So, a table arrived. Or an art master activity desk, depending on your perspective.

As you may recall, I entered a competition to become an Activity Toys Direct blogger.

I was successful. (Check out the funky badge in the sidebar.)

Yay me. 🙂

And very recently, I had my first review item. There was of course, an exchange of emails beforehand, and I agreed that an art master activity desk sounded like an excellent addition to our household. I looked at the picture, didn’t look at the dimensions, and totally ignored the size of our house.

I’m not very bright sometimes.

The box, when it arrived, was larger than I expected. This should have been a hint. But foolishly, I didn’t realise that the table itself would require assembling and therefore be even larger than the box. (The box is big enough to put several children in. What? They asked me to. Literally. No, there are no pictures.)

I was surprised by the assembling, given that it’s a plastic desk, I just hadn’t thought about it really. I suppose if I had thought about it I’d have expected clipping together, like our much loved climbing frame did, but this needed a screwdriver, and quite a bit of time, and probably more power than I have in my hands. I’m a bit feeble – I think it’s the tendency to bend too far, and my wrists are particularly badly affected. But I persevered and didn’t swear loud enough for the children to hear, although I will recommend an awl to start holes in the plastic as an really helpful piece of equipment that I wish I’d had about two screws earlier in the process.

There’s also a little light, that needs batteries, that needs a really little screwdriver for assembling. This is apparently the best bit of the whole table, because the children can switch it on by themselves.

So, it’s a big plastic craft desk, requires some assembly and has a light.

It’s rather more than that.

It has space for books to live in – we can now find our favourite story books. It’s got places to store paper, and pens, and pencils. And it’s designed for drawing on, so I don’t need to worry about the carpet or the furniture, as the children absolutely adore it and there’s usually one of them at least making creations on it.

I wish I’d had it years ago. It’s wonderful.

But it is large. So check the dimensions before you order it. You have been warned.

(As mentioned, I’m an Activity Toys Direct blogger, so the desk was supplied free of charge. They are still shipping for Christmas if you’re interested )