Celebrating 10 Years - 10 Products We Have Stocked Since Day 1

These products represent what we are about at Let the Children Play Toyshop. They were on our shelves on opening day and we continue to have them in stock every day 10 years later. 

Over the years many factors have influenced the products I choose to put on our shelves - changing trends, economic conditions locally and nationally, international availability and of course new products that we discover. 

As much as it fun to add new, developing brands and products, it's nice to know that some things stay constant and these 10 products represent core brands and toys that are consistent, reliable, good quality and loved by children and parents regardless of changing trends.

1. Wombat Stew by Marcia Vaughan was in our very first book order. It is a timeless Aussie classic picture book. We have since added Australian hand and finger puppets to go with the story and they pair up to make an awesome gift or teacher resource.

2. Janod Confetti Harmonica was in the first delivery of products we unpacked. It's no coincidence that books and musical instruments were the first things on my wishlist for the toyshop and I have continued to grow these sections of our range. Children love making noise and the skills and patterns learned through music are integral to a child's development in so many areas of learning.

3. Classic Tin Kaleidoscopes are essential in our "vintage toy" collection! I have very few of my childhood toys but I do still proudly have my tin kaleidoscope. It is a wonderful treasure and I cared for it so well. What a joy to share it's magic with my own children! Since then I discovered Teleidoscopes and these are incredible too. While kaleidoscopes use coloured beads to create a pattern, teleidoscopes use the objects your are actually looking at. You need to check them out.

4. Wheely Bugs are terrific little rideons for Toddlers. They were invented and first manufactured in Kuranda near Cairns to become a worldwide classic. The breakthrough castor wheel design is so stable that it has been much copied but the original Wheely Bug is still the ultimate first rideon for indoors in my view.

5. The Magnetic Rocket by Janod ticks every box that I look for when selecting toys for the shop. It was my favourite product then and it still is today. Quality and fun are key boxes to check but I also look for aesthetically pleasing toys and most important... toys that do more than one thing and work for different developmental stages. 

6.  The wonderful, strange looking Bilibo was the forerunner of the modern trend for open ended toys like wobble boards and it is still my favourite. Not necessarily a best seller but it should be. These versatile odd shaped bowls should be in every playroom.

7.  Tenzi is the most terrific little game. It was the first game on our list and we still recommend it almost every day. A simple dice game that can be played anywhere and by both adults and children it was the game my children played endlessly in the long hours spent setting up the shop ready for opening day (usually deep inside a labyrinth cubby house of boxes from all the unpacking).

8.  Hookey Boards and Quoits were our first Australian made products. The brand we still use is Riversdale, a family company in Victoria who handmake the traditional sports items. It's highly likely they are the very same brand of Hookey Boards you used under the house when you were a kid.

9.  Miniland Baby Dolls. I absolutely fell in love with these dolls and insisted on having them for their choice of ethnicity and gender. We were one of the few stockists in Australia at the time and it has been an absolute joy to watch this brand grow and develop to include Aboriginal boy and girl dolls, hearing and sight impaired dolls and Downs Syndrome dolls. A highlight of our events program was the Miniland Doll Tea Party in 2019. 

10. Melissa and Doug Sound Puzzles are so much fun. When we opened the shop in 2013, I had a rooster at home and had the fright of my life when I turned off the lights at the end of the first day and accidently activated the farm sound puzzle. I thought my rooster had followed me to work!

And here is a quick list of 10 more because I am so proud to have these products on our shelves still - IM Toy Melody Mix, Playforever Cars, Orbit Laundry Trolley and Mower, Wooden Cube Puzzles, Wooden Pound a Peg, Schleich Animal Figurines, Walk and Ride Cow Sorter, Folkmanis Puppets and my beloved Blackwing Pencils.

If you are setting up a toy room or looking for a perfect gift you simply won't get a better starting list than this.