Product Tested By Megan Davies – Ivy 4 Years
Megan Awarded The Numberblocks Add It Up Mini Market Set 5/5
It was well packaged and visually appealing to both adult and child. I liked the ease of set up and that it can be played with in different ways. For example as the shopkeeper/on the till, as a shopper adding up their basket but also it has the ability to be played with without it being focused on learning numbers because it’s just as fun to put the coins through the slots and stacking the cart or checkout. It was simple to understand, easy to set up and came with ways to play/ideas on how to include the math learning aspect to the toy. Yes! My daughter loves numbers and counting and got really involved in this straight away. She very quickly picked up how to use each aspect of the toy and played with this longer than she usually plays with toys. Yes! She enjoyed figuring out how to make the checkout move and how many snacks she could stack into the trolly and checkout at a time. Yes! This is something that she got a lot of enjoyment and pride out of. She’s very good at recognising numbers and is already learning to add small numbers together so this proved her skill to her. She found it fun to be able to add the numbers up in different ways through the different numbers on the coins. Yes, the number wheel on the till was a little bit fiddly and awkward for her so she sometimes chose not to use that aspect however she would tell me the numbers and ask me to move the total wheel for her. She loved being able to put the coins into the till and see them at the end and be able to both count how many coins she used and confirm the amount to make sure it matched the total. Absolutely! She enjoys numbers and counting anyway but this brought a really fun aspect to it which she has gone back to multiple times (something that she doesn’t often do with toys as an aspect of her professionally suspected neurodivergence). She really loves watching Numberblocks and this definitely brought another layer to it. She will sing the Numberblocks song whilst playing, use the Numberblock included plus others in her personal collection to buy for and related it to some of the episodes where they are doing the same activity (cafe episode for example). She asked me to read through the activity guide but ultimately played how felt best for her. It did however give me/us ideas on how we could use it together. This was played a few times a week (3-4 days out of 7 approximately). My daughter played with her 1 year old brother, with myself and with her dad. Her brother enjoyed how easily he could pick up all the pieces, including the coins and dropping them into the till. They both really enjoyed having the chance to play together and both enjoyed how my daughter could teach her brother about the different numbers. You could see the pride and knowledge in her and the intent concentration, awe and intrigue in him. Her dad and myself also both enjoyed play this with her. It gave us a chance to let her teach us, play in a way that she enjoyed whilst also learning about her and her knowledge in a really fun and relaxed way. She could both play independently or with others which is something she enjoyed about this. Also, because it is small/compact but also designed in a way that keeps everything together easily it meant that we could keep it out and set up for her to easily access. She was/is definitely drawn to playing with this this more than most other toys she has easy access to. When I asked her for her own feedback she said that she likes that you can add to higher numbers (most things we have tried stop at single digits) and being able to play with everyone with it. She also likes the money slot on the till and seeing and hearing the coins in the slot. I liked the compact nature as I didn’t need to worry about packing it away each time and also the ability to be targeted or free-reign play/adult or child-led play. My child turned 4 at the end of October this year and she was easily able to play with it in a range of ways. Absolutely great game to have is schools! On top of being something that would be recognisable to many children, this is something that is not just compact and neat in size but big in fun learning. It has the ability to be child or adult led and being educational without it feeling like learning – something which helps a child to actually retain the information the best. It’s also an easy way to be able to target certain numbers or areas within math learning or it can be played with in a non-learning manner too. There could also be room to be able to add your own more or bigger number coins if you wanted to suit to different abilities as the coins are simple to recreate. It’s pretty sturdy and well built, especially considering that that actual till and trolly are smaller in size than others you might find (although not necessarily rough play proof). The coins are cardboard so although better in some ways there is the possibility for damage quicker depending on the nature of play and environment. Overall though we were very happy with the quality. Yes it would make a great Christmas or birthday gift! It’s fun and recognisable. It can be played with in multiple ways – both solo and jointly. The toy itself is easy to store – both in the box and set up – in fact there’s no real set up time as it is almost completely set up ready to play straight from the box. It builds confidence with numbers – something that children can often struggle with and that skill will last them their entire lives. I do think it’s very slightly overpriced for what you get but I also think when taking into consideration brand and skills its teaching then the price is probably similar to others that may be similar. I would possibly like to have seen more numbers/shopping items. I definitely would consider buying this and other similar item from this brand in the future for my family or relatives/friends. I have seen lots of different ways this has the ability to be played with and enjoyed which is a big enough reason in itself. However I would also buy it for the lifelong skills learnt from this and the ways that you can bond and connect with your child through this. Yes I would recommend! It’s a great way to gain confidence in math/numbers in a little to no-pressure way whilst also allowing both creative independent play and learning, bonding and connection through joint play. There are no downsides! This is something that is fun