Educational Toys for Kids with Special Needs

As you know, at ickle Kids we're always on the look out for educational toys that engages children of all ages and abilities. So we're excited to launch our new range of educational toys for kids with Special Needs.

These educational resources have been a hit with teachers from Special Schools around Melbourne and we know you'll love them too!

What's Wrong Picture Lotto - $11.99

A fun game of observation. The aim of the game is to cover the wrong pictures on the game board with the correct picture tiles. This will help your child with their verbal expression, problem solving and observation skills.

Fun with Phonics - $15.99

A fun way to learn beginning consonant blends – learn the phonic sound and then learn to blend them together to form words. This will help your child to differentiate between blends and digraphs and to help with their spelling and language skills. An open ended activity that can be used in early literacy, special needs, speech therapy, ESL and lots more.

Build a Sentence Part 1 - $17.99

An interactive way of engaging children to build their own sentences. They can create serious sentences or funny sentences - the funnier the better! This game will help children to identify subject/noun and predicate/verb phrases.

We hope you will find something from our Special Needs Range to engage in your child's learning. If you are looking for specific resources for your child, please let us know as we may be able to help you find that special toy.

2011 is my year to "Just do it ..."

It's now 2011 and I've decided that this will be my year to "Just do it ...!" I've been wanting to film a couple of videos about my business - how I started, travel tips on travelling with kids and how my educational toys work to add a different dimension to ickle Kids. 

So here it is ... I'm putting myself out there! It's completely outside of my comfort zone ... but I'm going to "just do it!" Would love to hear your feedback!

P.S. Sorry about the dodgy pic of me above - I changed it but for some reason, the slide where you have to press "play" on You Tube didn't work! Argh!

Christmas Gifts for Kids - School Aged Kids

My older son goes to school and I know it can sometimes be quite tricky to buy for this age group. Kids this age generally want toys that are battery operated like gaming consoles. Don't get me wrong, my boys enjoy playing with these types of toys, but when I do my Christmas shopping, I try and get a good balance of toys:

* active toys (e.g. scooters, footballs, frisbees etc),
* possibly a game for their gaming console,
* practical items (e.g. a new backpack, doona cover)
* board games
* educational toys and games.

Lots of parents have also asked us for some suggestions of what to buy their school aged kids, so we thought we would give you our Top Four Christmas Gift ideas for this age group (pictures above):

From left to right:


IQ Splash $19.99
* A fun game that can be taken out with them this Christmas holidays
* Great to help with your children's visual planning, strategic thinking and spatial perception skills
* Ages 6-99


Word Spin $19.99
* Spin, switch, spell and score your way through this fun educational game
* Can be played individually or with another player
* Ages 8-99


Hide and Seek Safari $32.99
* A challenging educational game for ages 7+ (adults will even struggle with this fun logic game!)
* Place the four puzzle pieces in such a way that only the animals on each of the challenges are visible. Perfect to take with you on your summer holidays.
* Ages 7-99


Road Block $32.99
* The baddies in the red car are trying to escape our city, as the police, can your ickle ones block them in so the robber can't get out?
* 60 challenges to keep them entertained over Christmas!
* Ages 7-99


Trust me, lots of adults (customers, friends, family and myself) have played with these educational games and have struggled with them too! It really is that challenging and that's why we've always said our games aren't necessarily for children up to a certain age - adults love them too!

We hope this has given you a few ideas of what to get school aged kids!

Happy Christmas shopping!

ickle 3rd Birthday Celebrations!

ickle Kids has been in business for THREE years! Hip hip ... Hooray! 

I can't believe how fast the last three years have gone (a bit cliched, but so true)! I'm so lucky to be running my own business, which I love! It's fantastic to meet and chat with our gorgeous customers who are so enthusiastic and supportive about ickle Kids. A big thank you to all our loyal customers and to my family who have been truly amazing! Oops sorry, I didn't mean for this to sound like an Oscar speech!

To help celebrate ickle Kids turning three, here is a little Birthday Treat to all our lovely supporters:

10% off storewide & orders over $60 will receive a FREE travel game valued at $6! Enter "FB1210" at checkout to redeem this offer. Hurry offer ends 10th December 2010.

Start shopping here before Friday to redeem this Birthday Offer!


Thank you once again, I've really appreciated your support and kind words x

Great Christmas Gift Ideas for Pre-schoolers

It's not long until the big fella in red is sliding down our chimneys, so our ickle elves thought you might like a helping hand in finding some unique educational toys for your little ones. Here are our top Christmas gift ideas for Pre-schoolers, all under $25:

Top left - Magnetic Match Rings $19.99
*  Great way to learn about magnetism
*  Perfect to help your children with their visual matching and hand-eye coordination skills

Top right - Doctor's Dress up Tin $19.99
* Gorgeous wooden accessories that any budding Dr or Nurse would love!

Bottom left - Monkey Bingo $24.99
*  A fun new spin on playing bingo! Push the money towards the crate of bananas to pop out an animal tile
*  This educational game will help your children with animal recognition, word recognition and taking turns


Bottom right - Iclay Pots $15.99
*  A fun way to be creative over this Christmas holidays
*  It comes with an instruction booklet to give you ideas of little animals/figures that you can make. Let your child's imagination go wild!


We hope this has given you a few ideas before Santa's visit!

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas!

Yipppeeee, we have our Christmas decorations up! I know it's not 1st December yet, but the kids were too excited (and so was I to be honest!). It's definitely feeling a bit more like Christmas now!

I have to admit, I do have a bit of an obsession with Christmas decorations  ... everytime I step out of the house, I keep coming back with something little to hang up! Oh dear! But how can I resist these cute little Christmas decorations - they are way too cute!

Come visit ickle Kids at Mathilda's Market!

We love Mathilda's Market and we can't wait to show you our new educational toys and educational games that we have! Not to mention our cool Christmas Stocking Fillers that your ickle ones will love to find on Christmas morning ... from you know who (*wink*).

It will be an amazing event - 100+ stalls, gorgeous products ... so come along and say hello  and start your Christmas shopping with some unique products.

Hope to see you there!