A trampoline is an ideal Christmas gift – just don’t try to change the springs!

I’m carrying on from last week with some more toy suggestions that come highly recommended by Letterkenny Babies Facebook page members.

The vast majority agree that a toy kitchen is a wonderful addition for any preschooler. It provides hours of imaginative play. They are bulky though and can be pricey too.

So failing a full kitchen setup, Fisher Price has a great ‘Laugh and Learn Coffee set’ that is very interactive with lots of buttons and activities.

The Leapfrog ‘Shapes and Sharing picnic basket’ was a firm favourite in our house. I love that all the bits and pieces that come with it can be carried about and stored within the picnic basket itself.

There is also a great range of wooden toys on the market. In keeping with the food theme, there are lovely wooden pizza toys that have velcro strips to keep the segments together and for attaching different toppings, as well as a pizza wheel for cutting and serving fun.

All my kids loved whipping up a culinary storm for grown-ups to enjoy – over and over again. Brace yourselves! Some sort of food play fun is definitely a solid recommendation for the Santa letter.

Moving into the technological sphere, loads of parents recommended the Toniebox or the Yoto player for kids of all ages. Both are audio devices that allow children to play stories, songs, and other audio content intuitively.

I’ve never gone down the route of these audiobooks for my kids, so I’m not familiar with either device. A quick bit of research suggests that if your child is still at the toddler stage and you want something very robust and simple to use, then the Toniebox is a strong choice. The tactile, iconic figurines that are sold separately play the music and stories. They are fun and engaging for younger kids.

If you’re looking for a device that can grow with your child, offering more variety (stories, music, podcasts), or you have older children, age 5+, then the Yoto Player might be the better long-term investment.

Then there are outdoor toys. I sometimes think it’s a bad time of year for kids to get outdoor toys, what with our terrible weather, but it’s great that Santa takes the financial hit for these bigger items, saving parents the expense in the long run.

Santa brought bikes and all the safety gear to ours one Christmas. They loved it and did get a chance to try them out on a cold, crisp Christmas morning. Scooters, flickers – a type of three wheeled scooter – and wiggle cars are a less expensive alternative and provide hours of outdoor entertainment too.

Another option is a trampoline. Be warned though: a trampoline is super hard to set up. I took it upon myself to change the rusted springs on our trampoline – once. I’ll never undertake that mission again. It was an experience close to full blown labour. Gritted teeth, bulging eyes, puffing and panting and intermittently screaming at the end of my tether. You get the idea! Ps. Changing the springs of the trampoline is arguably worse than labour… A bouncing baby is worth the exertion more so than a bouncing mat!

Whatever Santa hauls down the chimney this year, I’m sure the kids will be delighted, because he always manages to get it just right.

Louise Flanagan is an admin of Letterkenny Babies facebook page and the author of the children’s book series, Dragonterra and Dream Beasts. www.dragonterra.ie