Things worth buying, picked properly

The 200gsm paper has a slightly toothy surface that suits coloured pencil, and the hard covers keep drawings flat and safe in a school bag. Rest your drawing hand on a scrap of paper to stop soft pencil smudging across the page. The pages are A4 in portrait format, 100 of them in all.

What owners say: Owners call it a heavy-duty book with thick paper that doesn’t bleed through, perfect for sketching and coloured pencils, and good value with more pages than most.

Nineteen LEDs sit behind the flat head, with three colours from 1800K to 6000K, each at five brightness levels, and it remembers the last setting. Clip it to the back cover rather than the pages and bend the metal gooseneck so the head sits just over the top edge. The lowest amber setting is enough for a paperback once your eyes adjust, and the gentlest on anyone asleep alongside.

What owners say: Owners rate it for reading at night, with brightness and colour to suit, from a softer orange to plain white, and are pleased with what it costs. It works well on a music stand too, and one has it on a desk as a mini lamp.

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Each bottle holds 59ml. Squeeze out a little at a time onto an old plate, since quick-drying acrylic skins over fast, and rinse the brushes before a break rather than after, as dried acrylic won’t wash out. Start big areas with the flat brushes from the set and save the small rounds for detail.

What owners say: Owners rate the spread of colours and the quality, and find the paint easy to use, quick to dry, good at covering and durable once it’s on.

There are 55 round cards, each with eight symbols, for two to eight players aged 6 and up, and any two cards share exactly one symbol. Start younger players on the simplest game, and stay with it until everyone has the hang of spotting matches before trying the other four.

What owners say: Owners say it’s hard to put down and quick to set up, that young and old can play together, and that a game lasts 10 to 15 minutes.

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It runs to 448 pages with clear step-by-step photos, and covers design, containers, watering and feeding as well. Rather than being read cover to cover, it comes off the shelf for a quick check, when to prune or how to plant, and the Plant Chooser galleries help with a tricky corner. It’s as useful for a first garden as for an established one.

• 448 pages, fully illustrated
• Design, pruning and propagating
• Galleries to help choose plants

What owners say: Owners find it very informative, especially for beginners, easy to navigate and read, and full of good photos.

Inside are 64 crayons, 40 felt tips and 20 short colouring pencils, with 15 large sheets of paper, and Crayola marks it for ages five and up. The paper goes quickly, so keep a pad or a stack of printer paper beside it. Putting each piece back in its gap turns tidying into a matching game, and the handle means the case can live on a shelf between sessions.

What owners say: Owners say children find it easy to pick out the colour they want from the trays, and that the case is sturdy enough to be carted from room to room.

Faber-Castell first made the Castell 9000 in 1905, and these are made in Germany. The tin lives happily in a school bag. A sharp craft knife gives a longer point than a sharpener, which helps when shading with the side of the lead, and a strip of swatches on scrap paper shows at a glance which pencil gives which tone.

What owners say: Owners find the leads smooth, easy to sharpen and good at keeping their point, and like how well the grades blend and how smart the tin looks.

Each card in your hand matches a space on the board, so every turn weighs building your own line against blocking someone else’s, and the Jacks can clear a rival’s chip. It plays as two, or as teams of up to twelve, so it suits a family gathering as well as a quiet evening.

What owners say: Owners say it has become a family favourite, simple to learn and good for adults and children together. They like the strategy in it and say it keeps their brains working.

The seams are ultrasonically welded and the corners rounded, and the set is for ages 3 and up. Start little ones on flat patterns on the floor, squares and triangles laid out like a puzzle, to see how the shapes fit together. Once towers go up, a wide base of squares keeps them standing longer, and the cars can drive in and out of whatever garage comes next.

What owners say: Owners praise the strong magnets and sturdy build, like the mix of colours, and find children come back to it for hours at a time.

The painted finish is there to keep rust off the iron, so wipe the handle dry after a sweaty session and store the bell indoors rather than in a damp shed. At 23cm tall and 18cm across it tucks under a desk or beside the sofa between workouts, and the same bell comes in weights from 6 to 20kg, so a second one is easy to add later.

What owners say: The build quality and the sturdy, easy-to-hold handle get praise, and owners find the weight well spread for different exercises.