WINNER

Mindful Story Pillow – Cloud

By: World Alive

Age:  3+ years

RRP: £19.99

The Mindfulness Story Pillow includes a simple mindfulness meditation specially adapted for children as a 2-minute long audio story, activated through an internal speaker by children when they hug the pillow.  It’s a soothing voice accompanied by sound effects from nature and animals.

More information at: www.soulmateskidsyoga.com

Available from: Amazon

Buy now from https://soulmateskidsyoga.com/

What the testers said “Loved it, such a clever idea.  Huggable tech that calms your child”

HIGHLY COMMENDED

Rescue Tales Adoptable Pets Assortment

By: Little Tikes

Age:  3-6+years

RRP: £27.99

These soft and snuggly pets are waiting for their furrever homes.  Let your little one show them some love and watch their face light up as our Adoptable Pets wag their tail and wiggle their ears.  They also have a sad whimper if they’re upset and pant when they are excited.

More information at:  https://www.littletikes.co.uk/toy-shop/rescue-tales/

Available from: Amazon

Buy now from https://www.littletikes.co.uk/toy-shop/rescue-tales/

What the testers said “My little girl wants a dog so desperately, but we live in a flat and it’s just not practical at the moment, Little Tikes have helped the situation with Rescue Tales Adoptable Pets, she just loves her new Dalmatian puppy.  Thank you so much Little Tikes!”

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WINNER

Twisted History

By: Cartamundi

Age:  8+ years

RRP: £29.99

A conversation starting party game that takes you on a journey through seven twisted eras of history, where life and death were weird and rather gruesome.  Stay ahead of the executioner while you answer multiple questions about the past bizarre and gory forgotten history.

More information at: https://cartamundi.com

Available from: The Works Stores

What the testers said “Children just love gore and weird stuff don’t they?  Ours are no exception and enjoyed the game immensely”

HIGHLY COMMENDED

Uranus!

By: The Dark Imp

Age: 10+ years

RRP: £34.99

Catastrophic asteroid attacks are threatening your moon. In this cooperative ‘write and erase’ network builder, you must optimise the ever-changing landscape of your moon and exploit its resources…before it is destroyed!

More information at:  https://www.thedarkimp.com/games/uranus/

Available from: https://www.thedarkimp.com/games/uranus/

Buy now from https://www.thedarkimp.com/games/uranus/

What the testers said “It was very involved with lots to think about and do.  Definitely a 10+years game – having said that, they loved it and they were quiet for hours.  Went back to the game week after week.”

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WINNER

My First Puzzles Set

By: Toi World

Age:  2+ years

RRP: £13.99

Designed with themes that young children enjoy such as dinosaurs, animals, vehicles.  Puzzles have a different amount of pieces depending on age of child, incorporating flat jigsaw style puzzles and stand up ornaments to display.

More information at: www.toiworld.com

Available from: Amazon

Buy now from –    https://www.unclepetestoys.com.au/toi-my-first-puzzles-wild-animals/

What the testers said “Beautiful, just simply delightful artwork, we loved playing with them all.”

HIGHLY COMMENDED

The Gruffalo, Games from the Deep, Dark Wood

By: Cartamundi

Age: 4+ years

RRP: £24.99

Games from the Deep, Dark Wood is a collection of four games featuring everyone’s favourite, The Gruffalo and other characters.

More information at:  https://cartamundi.com

Available from: John Lewis

Buy now from –  https://www.johnlewis.com/the-gruffalo-games-from-the-deep-dark-woods/p5181795

What the testers said “Well, of course we all LOVE The Gruffalo, so got super excited when asked to test this board game.  Top Marks!”

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WINNER

Magic Sand Set

By: Mideer

Age:  2+ years

RRP: £29.99

A non-sticky sand, plus 25 sand play tools and moulds plus a robust foldable sand tray to keep any mess contained.  Children can play with shaped sandcastles in their very own self-contained mini beach.

