This is a quick post to say we have a great new product... no dry eggs

Top tips for flying with toddlers

Top 10 tips for plane travel with toddlers

Flying with small children can be shadow hanging over an otherwise highly anticipated holiday or visit. Here are some of our top tips to make it a little more bearable.  Let us know your top tips for happy travels.

1. Take lots of things they have never seen before, wrap them up in little parcels secured with LOTS of sellotape to make them harder to open and then produce one every 30 mins. This may seem like a lot of toys, especially if you have a long flight but we promise it is worth it. They don't need to be expensive just new and a bit different if possible. A 30p stretchy snake can entertain for ages!
2. If you have a tablet or smart phone, load some of their favourite TV shows for them to watch.
3. Also on a tablet or smart phone, download some of the kids apps.  There are loads of free ones, some of which have childlocks so you don't need to worry about them accessing the rest of your phone.
4. Take several changes of clothes for the kids and one for you. It is possible that your child may get travel sick or just have some kind of accident on the plane. We suggest putting a complete change of clothes (or 2) for each child inside a ziplock bag. The bag can then be used to store the dirty clothes. It also worth taking a change of top at least for the adults.
5. Take lots of interesting snacks and treats.  Playing with food is to be encouraged on aeroplanes as long as it means it takes longer to eat than normal!
6. If your child is old enough, invest in some toddler headphones. These will be volume limited for safety.  They will then be able to watch the Films and other TV if you are on a flight with those facilities.  Alternatively load audio books onto your smart phone or tablet for them to listen to.  For younger children there are books that come with CDs if they like the pictures. As a final option you can have their favourite songs on your phone or computer.
7. Take some favourite books as well as a couple of new ones. There are some great I spy books available which can be discussed at length. Small book libraries which come in boxes are great not only as stories but for lining up and putting away and some even have a puzzle on the back when the books are put together.
8. If it is a long flight and you think your children will be noisy then seriously consider taking earplugs for your immediate neighbours. Give them out at the start of the flight, apologising for any inconvenice and assuring them that you will do everything you can to keep the children  quiet.  It is much harder for people to be unpleasant when you have already apologised and you never know, they may even help you out a bit with some entertaining!
9. If your child is not long out of nappies or needs the toilet often consider using pull ups (or special aeroplane pants!) for the flight.  If your child needs the toilet during take off or landing they won't be able to go nor during turbulence and a nappy means it doesn't matter if they can't hold on long enough.
10. If you want your child to sleep take comfort toys associated with sleep time. Try to follow your bedtime routine as closely as possible so brush their teeth, have a story, give them the blanket and say 'night night'.   For children old enough, talk to them in the days before the trip about how they will have their meal on the aeroplane and then go to sleep so they are expecting it.

We hope these give you some ideas for making the flight easier.  Sign up to our newsletter for regular hints and tips for making travel fun!

How's this for exciting!?

We have passed our toy tests... both the items submitted to trading standards have been proven safe for children based on their flammability and physical properties.  Unfortunately it is not clear if this includes chemical safety at this point but we are a step closer to being able to sell so we are over the moon!

Fancy a sneak preview?? Here is a picture of the car mat:

And here is the other item.  A little bag for taking your making and doing toys out on the go without losing them everywhere!

We are very excited!

Testing Time!

As I type our very first toy is in the lab being set alight, stress tested and chopped up for chemical testing. Will it pass? I very much hope so! I can't wait to hear but the lab can take up to a month to finish the testing so I am trying to distract myself with other things. Anyone else had toys tested for CE conformity?

Making our own toys!

While we are happy to offer a range of really great toys for you to buy through our shop there are a few things that we can't find and would like to see.  One of these is a travel car mat and so, after many hours of designing and making and a bit of faffing we finally had a prototype.  BUT while toys made for your own kids can be made just however your want, toys made for sale in the EU must meet a range of safety standards. The rigor of the standards delights us as parents and makes us tremble as potential manufacturers. 
For those of you who are as new to the CE (Certification European) regulations as us I thought it might be helpful to give a bit of an overview. 

Basically, anyone making toys to sell for children in the EU has to test them. There are loads of people out there who don't know this so it would be great to spread the word. Though testing is quite complicated when you first look at it, it is not too bad once you have taken an deep breath and especially if you join one of the online support groups of like minded people. The standard that needs to be met is called BS EN71 and in summary there are a number of criteria that toys must be tested for:

1. Mechanical and Physical properties - how strong it is and whether it may physically harm a child.
2. Flammability - how likely it is to catch fire and how it burns if it does
3. Migration of certain elements - whether it contains anything that may poison children

There are other test which apply to specific toy types such as chemistry sets, activity toys etc but the above 3 are relevant to all toys.

If you would like to know more about CE testing this facebook group is an amazing resource and a great place to start.  CE Support Chatter Group 

We'll keep you posted on our toy testing progress! 

Neville: an introduction and a packing list

Hi my name is Neville and I am Take Me Toys expert on lists, logistics and staying safe. I like nothing more than a list which I can tick things off to give the day a sense of purpose.

Going away with the family is great but there is so much to remember and I have written a very long list of things you might like to take. I have provided it as a pdf which you won't be able to change and also as a word document which you will. The links are here

Tip of the day: take photographs of your passports, insurance documents and any other important paper work and email them to yourself. That way even if you lose everything you will be able to get copies from any computer in the world.

Welcome to Take Me Toys!

Take me toys - our new business!

Welcome to the take me toys blog.  Over the coming weeks we will be sharing our hottest travel tips to make travelling as easy as possible this summer.  

Please check out our new website which is full of travel toys to keep your kids busy on your journeys.