Make Time to Play

 

Thanks for finding time during your stay to take a look at the contents of our Toy Chest, we trust the kids had fun and that they persuaded you to try out some of the games we’d included in the chest. Novotel’s “Make Time to Play” toy chest is simple – an idea encouraging parents and kids to play together.

We hope you’ll agree that communicating through fun and games is about the best way to do it. If you’ve not seen the Toy Chest but ended up on this page by fluke then you’ll find all the toys below installed at ten Novotel Kids Space locations across the UK – York, Liverpool, Birmingham Airport, Cardiff, Southampton, London Waterloo, London Paddington, London Tower Bridge, London Blackfriars and Heathrow J4/M4 – Pop along for a friendly family stay and have a play.

Here’s a reminder of the toys we have at each location and with retailer links and prices for your convenience now you’ll likely want one or two of them at home to play with some more: Novotel’s favourite toys and games that are included in the Toy Chest for you to enjoy.

Bananagrams

Shout out “split’ and “peel” as you race to become top Banana in this hugely enjoyable word game – best of all there are no turns, just get on and create your own grid of words using all your tiles before anyone else. British tennis number one Johanna Konta and the cast of Downton Abbey are fans, no board is required, it’s the ultimate take anywhere game.

Bandido

Almost certainly set to be a classic amongst card games this is a co-operative game where you all work together to stop the bandit escaping prison. Strategy and observation are the key to stopping this mask wearing criminal from escaping from behind bars, it can even be played solo.

Brio Pinball  

An exciting mix of beautiful design and ingenious features, many minutes of fun. Use your balancing skills and a little patience – both will come in handy here.

Colour Addict

They’ve called it “Color” on the box but we’re not having that. This game is a great “shouty outy” affair where you’ve to get rid of all your cards by playing the right word or colour or both before anyone else. Parents be warned, kids are really very good at this!

Connect Four

Forty two coloured discs, one grid, the aim, get four of your colour in a row – easy to play, just don’t lose your concentration or the opposition will nab that last space from right under your nose.

Classic Cards

Play patience, a quick game of snap, Old Maid, Go Fish or uncover the rules of rummy, there are literally a hundred games you can play with a pack of cards –  one of the oldest and possibly best travel games ever created.

Fun Bricks

Sturdy bricks, bright colours, the only limits with this crafty set of building bricks is your imagination. A brilliant set of building blocks for smaller hands to start their skyscraper making career.

Fuzzy Felt – Celebration set

Packed with 500 Fuzzy felt pieces that mum and dad might remember from way back when. Lots of original shapes and two boards for creating your own story scenes. Create a picture, tell your story, start all over again.

Maki Stack

This is a game all about sushi stacking and making delicious seaweed rolls filled with ingredients as indicated by the drawn card, sounds simple? Some cards are, but plenty much more tricksy, and you’ve to beat the others to complete your stack first – oh, and sometimes you’ll be blindfolded.

Crazy Eggs

 It’s a die rolling, egg grabbing, oeuf stacking style of game – quickest to react grabs the egg and completes the request upon the drawn card. Its fast, franctic and a bit fiddly – we love the box.

 Guess Who?

The best guessing game around, you get quizzical with your opponent, ask about facial features and guess the card of the other player. Do you wear glasses? Have you blue eyes? Are you wearing ear-rings? –  Guess it right, win five rounds, claim Guess Who glory.

Harry Potter Shuffle Quidditch tryouts

Fans of all things Hogwarts and Harry play to match the colours on the cards and slam your quaffle cards on the goalpost cards. The player with the highest score when all goalpost cards are used up becomes the new Gryffindor Captain!

Kingdomino

This award winning family strategy game has you playing against each other to build the very best kingdom you can. Dominoes, 3D castles and king characters – 100% fun.

LEGO Classic

This is set number 10713, travel friendly, your very own LEGO style storage box so those pesky pieces don’t get left under your feet. Over 200 pieces inside to let your imagination run wild, these Danish bricks are just brilliant.

Sushi Go

Easy to pick up and play, almost impossible to put down – and you don’t even have to like sushi to play. The aim is to grab the best combination of dishes and dip them in sauce to get more points, make sure to leave some room for pudding though!

Thinkwords

This circular word game has all the letters of the alphabet around it, pick a subject and say a word beginning with that letter and press it. Wild animals? ZEBRA! Round things? Doughnuts! Pizza toppings? Pineapple!

Story Cubes MAX

Nine oversized cubes, each with a different image on the faces, roll them out and let the storytelling begin. Play alone and make your own story or play in turns so each person tells a part of your unique story.

Softwood Easel

Unleash your inner artist onto wither the blackboard or whiteboard surfaces. Create new characters, draw imaginary scenes, play noughts and crosses – The possibilities are almost endless, then, just wipe away and start again.

 Squirrel Play Train Table by Smyths

With 100 pieces including tracks, figures, vehicles, signs, trees, bridges, tunnels, buildings it is ready for all kinds of adventures. Take a trip from the helipad and visit central station, wind up the drawbridge and let the train travel through, we think you’ll find the occasional adult having a play on here.

We hope you have wonderful fun whilst you’re at play and do share your experiences:

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About Peter Jenkinson

Toyologist Pete Jenkinson regularly writes about toys in national newspapers like The Sun and The Mail. This super-dad has an unmatched passion and dedication for trying and testing the latest, coolest and most interesting offerings from the world of toys.