"If baking is any labor at all, it's a labor of love. A love that gets passed from generation to generation."

Cooking is a big thing with Opeie, his block of chocolate sandwiches and hot boiled egg cakes are to die for. Of course, I am talking about his play food but we don't limit his culinary ideas to just role play. I like to think that I let the boys get involved with all the things I do, I think it's important for them to experience all the things that I do no matter how mundane. Opeie is quite partial to a spot of hoovering.

When it does come to food preparation though he is always excited at the prospect of getting involved. Making smoothies or green juices (hulk juices as he calls them) is what he enjoys most these days and I love that he just wants to be a part of everything we do.

He makes it quite clear daily that he is 'a big boy' and when a product comes along that is used by adults but has been scaled down for big boys and girls he is pretty much in his element. When our recent Bigjigs toys play patrol mission arrived, Opeie's little smiley face said it all. I could have written a glowing review just on that expression.

The young chefs baking set is a perfect product for a little chap who loves Mary berry and the great British bake off. With everything you need included for a miniature baking session it was time to get our hands dirty. Because of all the dietary issues in our house, cooking and baking is a great bit of education for Opeie, using different types of flour and being able to discuss why we don't use dairy etc.

Opeie was loving having utensils made for his hand size, i hadn't really thought about how difficult it must be using our whisks etc until this baking session. Bigjigs toys really did cover everything, mini rolling pin, whisk, tins, trays, cake cases, measuring spoons, cookie cutters and my personal favourite the mini oven glove (which we only used putting the cakes in the oven). Opeie had been desperate to get started on his baking session and with his young chefs baking set Bigjigs toys had helped him become even more a part of what was going on. All we needed to add were the ingredients and a chair to stand on.

"You better cut the pizza in four pieces because I'm not hungry enough to eat six."

Being a Play Patrol Agent is so much fun, Our monthly packages from Bigjigs Toys have been so exciting for the boys and it has been great to write for a company that we are so passionate about. This months package has by far been our favourite since last year and had Opeie running about the house squealing with joy. Our two little agents love role play, especially play food so the products we were sent were spot on and gave us the perfect excuse to open Opeie's Diner for business...

For breakfast this morning our little chef prepared a delicious looking pizza, i really should be watching the carbs but what the hell (how many calories are in wood anyway?). The Bigjigs Cutting Pizza is great for roleplay and we loved how all the toppings can be removed. The toppings and the six slices are attached by velcro, perfect as it means there is less chance of losing all the pieces (Clever Bigjigs).

With the pizza looking like a culinary triumph it was time to heat the oven ready for baking. Opeie takes his food preparation very seriously and wouldn't let me help at all. I just got the brush off followed by "i can do it daddy".

Opeie cooks pizza quicker than any I've ever tried to bake and it was ready for consumption within around 45 seconds, then it was out of the oven and time to dish up. Off subject completely, I found that while playing, the Pizza was great for teaching Opeie about dividing things equally and counting. Time to eat and my tummy was rumbling and it smelled delicious. The pizza also comes with the wheeled cutter which our little role playing chef really enjoyed using, slicing up our breakfast ready to be served...

 With great quality wooden pieces and bright vibrant colours it is everything you would expect from a company that really seems to know what children want. Plus the pizza was very tasty....erm you seem to have a little on your face there Opeie!

I thought that may be the end of our breakfast but our little Secret agent/Chef in the making had more food to prepare using the Bigjigs Toys Food in a net, Like i said before the boys cant get enough of play food and i love watching the boys come up with their (sometimes crazy) scenarios, he loves preparing meals for me. The set has a great selection of bread, eggs, fish, cooked meats (well quorn in our house) and chocolate which i thought was the one item that didn't really fit but was probably Opeie's favourite piece. It was interesting when Opeie asked what the chicken leg was, as we don't eat meat in our house. I forget that he wouldn't know what that was and when i told him what it was he just laughed and said "why would you eat a chickens leg?", an animal activist in the making.

Role playing is one of my favourite things to do with the boys, i love getting involved in all of their play activities but with this they are guiding me and i learn a lot from what they have picked up from me and Mrs M and our food preparation day to day. The boys ask a lot of questions like how to cook certain foods and its great to be able to explain to them using play food. Also (although its been explained to them many times) its great to teach them the importance of a balanced diet and although they love their vegetables it seems that Opeie's idea of a balanced breakfast this morning was a simple slab of chocolate between two pieces of bread, a chip off the old block.

Bigjigs toys have a great selection of play food to choose from, giving your children the chance to let their imagination run wild. Opeie has his eye on the Birthday cake with it being Seth's Birthday next month (he's such a cutie) and the Birthday boy thinks that the Diner is missing the Shop till with Scanner , which makes sense because as of yet Opeie has not asked for payment for all his hard work.

Fingers crossed there will be another post soon from the recently Michelin-starred 'Opeie's Diner' (I'm sure the five star reviews on trip advisor will come flooding through any day now).

"The road to success is always under construction."

We had a lovely surprise yesterday when there was a knock at the door and there stood the postie holding a package with Bigjigs Toys written all over it. Our second mission had arrived and we couldn't wait to get stuck in. We opened the package and was really excited about what we had been sent. Opeie was really eager to start playing but we decided to wait until Seth came out of school to get it out because I had a plan. The weather was lush and were always taking pictures of our reviews at home or in the garden so i thought a change of scenery would be nice. A Picnic tea was packed for the Bigjiggers and off we went to Lilleshall abbey to play in the sun. Taking the lovely wooden toys back outside where they came from.

Bigjigs Toys had sent us the Figure of Eight Roadway Set and it was probably one of the best products they could have sent us to review. We have a huge amount of the wooden train track but only 3 pieces of road (and i have no idea where that has come from??). Seth has been saying for a while now that he would like some road so his eyes lit up when he saw what we had to play with.

The set comes with everything you need to make a great track, straight pieces, curves, bridges, trees, buildings, people and most importantly three cars for racing around the track. Bigjigs toys rail and road sets are great for both Seth and Opeie's ages which is great because I love watching them play together. The parts easily connect and being made of wood each piece is obviously sturdy. The track is smooth with a nice finish and the accessories are well painted and obviously safe for children. We will always love wooden toys from Bigjigs Toys as they are so Eco friendly and are the sort of toys that will be played with for many generations.

Bigjigs toys road sets complement many of the other vehicle ranges they have for sale. When mixed with the rail sets you can build life like set ups with rail tracks running alongside motorways and trains travelling under roads. The set has also been great for teaching the boys about the Highway Code using the characters to simulate how dangerous it is to play by roads and to always have an adult with you when crossing the road. We would definitely recommend buying these sorts of sets to anyone as they are so versatile, The tracks can be changed round to suit your mood making it the perfect toy for keeping children interested, also with the option of being able to buy extra track and accessories separately you can add and build a huge set over time without breaking the bank.

To buy this set and many others to compliment it head over to http://www.bigjigstoys.co.uk/

Bigjigs Play Patrol Agents take on mission 4: A Photo caption

This months mission from Bigjigs Toys was to come up with a photo and caption. Opeie probably wondered why i had put his duffle coat on with daddies glasses to play trains but when he reads this when he is older he will understand why. Our little Nerd found Seth's recent comments amusing, enjoy. 

Full review of the Double engine repair shed to follow.

"...and then Seth tried to tell me had seen a CN Edson sub k5LLA last week hahaha... I pointed out that it was just the virgin Pendolino to Houston!!!"