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Ellie Precious from the Nursery Guide presents the 2006 Toy Survey Results

We want to ensure that this guide delivers the information our visitors need to choose and buy toys for youngsters.

New models and styles of toys are going on sale all the time and we want to keep up with the latest happenings and trends.

Your feedback through surveys like this allows us to identify the types, models and brands of Toys we should investigate as well as other information that will interest our visitors.

Parents revert to the old classics - Eleanor Precious reveals that books were the favourite stocking filler for children this Christmas

Over two thirds of parents (67 per cent) who completed the Nursery Toys Guide survey into toy and book buying habits and expenditure bought their child a book for their Christmas stocking.

Fifty six per cent of parents included a soft toy and 45 per cent added a tangerine to the stocking. The Nursery Toys Guide team ran the online survey in November and December of 2006 to try and understand more about parents' attitudes to toy buying for their children.

Overall, the results indicated that for Christmas, parents tended to spend between £70 - £150 on toys and books for their children. The most popular toys tended to be building toys (32 per cent), electronic toys(22 per cent) and musical toys (14 per cent).

Parents' favourite toy brands included Fisher Price (24 per cent), Early Learning Centre (21 per cent) and Lego (16 per cent).

But where to place the presents? Nursery Toys Guide asked parents where they were most likely to leave their children's presents - fifty nine per cent of parents left them under the tree, 43 per cent placed them in a stocking and 18 per cent hid them in a sack.

Eleanor Precious of Net Additions said: "It looks like the parents who completed the Nursery Toys Guide survey took a pragmatic approach to Christmas gift buying for their children. It's great for me to see that in among the electronic toys, there's still demand for the original toybox toys like building bricks, books and cuddly toys. Tangerines look set to be given as a Christmas gift for some time to come perhaps as a reminder of times gone by. "

Rosemary Clarke, Head of Bookstart commented on the Nursery Toys Guide results: "The pleasure of enjoying books helps to build early literacy and a child's confidence as a learner. But it is also about having a loving relationship. When you read a story together and talk about it afterwards you are saying -I love you, our time together is precious and nothing is more important than being with you."

About Bookstart

Bookstart works with libraries, health visitors and early years professionals to give the gift of free books to every child at around eight months, eighteen months and three years old, along with guidance materials for parents and carers. Bookstart seeks to promote the importance of books and the benefits of early book-sharing, such as parental bonding and promoting emotional intelligence, as well as building good communication and listening skills, and helping to lay the foundations of early literacy. Bookstart also aims to foster a love of books through a range of fun activities like Bookstart Rhymetimes and the Bookstart Book Crawl.

The books are chosen by Booktrust, an independent charity that encourages people to discover and enjoy reading. Although Bookstart works with different partners, including commercial sponsors, charitable trusts and government departments, the book selection process is independent and has no government or commercial involvement.

If you would like to know more about the survey or the Nursery Toys Guide please contact Ellie Precious ellie@net-additions.com