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We have adult testers and older children to test this category, allowing for a wider scope of games and puzzles to be tested.

WINNER

Accentuate Plus Film Quotes Expansion Pack

By: Accentuate Games

Age: 16 years+

RRP: 19.99 + £8.99

It’s simple: read a quote from a Quotation card in the accent printed on the Accent card selected; if your team mates guess your accent correctly you win a point.  The trick is to convey the essence of the accent to your teammates, without giving any verbal or visual clues.  Film Quotes Expansion Pack is the new bolt-on featuring 90 iconic lines from famous films to quote in a randomly selected accent

More information at: www.accentuategames.com

Available from: John Lewis, Firebox

What the testers said “Accentuate will provide ongoing fun and is definitely a good laugh!”

HIGHLY COMMENDED

Wild Tiles

By: Bananagrams

The brand new Bananagrams WildTiles game includes six unique monkey WildTiles, putting an all new spin on the original anagram game that drives you Bananas!  Pick up a wild tile and play it as any letter.

More information at: www.bananagrams.com

Available from: John Lewis, Amazon

What the testers said “We enjoy playing word games and they loved competing against each other in this fast paced game.”

It’s become a tradition with the Rainbow Toy Awards now to split the Games & Puzzles category into older and younger as it’s so vast.  Let’s see which games impressed the testers in the younger games – this is birth to 8 years old.

WINNER

Disney Pictopia Trivia Game

By: Esdevium Games

Age: 7 years+

RRP: £19.99

Make family time magical with Disney Pictopia!  Discover playful trivia spanning decades of Disney magic, from the animated classics to to dazzling theme park destinations.  It’s a game of teamwork – with a competitive twist”

More information at: www.esdeviumgames.com

Available from: Argos, Toys R Us, Hamleys

What the testers said “Both of my children play this for around 2-3 hours straight so great play value – I think it is great value for money as it has been played a lot already and will be played with many times in the coming years.”

HIGHLY COMMENDED

Seagull Spat

By: University Games

 Age: 4 years+

RRP: £19.99

Seagull Splat is the mischievous and hilarious children’s game where players have to dodge the seagull’s poop to stay in the game.  Each player has a set of beach towels and takes turns to  to spin the spinner to fly the seagull over their towels.  In this game of luck the seagull decides if they towels are lucky enough to dodge the poop!

More information at: www.university-games.co.uk

Available from: Tesco, Argos

What the testers said “We found it very funny and a really good, family game”

As an ex-art student this is a personal favourite category of mine, I enjoy hearing how the children have created works of art and worked alongside siblings and parents having lots of crafting fun.

WINNER

Mini Make Cupcakes

By: John Adams Leisure

Age: 6 years+

RRP: £17.99

Mix melted chocolate and biscuit crumbs, then mould and decorate to make gorgeous mini cupcakes.Just melt and mix, no baking required. Wrap your mini cakes, pop in a gift box or display on the pretty cake stand. Includes 25 tools and accessories.

More information at: www.johnadams.co.uk

Available from; Tesco, Asda

What the testers said “It kept my four year old occupied throughout the whole process. She was so proud of herself for making these.”

HIGHLY COMMENDED

Nutty Putty

By: Gel Innovations t/a Alphabet Pie

Age: 4 years+

RRP: £1.99 – £18.99

Uniquely non drying, non messy, waterproof and glossy. Nutty Putty can be moulded into absolutely anything. It can be baked for permanency, becoming smooth and rubbery.  Educational benefits include developing fine motor skills.  Promoting concentration, imagination and creativity.

More information at: www.alphabetpie.com

Available from: Fenwick, Fun Learning, Wigwam Toys

What the testers said “They loved the concept and playing with the putty and making and creating items, both from the kit and from their imaginations. Occupied them for nearly an hour and they would play with it again. ”

Outdoor or indoor, traditional or technological – our wheeled toys category covers them all.

WINNER

Anki Overdrive

By: Anki

Age: 7-14 years old

RRP:£149.99

Anki Overdrive is the next generation of battle-racing with state of the art modular tracks, high-end car designs and new innovation in game play.  Players can build their own battle race courses within seconds and pit their real life robotic super cars against their friends or step up against enemy AI commanders in the game’s campaign mode.

More information at: www.anki.com/en-gb

Available from: Harrods, Argos, Selfridges

What the testers said “This will definitely be taken out time and again, they are so excited playing with it and the fact it has different play modes means they keep going back to it. They love the fact they control the cars through the phone.”

