When I was a little girl I had my very own dress up set complete with paper clothes with little tabs at the tops and sides to keep them on the cardboard doll. I remember playing with that set for hours so I thought I would look for something similar for my six year old daughter. I really thought something like this would give her something to do when she is in the house.

I found the Melissa & Doug magnetic dress up set online and it was just what I was looking for. I must say, that these sets have come a long way since I was a child. You no longer have to get your mom to cut out the clothes and you don’t have to worry about them tearing. This set is magnetic so the clothes will just stick to the dolls, which is great.

My daughter adores this set and plays with it for hours. She has had it for about three months now and still plays with it every other day. She absolutely loves mixing and matching the outfits and showing them to me to see what I think. Some of the parts are quite small so I have bought a little box for her to store this set in. I would not hesitate to buy this fantastic toy again.

My husband is a fairly good chess player, but very poor at teaching our kids how to play. I’ve been driven to distraction by the two boys’ frustration at not understanding what their dad was trying to explain.

When I came across the No Stress Chess game, I thought that my prayers had been answered. The game is specifically designed to teach eager minds how to play chess. It’s a double-sided board – one side with clues, the other side a standard chess board. When the kids are playing against each other, they use the board with clues and the clue cards. That way they learn how to move the figures and also to predict the outcome of every move. When they play against their father, they use the standard board and it’s generally both the boys against the man.

Their skills have improved immensely and I’m very pleased that it has fostered their love for chess. It’s quite a sight to see the kids telling each other what to do while playing against ‘the master’.

The No Stress Chess game comes with a two-sided chess board, 56 action cards, 17 ivory pieces, 17 charcoal pieces, a black plastic card tray and the instructions.