More information at: www.mideertoys.com

Available from: Amazon

Buy now from –    https://www.amazon.co.uk/

What the testers said “Lots of play value, loads of tools and sand castling moulds, as parents we loved the sand tray to contain and messy play”

HIGHLY COMMENDED

CreArt Festive Friends

By: Ravensburger

Age: 9+ years

RRP: £9.99

Get into the festive spirit with this winter wonderland scene featuring a stag and his robin friend. Colouring guidelines help to distinguish colours. Includes canvas, 1 acrylic paints, easel and durable paintbrush, glittering frame and extra glitter to use on your picture.

More information at: https://www.ravensburger.org/uk/discover/creart/index.html

Available from: Amazon

Buy now from –  https://www.amazon.co.uk/

What the testers said “Really good quality!  For £9.99 this was a lovely set, often these set are let down by poor quality brushes, paints or canvas, not this one, we are impressed.”

WINNER

Cityblocks

By: Mideer Toys

Age:  2+ years

RRP: £28.99

Children can use their imagination to build freely or use the booklet of ideas, which starts with simple builds and gets harder.  Cultivates imagination and patience, easily suitable for the whole family to play with.

More information at: www.mideertoys.com

Available from: Amazon

Buy now from –    https://www.amazon.co.uk/

What the testers said “This was such a simple idea, so clever though!  I loved playing with the Cityblocks alongside my children.  They made the simple structures and I really enjoyed building more complicated items with their ‘help’ – lots of fun.”

HIGHLY COMMENDED

Baby Born Magic Doll

By: MGA Entertainment

Age: 3+ years

RRP: £54.99

Baby Born Magic Dolls have an all-new function – they magically open and close their eyes.  They have ten lifelike functions such as crying tears, eating and drinking – all without the need for batteries.  All in plastic free packaging too.

More information at: https://www.baby-born.co.uk

Available from: The Entertainer

Buy now from –    https://www.smythstoys.com/

What the testers said “Baby Born is iconic and I remember them from my childhood, we all loved the Baby Born Magic Doll, and it got us talking about batteries, and how things can work without them, I also liked the lack of plastic windows on the pack.”

WINNER

Disney Advent Calendar

By: Cartamundi

Age:  4+ years

RRP: £29.99

Collect your 24 surprises each day with this Christmas Advent Calendar, featuring your favourite Disney characters.  piece together your puzzle to reveal your board game to play on Christmas Day!

More information at: www.cartamundi.com

Available from: Amazon

Buy now from –    https://www.amazon.co.uk/

What the testers said “As we were testing before Christmas, we opened all the doors at once to see the product.  This would be a fabulous seasonal present, just remember to give it in November so you’re ready for December 1^st”

HIGHLY COMMENDED

Eco Gelli Baff

By: Zimpli Kids

Age: 3+ years

RRP: £4.99

Eco Gelli Baff transforms water into biodegradable, colourful goo!  The product has recycled packaging and bags and use 100% safe, certified biodegradable powder.  Multi use 6 x play uses and 1 x bath use.  Perfect for sensory, tabletop play.

More information at: https://www.zimplikids.com/ecorange.html

Available from: Amazon

Buy now from –    Amazon

What the testers said “We love eco-friendly play, the fact Zimpli have also thought about the packaging as well as the toy is great.  We can see on their website they are paying close attention to replacing their plastics with paper and card.”

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All of the votes are in, all of the toys have been tested and the thirteenth Rainbow Toy Awards 2021 are ready to be announced…You can follow each announcement this morning on Twitter @rainbowawards

Or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/rainbowawards as well as right here on the live website…

Our testers are, as you know by now, the children themselves and forms are returned by adults on their behalf.  For each toy we ensure the adult writes down what the child’s reaction is and what they say.  We’ll be giving you some of the comments and feedback for each product as we go along.

The awards are then chosen by adding up the scores our mini-testers have given to place the toys in order. We always stick to our categories thus have a limited amount of WINNERS and HIGHLY COMMENDED products – to win a Rainbow Toy Award is a huge accolade and well deserved.

So without further ado, let’s see who has come top and won in the Rainbow Toy Awards for 2021!