through into the cage inside, before opening the hinged door to get them all back out again. With it’s curved abacus style roof, Neve really enjoyed playing with the beads and moving them across from one side to the other. The challenge here was keeping her big sister away from it, who was very keen to ‘help’ (aka hide all the blocks from her!). Whilst the shape sorting element is a bit tough for Neve yet (she is only 10 months), this is a great way of introducing her to different colours and shapes.

Sandcastle Blocks Puzzle

I absolutely love this sandcastle blocks puzzle – with different shaped wooden blocks and even felt flags to create the shape of a sandcastle on the three wooden poles secured to a base.

It was quite hard for Erin to get the design the same as it was on the box, so we tended to do this one together. I love the different colours and patterns, and the fact that Erin had to really think about the shapes in order to recreate it.

Building Bricks with Figures

This Building Bricks with Figures toy was the girls favourite from the selection we received. These sturdy cardboard stackable cubes each have their own design and opening, in which the loveable characters can be homed. Erin absolutely loved this set and really enjoyed stacking up the cardboard boxes in reducing size order to make a tower, before adding the little wooden characters into each of their houses. Matching up the animal to their respective home required some attention and as such, she had to look closely at the images whilst she played.

On the reverse side of the blocks you create a very tall boy when the blocks are placed in the right order! 🙂

The most annoying part of this toy for Erin was when her little sister unfortunately crawled her way over and inevitably knocked them all down! You can’t really blame her for wanting to get her mitts on that cute little Kitten though!

Rattle Balls

Finally we opted for the most simple Rattle Balls toy – perfect one for younger babies. This adorable wooden rattle cage has two wooden balls inside. What is great about this rattle is the open sides making it super easy for Neve to grab hold off and shake. She also enjoys rolling it across the carpet and crawling (monkey style) across the carpet to chase it!

Overall we were really impressed with the toys from Dodo & Bilby, and I would be more than happy to recommend the site to friends and family. The toys are very reasonably priced (not always the case with wooden toys!) and are of a high quality and built to last, meaning I would be confident giving then to my children to play with.

You can check out the full range of toys available on the Dodo & Bilby Website.

*Disclosure – we were offered a selection  of toys free of charge in exchange for our honest review, however all thoughts and opinions are my own*