We quite like children's books that double up as fun toys, and as huge fans of Fuzzy Felt we loved this christmassy version from Top That Publishing. "Fuzzy Christmas" lets you build up lots of playful and interesting christmas scenes with some pre-cut felt shapes and fuzzy backgrounds to place them on.

Lovely easy to handle shapes are perfect for little fingers as children build up scenes of christmas and the nativity. Naturally there are always plenty of presents to be had, and Santa pops in for an appearance too.

A great little book to pick up as a stocking filler. Have a fuzzy christmas y'all!

Charlotte's best bit: Lots of creative fun to be had making up different scenes

Daddy's favourite bit: A fantastic fun book, we always love fuzzy felt stuff.

(Kindly sent to us for review by Top That! Publishing)

As mentioned in our previous review for Top That's "Junior Learn to Draw Baby Animals" Charlotte absolutely positively ADORES drawing Princesses.

This book takes a slightly different approach to the "Junior Learn to Draw" series, using copy grids so that older children can copy a picture as a finished article rather than taking things stage by stage.

The clever bit - 3D - comes from the background of the grids you draw into. A tiny set of coloured circles trick the eye into thinking that whatever you've drawn is standing slightly above the page surface.

Amazingly, it works rather well - though if you're like me with slightly wonky eyes you'll find it takes a bit of getting used to.

There's a wealth of Princess-y material here to copy so Charlotte was in her element. Nothing wrong with being a girly girl from time to time is there (and yes, the book cover is pink).

Though it's not a Disney-fied product, there are certainly a few nods to Disney Princesses in the names used and costume types in the book - and funnily enough we've just been discussing those dot-eyes on Twitter. We love them so.

Charlotte's best bit: Drawing Belle.

Daddy's favourite bit: The rather neat little 3D trick. Wonder if you can get paper like that to print out and use for your own designs!

(Kindly sent to us for review by Top That! Publishing)

As Charlotte begins her reading journey, we feel like we're caught up in a phonic whirlwind. Anything that can help her make phonic exercises more fun and more colourful is a definite bonus.

"Learn with Neddy Teddy and his Phonic Friends" is a neat idea. Each colourful panel has a "Phonics Wheel" that children can use in conjunction with the text and fabulous illustrations to match phonic sounds, trickier letter combinations and word matching.

As you can see from the panel, the animal characters and super-colourful pictures are imaginative and fun, and the phonics wheel is a stroke of genius - though some parents might find that they need to cover over the 'picture' window to ensure children are sounding out and learning properly, rather than just guessing words or letters by looking directly at the images.

The wheel idea ensures that the solid and beautifully presented book has an absolute ton of content to ensure that children don't get too bored with the exercises, and can carry on using the book as their phonics skills develop.

At the moment, it's really great to see Charlotte taking those first few learning and reading steps along with her school and with our help, and it's massively rewarding to see her take to something like the Neddy Teddy books with gusto.

Charlotte's best bit: She absolutely loves the animal characters, and of course rotating the wheel to try out all the different word and letter combinations

Daddy's favourite bit: A really solid book and the letter wheel idea is a stroke of genius - May need some parental intervention to turn the wheel at times (but this is very common with this type of book, sometimes they need a bit of 'working in' to make them easier for small fingers to turn without hurting themselves)

(Kindly supplied to us for review by the lovely folk at Top That! Publishing)

One of the first books Charlotte made an instant bee-line for in the wonderful Top That early christmas parcel we received was "Fuzzy Christmas", a great activity book with lots of 'Fuzzy Felt' shapes to arrange in tactile christmas scenes. A nice durable book, Charlotte had a lot of fun sorting out the shapes, matching them to the stories and text, and then making up her own scenes and stories.

Stimulated play like this is a great way for children to learn different words and have fun while they're doing it, and it's also great for shape recognition and matching.

We've previously had one of the other 'Fuzzy' titles, 'Fuzzy Farm' and it was also quite a useful thing to take on car journeys, where the pieces stay put on the backgrounds (though you have to be careful to make sure they don't end up lost in the car too!)

Nicely illustrated with lots of bold colours and designs, Fuzzy Christmas retails for £4.49 direct from the Top That website. 

Charlotte's best bit: Making up her own stories and narrating them with the great selection of colourful play pieces and scenes

Daddy's favourite bit: A nice hard-back durable book that should stand up to plenty of chewing!