Like most toddlers, Darcie’s attention span can be very short. It takes a lot for a toy to captivate her for more than about half an hour before it is discarded to the plastic graveyard. But the City Deli has come in and done just that. It’s been her favourite toy for almost a week now, and I can’t see that changing anytime soon! At nearly two and a half Darcie’s speech is very good but she also likes to march to the beat of her own drum a little, and so despite being able to say ‘Deli’ and ‘Burger Van’ – she has lovingly nicknamed her new favourite toy her ‘camper van’, and likes to demand that it go everywhere with us. How many times can you explain to a toddler that they don’t need to bring their toy Deli to the shops? It’s like she’s scared to let it out of her sight in case it disappears! So yes, I think I’ve made my point – she loves the toy!
With Christmas coming up, I know we are all on the lookout for the next new thing to buy our kids, so let me tell you all about the City Deli.
What’s In The Box?
One of the first things that I liked about the toy is that it is entirely self contained when it comes out of the box. The truck opens up so all the toy food, canopy and accessories can be stored inside. If there’s one thing that makes this Mama very happy, it’s a children’s toy that can be tidied away quickly and easily at the end of the day!
The truck comes with everything your little person could want to set up their very own food stall. There are two upright poles and a plastic canopy to set the scene, a deep fry basket for cooking up chips and donuts and even two buttons that make realistic cooking sounds and play a little tune. Toy food and utensils completes the play set. Darcie has spent hours this past week cooking up food in her ‘camper van’. She likes to pretend to be both the chef and the customer and tells me to ‘sit there mummy’ depending on which role I am supposed to be fulfilling.
Great For Imagination
She already has a conventional play kitchen so we play pretend cooking and baking a lot, but the new concept of a food truck has opened up so many more different conversations and she’s learnt a lot of new words and skills while she’s been flippin’ burgers. She’s at an age where her imagination takes her to the most amazing places and I love toys like the City Deli that encourage that side of her development. If you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen that I’ve been turning the telly off most days, and toys like this really help to capture her imagination and stop her from asking for Peppa Pig.
The City Deli is just one of the toys from Smyths’ ‘Big Steps’ range of pre-school toys. It retails at £24.99 which I think is such an affordable price for a toy that provides so much entertainment. I’m definitely going to be considering some of the other toys in the range for Darcie’s Christmas presents.
*we were kindly gifted the City Deli in exchange for this review, but all opinions are my own.
