The TV show is hugely successful with children and as such there are a wide variety of Bob the Builder toys available to buy.  Your little ones can have no end of fun acting out their favourite TV show moments as well as practising their yet to be learned DIY skills! Amazon are currently offering over 400 items so you can see the popularity and diversity of the toy range.

For what age group are they suitable?

From 3 years old.

What toys and merchandise does the range include?

The favourite toys in this huge range are undoubtedly the action figures and vehicles. There are toy replicas of Bob, Wendy and numerous other characters from the show and each piece of construction machinery has its own toy version.

To widen your collection you can then choose from die cast models, playsets, role play toys, games, puzzles, soft toys, outdoor toys, interactive toys, drawing and craft items, furniture and furnishings, tableware and school items.

Some of the outdoor toys are pretty impressive. You can get a Bob The Builder ride on car, well two actually, in the form of a Scoop Ride On Loader and a Ride On Scrambler. They’ll set you back over a hundred dollars though.

Why not get a Bob The Builder workbench for your little boy and one of the many toy kitchens for your little girl and they can have some great role play fun together. He can fix something in the kitchen while she makes him a cup of tea!

How much do these toys cost?

A single plastic figure starts at around £2.50 although they seem to be quite hard to find.  A set of five plastic figures sells for approx. £12 with beanie versions costing £6 each.

There are two types of larger vehicles to choose from – the Bob The Builder friction toys cost about £8 and the talking versions of these machinery characters cost around £11. Their smaller die cast counterparts (the Bob The Builder take along toys) cost from £4.

Which are the best selling toys?

By far the best selling toys are the friction powered construction machinery characters, specifically Scoop, Muck, Roley and Lofty.

Which are the worst rated toys?

As I find with many TV or movie toys, the playsets are never well received.  For Bob The Builder, his Snap Trax Garage playset and Sunflower Valley Drive & Build playset and not considered good value for money.  For the price of a playset you can get a nice collection of the core vehicles and figures so that your little ones can have more fun making up their own games.

What do real people think?

The following comments are taken from real reviews on Amazon.co.uk

“This toy is worth the money.”

“They have been played with a LOT and they really do last well.”

So if you have a Bob The Builder toy fan, they won’t be disappointed to receive an item from this toy range.

Online Games
Children love to play free games online and there are numerous Bob The Builder games to amuse them while teaching them a few keyboard and mouse skills along the way.

On BobTheBuilder.com there are a large variety of games split into the following types:

•    Racing & Mazes (Mountain Scrambler, Packers’ Pick Up, Muck’s Maze, Scrambler’s Ramble)
•    Puzzles (including Jigsaws, Slider Puzzles and Noughts & Crosses)
•    Building & Painting (Paint The Gang, Design A House, Bob’s Pipe Game)
•    Matching (Matching Game & Bob’s Tool Shed)
•    Counting (Snowball Spud)

Beware though this site makes some annoying machinery noises every few seconds to keep you in the Bob The Builder building mood!

The BBC website has no such annoying noises but has a smaller selection of online games.

Here you can choose from:

•    Sunflower Park – where you help Bob build a playground.
•    Relay Race – where you have to help Bob find his lost spanner in the village.
•    Apple Antics – Spud is throwing apples from the trees and you have to catch them.
•    Bobsville Build – where you get to help Bob and his team move to Sunflower Valley.

For a more commercial online game head over to GameHouse.com for their ‘Bob The Builder Can-Do Carnival’ game.

There is a free trial of this game you can download or you can pay to upgrade to the full version. The game involves helping Bob build his own carnival. You have to help him plan the job, choose the materials, pick the right tools and clean up afterwards in a series of games that are both fun and creative.

Not quite a game, but for younger fans try these ‘projects‘:

•    Build A Playground
•    Mend A Road
•    Build A Fountain

Here your children have to go through a series of tasks to complete the overall project.  In the ‘Build A Playground’ project they have to dig a hole, fill in the sand, put up a sign etc. They have to follow Bob’s instructions and click on the right machine so that it performs the right action.

Printable Colouring Sheets

Children love to colour and what better pictures than their very own favourite characters from their favourite cartoon.

BobTheBuilder.com has many colouring sheets of Bob himself and all the most popular machines.

The BBC website has a selection of the human characters but no machines.

Printable Activity Sheets

If your children are not into colouring then print them off some of these puzzles, mazes and matching activities.

Other Printables

Brighten up your little one’s bedroom walls or doors with some Bob The Builder pictures by printing off these free posters of the most popular characters.

Other Online Activities

You can Meet The Team and find out some fun facts and hear sound effects of the most popular characters.

Read an Online Story with these great little Bob The Builder books full of pictures.

Craft Activities

Head back to the BBC website for a selection of Bob The Builder craft tasks – you can choose from making a card, a finger puppet or a drum kit.

There are also some nice step by step instructions on BobTheBuilder.com of how to make homemade dough, a shoebox town and sock puppets.

Outdoor Activities

If the weather is on your side, get your little ones outdoors for some Bob The Builder fun. Download instructions for the following activities: Painter, Muck May I? game and a Nature Collage.

And try ‘I Spy’ or ‘Construction Site’ games if you’re on the go and need to keep your children entertained.

Theme Song

If your little ones are anything like mine, then a favourite music activity is to listen to the theme song over and over again until you (not them!) want to scream! If you’re prone to headaches, don’t check this out!

I hope this gives you a few ideas of free Bob The Builder games and activities you can try with the click of a few buttons!