for all the family. A way to get siblings and parents/carers involved in play whilst also allowing confidence building, problem solving and math skills to grow and develop with Number 4 to help them. With no time-consuming set up, the neatness both put away in the packaging and left set up and the compactness not taking up lots of space, it makes it easy to keep playing with even without having an adult free to support the child’s play. It’s a really fun item with the bonus of learning lifelong skills. This has been a great way for my daughter to explore more independent play, which is something she often struggles with whilst also being able to test and practice her math and problem solving skills. She’s been able to find ways to have fun and connect with her little brother (1yrs) which can also be something that is often difficult with them both being opposite ends of professionally suspected neurodivergence. This is because he has been really drawn to and interested in both his big sister (4yrs) and the item itself. This has allowed them to gain more of an enjoyment and bond with each other and my daughter has gained in confidence in lots of areas, including being able to explain and teach him, myself and her dad all about the toy and what/how to play, addition and subtraction, solo play and also her social skills with having more sibling play. For a child who struggles with toys and typical play it has been really nice to see the joy and learning she has gotten from this. Megan Davies – Ivy 4 Years
Product Tested By Natasha Campbell – Arielle 4 Years
Natasha Awarded The Numberblocks Add It Up Mini Market Set 5/5
Looked very exciting, nice small packaged box. Very impressive, really creative and intriguing for my children. My 7 year old was also intrigued. Instructions not too long to read through and very clear. Yes she did understand this game. I read the instructions, explained it to her and she got stuck in, even bringing her dolls to do the shopping. She did enjoy filling her baskets up and she involved her other dolls too. It helped her understanding adding up, I would like to play it more with her. She did enjoy the wheel on the interactive till and dropping coins to pay. She showed me how to do it. This has definitely helped her improve her maths skills while having fun. My daughter is not a huge fan of the TV show, but they all watched it previously. I don’t think it made a huge impact as they never mentioned the show whilst playing. Using the activity guide II basically explained to my child how to play it. This has been played a few times. My daughter has played this with her sister who is 7 years and she also enjoyed the game. This did keep my daughter entertained. My daughter loved the money, the basket and playing with number 4 behind the cash register also role play with other characters. I enjoyed role playing with my daughter. My daughter is 4 and worked well as she just started school. Yes this would be ideal for schools and homeschool parents would love it too, great introduction to the concept of counting numbers. I liked it a lot, I guess improvement would be to change the material of the coins, we did have to put it into a separate little purse to avoid them being damaged. This would make an ideal Christmas or birthday gift because its educational so has more learning benefits which parents love. It is good value for a present. I think it would be a present bought for someone who said they specifically wanted an educational gift for their child. Yes, if I wanted to specifically buy an educational maths gift, otherwise no as I would be more inclined to buying something that seemed more fun. It opened my eyes to educational gifts can also have other functions like role playing. I would recommend as a good educational resource or reception children. I like this product, it’s not something I would naturally purchase but my children really enjoyed playing with it. I think parents just need to be mindful that pieces can go missing if not packed away properly, so it definitely needs supervision when kids are playing so it stays tidy. Overall, it’s fun, educational and my 4 and 7 year old loved it. Opens the door to role play and getting over toys involved if your child likes role-playing. Natasha Campbell – Arielle 4 Years
Product Tested By Holly Cowsill – Piper 3 Years 6 Months
Holly Awarded The Numberblocks Add It Up Mini Market Set 4.7/5
I loved it, my daughter loves number blocks, so we were excited to try it. I thought it was a great concept, doing shopping is something Piper likes to help out with so it was cute. Instructions seemed pretty straight forward. She didn’t really understand fully, but we adapted it for counting that she understands. With her being only 3 she only managed to focus on that full set up for a short space of time. I think she is a little young to get the concept of adding up numbers entirely. But she really enjoyed it and we will continue to play as she gets older. She loved turning the wheel on the till. Yes I would say this has improved her maths skills. Any time that she is counting and grouping is great practice. My daughter is a Numberblocks TV show fan. I felt the is too young to utilise the activity guide at the moment. Played with this for a good hour or so on the first day. Then sporadically since then. All family members played this and we loved it. It kept her entertained for the first day. She loved the number 4 character. I loved that. It encouraged her to do her counting in grouping. I would say it is suitable for three plus but I do think that if they were a bit older they could understand it better. Yes, I agree this is an ideal toy to have in schools. It’s a fun thing to make learning more exciting and relating to something that they enjoy watching on TV. I think it was a good quality, maybe the coins could have been plastic instead of cardboard. Yes I think that if your child is into number blocks this would be a brilliant gift idea. I think it is a little bit pricey. But also it is a BBC toy. I probably would buy it if it was marked at about £15. I would recommend as a good educational and fun toy. I think that the product is really good, the quality of the character is fabulous, I think the other bits that are involved that are plastic are a little less quality than the character. Then I think the cardboard bits make it feel a little bit cheap. I love the idea of making maths into a game. Holly Cowsill – Piper 3 Years 6 Months