HIGHLY COMMENDED

Blue Trike

By: BigJigs Toys

Age: 18 months+

RRP: £44.99

Youngsters will love whizzing along on this brightly coloured, wooden trike.  Sturdy, comfortable and easy to steer, mini movers will get plenty of exercise ad have lots of fun whilst they explore indoors and outdoors on their new favourite ride-on.

More information at: www.bigjigstoys.co.uk

Available from: Amazon, BigJigs Toys

What the testers said “The children loved this toy! They have all really enjoyed playing with it, and arguments ensue every time it is out (which proves how great it is!). Sturdy and built to last!”

Our testers love to test electronic toys and each year they get more involved and do many more things. The children expect a lot when testing for this category so let’s see who impressed them this year….

WINNER

Pebli Town

By: Mookie Toys

Age: 3-6 years

RRP: £60.00

Introducing Pebli Town, the innovative fun and educational toy which uses physical and virtual play. Pebli Town is a connected preschool toy which uses traditional play pieces and a physical play board to interact with a tablet.  Pebli Town comes with four exciting interactive game modes; Story teller, Game player, Story creator and Video room.

More information at: www.toysalive.com/pebli

Available from: Early Learning Centre, Amazon, Selfridges

What the testers said “This toy opens up a whole plethora of interactive gaming fun for children. Phoebe (my daughter) played with it for 2 hours straight when it first arrived. It could also be used as an excellent literacy teaching extension. As an ex-English teacher, I immediately saw how beneficial something like this could be to further expand story telling modules in literacy. Phoebe thoroughly enjoys playing Pebli Town and we can’t wait until the other boards are released! “

HIGHLY COMMENDED

 Digigo

By: VTech Electronics

Age: 3-6 years

RRP: £69.99

DigiGo is the pocket-sized, hand-held smart device that kids have been waiting for! Featuring a 4.3 inch touch screen, 2MP rotatable camera for taking photos and videos, 4Gb of (expandable) memory and built-in rechargeable battery. Wi-Fi capability allows children to stay in touch safely with their smartphone owning friends and family, using the included Kid Connect app. Send texts, photos, voice messages, play games and more.

More information at: www.vtech.co.uk

Available at: Amazon, JD Williams, Debenhams

What the testers said “I am impressed with how durable the Digigo is and it looks like it should be fairly easy to set up properly once the firmware is available on the website to do so. I think it is something my daughter will pick up occasionally but will certainly go back to.”

We begin our awards ceremony with the category for Educational Toys, always a hotly contested category with lots of fabulous entries.  As ever, there can only be one Winner and one Highly Commended, here are the toys the esters voted the best.

WINNER

LeapReader

By: LeapFrog

Age: 4-8 years

RRP: 32.50

LeapReader is a revolutionary new stylus that brings reading, writing and learning to life, combining easy to use technology with the tradition of print based learning. With every touch of the stylus on the pages of the LeapReader compatible book or activity set, words and pictures will spring to life.

More information at: www.leapfrog.com

Available from: Toys R Us, Smyths, The Entertainer

What the testers said “Phoebe has returned to LeapReader several times and has enjoyed exploring the different things it does. I think as long as they keep releasing books for it, it will provide years of enjoyment. “

HIGHLY COMMENDED

Project MC2 Dolls with Experiments

By: MGA Entertainment

Age: 5 years+

RRP: £24.99

Project MC2 offers a ‘geek chic’ lifestyle approach for tween girls through smart and savvy science play.   Aspirational and effortlessly cool, the range focuses on four main characters – each with a different personality, interests and sense of style.

More information at: www.projectmc2.com

Available from: Argos, Very

What the testers said “I think this is something she will play with a lot, and she has played with it and repeated the experiment several times.”

The votes are in, the toys have been thoroughly tested and the awards are ready to be announced…You can follow each announcement this morning on Twitter too @rainbowawards

Or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/rainbowawards

Our testers are of course, the children themselves and forms are returned by their adults on their behalf.  For each toy we ensure the adult writes down what the child’s reaction is and what they say.  Some of the great comments of this year include:

“On initial opening and setting up they were very curious about the toy and both played together for about an hour but have continued to return to it day after day. I think it will certainly provide a long term level of enjoyment.”

“From the moment it arrived my son has not left it alone! He’s been determined to master the art of riding it and has spent every possible moment practicing on it. ”

“My son had the toy out on a daily basis. He uses them to spell out the new words he learns at school and loves finding the right letter. My partner is an Explorer Scout leader (young people age 14-18) and they loved the game too.”

“It’s well aimed at children 5+ who love anything toilet related. It’s a hit here!”

The comments are lovely to read and the awards are then chosen by adding up the scores our mini-testers have given.  So without further ado, let’s see who has won in the Rainbow Toy Awards for 2015!