The summer holidays have come to a close here in Scotland with schools returning this week across the country. After 5 months at home feels a bit like the end of an era, and I really wanted to make it special and mark the occasion with something fun for Piglet and his cousins. They love role play, and they love sweets, but never before have we combined the two.

Casdon Pick n Mix Sweet Shop

Kids can now have their very own sweet shop with the Casdon Pick n Mix Sweet Shop! They can choose their own sweets, or play shop keeper with their friends. The set up includes a scoop and weighing scales, so it just like like a scaled down version of getting their favourite pick and mix at the cinema or out in town.

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What Is In The Box

The box itself comes fully sealed and with an expiry date on it. This is because there are sweets contained within it. Inside you will find:

• Main sweet shop base
• 2 End pieces
• Scales in 4 parts
• Scoop
• 2 Jars
• Stickers
• Paper toy money
• Plastic coins
• 4 Lollies
• 1 Bag of sweets

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The sweet shop set up didn’t take long, but I did choose to do it the night before to avoid antsy children making it harder than it needs to be. It just took a couple of minutes to click in the side parts, put the scales in place, add stickers and separate out the money.

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Embracing Role Play

Piglet and his cousins are 4, 5 and 7 and the sweet shop appealed to all of them – and not just because they wanted sweets. They are a bit fussy when it comes to sweets, so I replaced the ones that come with the game with some of their usual favourites. I also added some little striped paper bags I had left over with Piglet’s birthday to store their sweeties in.

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The boys took turns to be the shop keeper, letting each other choose the sweets and placing them on the scales to be weighed. My eldest nephew helped them count out their money to pay and placed it in the cash drawer, issuing change as he deemed necessary. Next time we use it I’m going to get them to help make a price list to go on the side, to increase the educational value of the game even further.

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As well as counting skills the Casdon sweet shop also helps with:

• Hand eye coordination
• Social skills from role play
• Learning cause and effect

I was amazed by how restrained the boys all were when it came to helping themselves. The fear with leaving a whole pile of sweets on a table was that they would go mad stuffing their faces, but I am a firm believer in giving children independence and the ability to make their own choices and encouraging them to learn how to enjoy things in moderation. In this case they all chose to just take a few sweets at a time, knowing that there was more there and that they could keep taking turns to go back for a few more to keep the game going. Unfortuneately, for us it meant they were only weighing a small amount of sweets at a time and so the scales didn’t really work. It would have been nice if they were a bit more sensitive, which would discourage being greedy with the sweets available.

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The children all really enjoyed working together to create this Casdon Pick n Mix Sweet Shop review, and it helped to make the end of their summer holidays feel that bit more special at a time where we are not able to get out as much as we would like. They have already asked when we can play again, and I’m sure they will make sure that day comes soon.

We were sent the Casdon Pick n Mix Sweet Shop for the purposes of writing this review. All words and opinions are my own.

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