Time to channel your inner child! The 2018 London Toy Fair is underway in the British capital. The three-day event is the country's largest dedicated toy, game and hobby trade show. This year there are more than 270 companies exhibiting thousands of toys to visitors.

It's blast off at the London Toy Fair 2018. This launching rocket by Air Hogs is reaching new heights at the show.

RANJIT DHUTTI SENIOR BRAND MANAGER, AIR HOGS "Because it's actually the closest thing that children will get to launching a real rocket, it's got educational benefits as well because children are learning about mathematics and how high things can go and gravity and stuff like that. But most importantly it gets them off their tablets, off their smart devices and out into the big outdoors with their family and friends, which is great."

The collectables market is experiencing steady growth. It's a sector of the market that needs to innovate to keep interest alive and the hot collectable for 2018 is being tipped as the Soft n'Slow Squishies by Character Options. These tactile toys cost between 4.99-9.99 pounds. The craze began in Japan but now looks set to take over toy markets in the rest of the world. The Squishies come in all shapes and themes - from cakes, and burgers, to kittens, and bears.

LAURA GUNTON BRAND MANAGER, CHARACTER OPTIONS "I think the appeal is the collectability of them because there's loads and loads of different types of squishees that you can add to your collection. And they're not blind bag, so people can go into the shop and get the whole range of squishees, so there's loads and loads if they want to collect them, but I think it's just the feel of them really that makes people want to give them a really good squish."

An area of the market that is seeing steady growth is Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics toys, also known as STEM toys. These are toys with an educational aspect and are branded as such. For example, later this year K'nex will be launching its Thrill Ride coasters. These intricate and fully-working roller coasters can be assembled by children and even experienced with the latest virtual reality technology. Children will be able to put on a pair of VR glasses and ride the roller coasters they have designed and built.

EILEEN THORNTON HEAD OF MARKETING, K'NEX "This is Bionic Blast. It's one of our new Thrill Ride coasters, it's really encouraging children to design build but then they have the thrill of actually riding the coaster they've built."

Psychologist and child health education lecturer Aric Sigman believes that children learning through play and tactile toys is a lot better than tablets or video games. He says parents should be more open-minded about what they consider to be a STEM toy, and not to just look for the marketing on the packaging.

DR. ARIC SIGMAN PSYCHOLOGIST "I think parents want to hear that certain toys are officially educational, the reality is there is no dividing line between STEM toys - which are just officially labelled - and other types of toys of play. Children learn STEM things from doing other forms of play anyway and so trying to make play overly purposeful is probably unnecessary but I suppose it makes us feel better to know something definitely has a particular educational quality linked with it."

The UK toy market represents 3.4 billion pounds to the British economy and is the fourth largest market globally. DSY, CGTN.