Konges Sløjd Pop Up Music Board

There is something deeply satisfying about a toy where you press a button and an animal suddenly pops up. Even better when there are four of them.

The Konges Sløjd Pop Up Music Board is a proper cause-and-effect toy, with four little animal characters waiting to be discovered. Children turn, press and slide the different chunky controls to make them spring out of their hiding places, with music adding to the action as they play.

The whole thing has a brilliant retro feel. Cream and deep red with navy and forest green controls, it looks more like a toy you might have grown up with than the usual primary-coloured plastic version. The animals are excellent too — a hippo, bear, elephant and giraffe, each with its own little illustrated musician underneath.

It’s simple enough to understand but there’s plenty to keep going back to: working out which control does what, getting all four animals up and, inevitably, pushing them all back down to start again.

A very good hands-on toy for curious little fingers.