Giant jenga, the 6 foot version of the classic tower-building game beloved of student pubs around the country might just be perfect for summer garden parties. The sheer size of the thing adds bucketloads of tension to the game, it really does make a spectacular crash when it falls. Giant Jenga can be purchased at a number of online stores, but it’s pretty easy to make your own if you’re that way inclined, plus you can have custom colours - they’d look pretty cool in day-glow paint!

At a recent festival attended by various new-age hippies and crusty types I was amazed to see a huge queue built up for a go on a trampoline. It’s been years since I did this, and I’d forgotten just how much fun - and good exercise - trampolining can be. A tramplone would surely be a great way to encourage some exercise and teach balance to my young daughter: A little further research revealed a huge range of trampolines varying from 8-foot foldable garden ones up to huge 14 foot across caged in monsters. Try http://www.trampolinesonline.co.uk/ as a starting point if you too are looking for some bouncing action.

When I was “knee-high to a grasshopper” as they say in these parts my pal and i built a go-kart, what the Americans call a “soapbox racer”, a huge and heavy contraption made by nailing bits of salvaged pallets together and bolting a couple of axles onto the underside. With solid rubber wheels and rudimentary rope-and-pulley steering it was launched down many a hill until the inevitable day when it hit a lamp-post at full pelt, destroying the vehicle and doing some fairly hefty damage to the post. Times have changes since then and kids these days are a bit more sophisticated, check out the superb range of modern go-karts available from stores such as www.gokartuk.co.uk, they’re just awesome.

It’s been a few years since I’ve seen any Lego, the classic kiddies building block toy and I was amazed when I happened upon the modernised, rebranded varieties that are available these days: Check out http://mindstorms.lego.com/en-us/Default.aspx for example - if only I’d had these as a child I might be an engineer now. Well worth a look to keep your child entertained whilst at the same time throwing a little education and imagination into the package. Simply superb.

Anyone seen those superb micro-helicopters? They’re pretty cheap at around £25 and some of them are quite imaginatively redesigned as giant insects. Available from places such as Gadget Arcade these micro-helicopters are bound to provide the littluns with hours of fun over the Xmas period.

My little nephew stated last night, rather superbly, that he “hopes Santa comes in with a Woody this year”. He was referring, of course, to the doll of the character from the recently released movie in the Toy Story franchise, oh how we laughed.

A decade ago, toys were a lot simpler. One of the most famous and popular toys was a yo-yo. Yoyo’s were circular plastic objects with string wrapped around them. Once the string is swung, the yo-yo falls down the string, and eventually stops as the level of string decreases fully.

Tricks can be performed with one, or multiple yoyos (i.e. throwing yoyos down, then straight back up, just before the string has fully decreased will bring the yo-yo back up etc). They came in different colours, and were very popular in schools. Most schools banned them as they were seen as a deterrent from hard work.

With Toy Story 3 coming out, toy sales are believed to rise. Toy Story is one of the most celebrated CGI story that has been released, and is also one of the first. The main toys believed to be sold are: Woody, Buzz Lightyear and Woody’s gf, a new character to the saga.

Toy Story 3D is already in the cinemas, and is expected to break records. It has also been a while since the last Toy Story was released, so extra stock may be requested to help deal with the craze (due to the fact the film is coming out etc).

When a film, or children’s tv series is released, a lot of merchandise is released along with it. Companies do this to make as much profit as possible whilst the series or film is being released.

This means that toy manufacturers have to increase stock intakes to keep up with the increase in demand. It is not only children that buy toys, but also adults (depending on the merchandise obviously). Argos and ‘Toys for Us’ are the main toy manufacturers in retail chains which sell a large variety and up to date stock, whereas other shops simply cannot keep up.

One of the leading sold toys ever made is the Transformers toys. A Transformer is a endless robotic organism, which can transform from its alien appearance, to that of a vehicle. Some of the vehicles they transform to vary, including: a lorry, car, motorbike, aircraft, a tank, and their own home planet’s Cybertron aircraft.

Many avid fans of Transformers will buy the toy, but keep them in their packaging, for display and future resale. The best selling transformers include: Optimus Prime, Megatron, Starscream, Jetfire, Jazz, Bumblebee and Soundwave. The toys themselves are fairly expensive, selling for around £50 or more.