Toys: How slow can you go?

A triangular activity centre

Yesterday, on the fourth floor of Selfridges in Oxford Street, central London, seven winners of the Slow Toys Awards were announced. If you haven't heard of the "real toy awards", founded last year by the toy distributor Thierry Bourett, they are an ascetic toy-based version of the slow food movement – a late 1980s attempt to counter fast food.

The "slow toy movement" gets us looking back to the days when toys "provided children far more than noise and flashing lights". This year's winners range from an eco dolls' house to a triangular activity centre. All very worthy, but a set of "pistachio-coloured" stacking hoops probably won't be bothering the Christmas best-seller lists.