Global supply snags could mean fewer toys under the Christmas tree

Who cares? It's time to leave all those worthless wastes of plastic behind. China be damned.

Don’t worry, there’s plenty of that overproduced Chinese plastic toy garbage still waiting unsold in containers. You’d need all Milky Way’s money and everyday a X-mas day to get a small percentage of them emptied. lol

Just as long as Christmas trees are not cancelled out.

There is loads of stuff you can pick from. The latest ranges of the toy companies shouldn't be your only port of call.

Post-Olympics consider sports gear - a badminton set, a dartboard or a skateboard. Bikes are good. Board games support family interaction. Start a lifelong hobby with stamps, coins or minerals. The world is not short of model kits, and the imagination can be fed with ordinary Lego blocks better than with 'special' bits. Meccano is still available. Books are always good and DVDs can be both fun and educational ('Time Team' is a good example - it inspired so many careers in archaeology). There are plenty of toy cars, figures and dolls out there. Get them a Raspberry Pi or an old PC that they can experiment with. There are electronics kits, radio kits, or perhaps a good 'World Band' radio. Or a microscope. An electronic keyboard (with a pair of headphones) might start them on a musical career. Ebay is full of plushies. Buy them a record player and offer to pay for their choice of music on vinyl (more of which is appearing week by week). If they like BTS get them a course in Korean and promise them a holiday there if they become fluent. Get them a sewing machine, some material and spend the day making something with your child for them to wear.

You might have to shop around, pay a bit more or even import it yourself from abroad, but stuff is out there.

Anything that nudges them away from staring at their smartphone. The net and social media are not inherently bad, but kids today seem to be missing out on lots of tangible, physical experiences, whilst welded to their screens. There is more to childhood than online gossip.