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I have just started to learn the Tin Whistle and I am finding it much harder than I expected to! As a child I had ear trouble and consequently never learned to play a musical instrument like the other kids. My singing voice was so bad I was asked to mime at the school concert so as not to let down the other choir members! I had corrective treatment when I was a teenager and I now enjoy almost normal hearing so I thought I'd attempt to master one of the many musical instruments we sell at Toyday. I began with the mini accordion but the noise that I was making was scaring the seagulls outside, let alone the customers, so I decided instead to try the Xylophone . I had a bit more luck with this and after an hour or so I was competently playing the music to Tetris which goes like this: Tetris E B C D C B A A C E D C B C D E C A A D F A G F E C E D C B B C D E C A A I decided to up my game a bit and moved onto the Tin Whistle as I remember my class mates having recorder les...

One of the best parts of parenthood for my father, was the excuse it gave him to indulge me in the toys he wished he'd had as a child. He thought that his darling daughter deserved a scalextric set for her 3rd birthday,so if I was being fair to him I'd get him a baby doll this fathers day. But I'm not that mean, so I think I'll try and get him something nostalgic from our  traditional range of toys. My dad grew up on rations in post war London and had the kind of toys that his father could make for him out of wood . Throughout my childhood a game of cards or dice was a daily reward for finishing my homework and when I was old enough we moved onto Chess . I grew up thinking I was an excellent Chess player but once I played a game against my friend Alex and realised that Dad had been letting me win just to make me happy. Looking back I wonder how many other games he tactically lost. So how do I  find a game that will bring back his childhood me...

Tin toys were originally made as a cheaper alternative to wooden toys and were popular until we started mass producing plastic toys in the 70's. Tin toys were often quirky with bright colours and patterns that appealed to children. These are the toys which are remembered by the grandads and great grandads of today with nostalgic memories of wind up mechanisms. Reproductions of these old tin toys are still being made today and we stock a range of collectible tin robots, planes and other tin toys. Unfortunately these tin toys are only suitable for collectors and are not intend for children as they do not meet the current toy legislation. This is why we were so excited when we discovered a range of tin toys from Schylling that carry the CE mark and are suitable for children from the age of 3 years. Now grandparents can give their grandchildren a tin toy they remember. Friction Powered Cars and Planes - £5.99 Streamline Train - £12.99

With the summer season now at an end and we are into September customers are starting to think about buying their Christmas presents. Although our range of toys seem to be for children we do have a lovely selection of collectable tin toys for the more 'mature' person in your life whether they are 16 or 60 and if you are looking for something different then do check these out. One of the most popular sellers has to be the Sparking Space Robot or as he is better known, Robbie Robot an d Planet Robot. Just wind him up and he wobbles around whilst sparks fly in his visor. Everyone probably remembers the pop pop tin boat and I have even had a customer on holiday from London unable to find one and couldn't believe his luck when I had one here in the shop. Candles are lit and inserted into the boat and it propels itself along the water. For the car lover there is the Bugatti and the Vintage Racing Car , both sturdily made in tin with long running motors, and a little man sat i...

I had an interesting conversation with a customer last week in recalling the toys we had when we were children, which was many years ago! I often have people in the shop, usually grandparents, picking up toys and remembering them from their childhood days long ago, and we got talking about the replica wind up tin toys that we sell. Now I am going back to the late 1950's and early 1960's when I was just a young boy and and at that time there were no rules about buying tin toys that I can remember unlike today where we have stricter regulations. They are now more for adult collectors and we cannot sell them to children under 14 as they do not comply with toy safety legislation. Now the one he fondly remembered best of all was Robbie the Robot or Planet Robot as its sometimes called. I do remember my brother having one, which I wasn't allowed near, but then in those days toys were far more expensive and we had few to play with, and for that reason were more cherished. It is pr...

Coming soon to your TV screens is a Christmas special of Kirsties Home Made Homes, that features a lovely character filled house in Devon, where Kirstie Allsop transforms her house with home made crafts using reclaimed and restored second hand furniture and curious hand made objects, where she will get hands on having a go at making things herself to fill her home. To be aired on December 1st, is a Christmas special, which will feature Kirstie helping some children making teddy bears in the childrens room of her house. If you look very carefully, you will see some of our tin toys decorating the room, which will include our festive wind up tin father christmas, a wooden snowman wobbler, and a few clockwork tin trains and cars. This isn't the first time our toys have been on the telly. Soon you will see our wooden flapping seagull and a wind up submarine due to be shown in a little boys room on ITV's 60 minute makeover. Do keep a look out for them and let us know if you manage t...