News

Editor's letter

While the temperatures hit the 90s this summer my colleagues and I were busy anticipating Christmas, complete with turkey dinners, decorations, Santa and carols playing merrily in the background - all in the cause of research, of course. Manufacturers need to tell us well in advance about the new toys and equipment with which they hope to wow the children this year, and creating the right ambience is a traditional part of the deal. While toys meant mainly for the consumer market are often unsuitable for group use, there are some useful resources about to be launched and you will find mentions of these scattered throughout this issue.
While the temperatures hit the 90s this summer my colleagues and I were busy anticipating Christmas, complete with turkey dinners, decorations, Santa and carols playing merrily in the background - all in the cause of research, of course. Manufacturers need to tell us well in advance about the new toys and equipment with which they hope to wow the children this year, and creating the right ambience is a traditional part of the deal.

While toys meant mainly for the consumer market are often unsuitable for group use, there are some useful resources about to be launched and you will find mentions of these scattered throughout this issue.

Once again, there is a wide and varied selection of topics in Nursery Equipment. For the under-threes we look at some great new baby gyms (page 12) and find some absolutely fabulous interactive books intended for the very young, but which could be enjoyed by everyone in the nursery, including the adults! (See page 14.) For the Foundation Stage see our enticing range of construction toys (page 16) and check out a terrific assortment of puppets (page 18). In our out-of-school section on page 26 we have a feature on basic products, both for established groups and for those just starting up, which we hope you will find helpful.

Our product reviews this time round concentrate on products just for the three- to five-year-olds and include such items as a computer station and a chair which the children can construct themselves. Find out how these and other items fared, starting on page 20.

Finally, there's another of our free prize draws. This time we have some Make A Puppet Sets from Active Designs which also introduce a few words of French. You have to be in it to win it, as they say, so take a second to send in your entry now.