When Lauri came out with their Activity Variety Packs several years ago, we were absolutely thrilled. Lauri products were already household favorites, and these packs provided lots of Lauri toys that were highly educational, revolved around beloved themes, and were ideal for so many situations. We’ve used our Activity Variety Packs in restaurants, doctor’s offices, and many other places where quiet waiting was essential. They are also very useful for a variety of home situations when a child must be kept safely and quietly busy. My children have used them in a corner of the kitchen while I was cooking, on my bed while I was cleaning out my closets, at my feet while I was working on the computer, and at the table while I was homeschooling a sibling. Because the crepe rubber pieces are so quiet, these toys will not cause disruptive noise in public or at the table while Mommy is working with an older child. All of the activities will strengthen your child’s fine motor and problem solving skills while providing valuable imaginative play experiences. My children were ready to use them at about three years of age.

This Fire & Rescue set is jam-packed with great activities for any young hero. There are ultra-sturdy chipboard shapes - a fire truck, fire station, and tree - that have holes punched around the sides. Your child can trace these onto paper then color the picture, or practice lacing skills using the enclosed plastic-tipped laces. There are crepe rubber rescue-themed shapes such as fire hats, fire hydrants, firemen, and little fire trucks. These can be sorted by shape or color, strung onto a lace (there is a hole in the center of each shape), or used as props for creative play. (There is even a little cat that can be laced onto the cardboard tree so that it can be “rescued!) Best of all, there is an 8” crepe rubber square base into which your child can place crepe rubber firemen, ladders (which the firemen can really “climb”), dogs, small trees, and the chipboard fire station and tree mentioned above to create a charming 3D play scene. This is an ideal set-up for all sorts of imaginative play-acting and the combination of activities will keep children quietly and happily busy for a very long time. When your child is finished, he can pack all of the pieces back into the box so everything will be at the ready next time.

I have two suggestions born of our own use of this product. First, we have always stored these packs on a shelf out of reach of our children. Doling them out only when we needed a child to be particularly quiet and busy helps make them special and gives them an added appeal and freshness. Second, we have found that the acetate front of the box can easily come loose after repeated use. If you don’t care about the cute box with the carry handle, you can store the pack in a large Ziploc bag. If you want to keep the pack in the box (it does have somewhat inspiring photos of play possibilities), then I would suggest reinforcing the edges of the acetate with packing tape at the first sign of wear.