We've just taken a good look at the new releases from Rubik's for Summer 2019 and John Adams have kindly offered one of my readers 2 of the new puzzles for themselves. One winner will win a Rubik's Edge and a Rubik's Cage, together worth well over £25.

This Summer Rubik's have a whole new 'Summer Scrambles' assortment of toys, games and fidgets to play with and they've sent us a big bundle to look at. Rubik's are small, portable toys which are great for taking away with you on holiday or visiting relatives, and they are perfect for entertaining your children on long journeys.


We've been sent Rubik’s Cage, Rubik’s Edge, Rubik’s Orbit, Rubik’s Block, Rubik’s Match and Rubik’s 3x3. The variety is massive and we are long-time fans of Rubik's Cube here, my partner can even complete one in 26 moves (or something), so he was one of the first to want to dip into this lot.


Rubik’s 3x3 - the classic cube that we all know. So much better than cheap imitations, and I have actually managed to complete it a couple of times, but don't ask me to do it unless you've got about 4 hours while I figure it out.


I've got a little room for improvement, the current record (held by Yusheng Du) stands at 3.47 seconds *gulp*. RRP £10 - there is also an environmentally packaged version which is cheaper - nice one Rubik's.

If your house is anything like mine then you'll be very familiar with fidget toys. Zing make a great range of Every Day Play fidget toys that are played with by children, but also used by professionals, and they have offered a bundle of 6 awesome and varied toys for one of my readers - Metal Chucks, Tumblstix, Spinbladez, Klixx, Thumb Chucks and Zing Dama.


The quality is great and 4 of the 6 light up - which was quite a surprise when I opened my box and everything inside was glowing! They are all packaged in card with a plastic front cover and open very easily and quickly, so you can play immediately - Christmas morning friendly.


Thumb Chucks (£7.99rrp) are the original light-up fidget balls which have been joined by several variants. I've seen Thumb Chucks demonstrated at events several times and there are loads of videos online - basic tricks are easy to learn, but trickier moves take hours of practice to master. This isn't just a fidget toy, it's a skill toy.

The latest craze to reach our shores from Japan is MOKURU. These are fidget toys with a difference, as they test your dexterity and with a bit of skill and practice you can do an impressive range of rolls, flips and tricks.


MOKURU appears an unassuming and very lightweight Beech wood peg with rubbber ends. What you don't at first realise is that it's cleverly designed and engineered to have perfect balance, so it can tip and flip end to end, back and forth.

My youngest child is a climber. It wasn't a complete shock to me, his older sister was a climber too and had fallen off the dining room table and split her head open by the time she was 12 months. Her 2nd glue-job was when she was still under 4. Thankfully so far those are the only trips to hospital with small people who have fallen, however that is some sort of miracle.

Aged around 18 months she climbed barefoot to the top of our 8 foot tall wooden garden fence. Sadly no adult is able to climb up a fence like that, and I actually had to leave her up there and run into my house , go all the way upstairs to fetch a stepladder and not trip up on the way back to get her down. She thought it was hilarious, she could see the neighbour's dog and she liked dogs. And cats....(I don't have a picture of a dog and I've heard cats attack you in the night if they think you are the enemy).


We knew our youngest was inquisitive, and more than a bit lively, from very early on. A walker by 11 months, he had already learned how to undo stairgates by twisting the two bottom supports until they were loose, and then just pushing the gate to crawl under it. It was no coincidence the gate at the top of the stairs was screwed completely to the wall.

I'm a big fan of inclusive education. I like to see as many pupils in mainstream education as can be happy there. I believe that our young people will have to function in the wide world one day, and it is our job to try and prepare them for that as best we can, from teaching them their first friendly smile to taking them to their College interview. They have to learn to mix with everyone else, and school should be a relatively safe environment in which to gather most of the skills, understanding and knowledge required to become a socially adept adult.


Children learn far more than lessons in school, and a big thing they learn about is diversity. They realise on their first day at nursery that everyone is different. My children have all been very lucky and attended schools which have been specifically inclusive to deaf children. They have learnt to communicate, to play and work with children who can't hear like they can. In return the deaf children have learnt how to work best with hearing people. It works, and it benefits the individuals and makes for a healthier society as a whole.