This Week, AMK Recommends...

It's been a couple of weeks since Father Christmas completed the Wimborne, Cardiff, Teddington circuit. Although the wrapping paper kept me entertained for a while, I've now had time to have a good play with my other new things.

Up until now, most of my toys have been soft and tend to rattle or squeak when I bash them hard enough. But tastes change and one must learn to set aside childish things, so now I prefer great lumps of plastic fuelled by double As. My current favourite is my v-tech ball: it flashes and sings and even rolls around in circles on its own. At some point soon I'll be able to chase it around the room.

But while my plastic ball was a fine choice by Santa, this week I'll be recommending my Brio toys. I have a train (thank you Caroline!), a helicopter and a turtle and all of them have a terrific action, without the need for batteries.

They're all wooden, you see, and rely on simple movements and a bit of push or pull power from yours truly.

It's true, I'm not quite big enough to play with them properly on my own but Daddy assures me they're excellent fun. I think the giraffemight be on order and when that arrives I'll make up my mind whether the animals or the machines will rule.

AMK