Whats the best thing anyone can buy for a child? Real educational toys. None of these flashing lights and bleeping bits of brittle plastic, which generally fall apart or get consigned to the mound of boredom after a few weeks. Were talking the real deal, old school but new quality: soft toys, too, all that good stuff that we somehow managed to forget about in an avalanche of movie tie ins and goodness knows what else.

Fortunately for our children, some online toys emporiums have been quietly going about the business of collecting a load of real quality, learning and fun toy items on our behalf. With the Internet entering its true maturity, stock handling and online shopping has become a much more robust and safe thing than it used to be and that means a huge quantity of variety and choice, with a lot of real quality thrown in. Educational toys, for example, have made a huge comeback thanks to these sites, which promote the old classics in new form. Mostly, the companies that make these toys havent changed: parents will recognise the same logos and company names that adorned their own favourite train sets and building blocks when they were kids, a guarantee of quality if ever there was one. The same goes for soft toys. Online toys are taking our children back to our roots and they are finally getting a taste of the best kind of play.

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