There are many ways to skin a cat. Some are simpler than others.
After some familiarisation with Simplicity Studio I have found and even easier way to open, build and test the examples.
Here's a silent video of the process.
All you need to do is;
Click the Examples tile in Simplicity Studio under the caption Software and Kits.
Select your Development Kit (in my case STK3700).
Select the example project you wish to open and build.
From here your selected IDE will open and you can download and debug.
Enjoy (This is best viewed in full screen mode).
For those who have not installed Simplicity Studio here is a short summary of the examples provided for the STK3700.
blink Blink example.
burtc Backup power domain RTC example.
clock Wall Clock example using the segment LCD.
emlcd Energy Modes with segment LCD example.
emode Select a single energy mode, and stay there.
energy Board Support Package API for voltage and current.
inttemp Internal temperature sensor example.
lcd Segment LCD controller example.
lcsense LC sense example using LESENSE
lightsense Lightsensor example using LESENSE
mpu Memory Protection Unit example.
nandflash Nandflash example.
powertest Power test example, running demonstration of energy modes.
rtx_blink Keil RTX RTOS - Blink example.
rtx_tickless Keil RTX RTOS - tick-less example.
touch Capactive touch example.
ucos2_port uC/OS-II RTOS on EFM32 using example.
ucos3_port uC/OS-III RTOS on EFM32 using example.
usbhidkbd USB HID keyboard example.
usbdmsd USB Mass Storage Device example.
usbdphdglucometer USB PHDC (Personal Healthcare Device Class) example.
usbdvud USB Vendor Unique Device example.
usbhenum USB device enumerator example.
userpage Progamming and use of user flash page for data.
To date, I've tried the following examples with complete success;
blink This is the just another "Hello World" for microcontrollers and can be used as a template for new Giant Gecko projects.
clock This displays the time on the LCD.
inttemp This is preloaded thermometer application on the Giant Gecko.
touch This is a great demonstration of the Giant Gecko's capacitive sensing slider bar.
lcsense This is a great demonstration of the Giant Gecko's metal detection.
lightsense This is a great demonstration of the Giant Gecko's light sensing. 
