Yo ho ho, it's off to seek treasure we go (Early Learning Centre Pretty Polly's Pirate Ship)

Member Name: KLockwood75

Product:	Early Learning Centre Pretty Polly's Pirate Ship
Date:	04/11/09 (122 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Nicely made, looks good, encourages imaginative play

Disadvantages: The usual ELC door falling off problem

My now three year old has been going through two main obsessions at the moment - the first is dinosaurs (an infatuation which shows no sign of ending anytime soon) and the second is pirates. For his birthday, he received the ELC Pretty Polly Pirate Ship which is proving to be a popular toy.

The pirate ship is a sturdy ship made of a thick plastic, typical of many of the ELC toys. It is brightly coloured, with two blue and gold plastic sales, a lookout point with a telescope, a wheel, a room with doors that open and shut and a hatch down to the bottom of the ship. It also comes with five pirates and a rowing boat. The pirate figures are chunky and easy for younger children to hold, but have sufficient detail in them to make them appeal to older children as well. For example, the pirate captain has a traditional pirate hat and carries a scroll which my son says is a treasure map while another pirate has a green parrot on his shoulder and carries a cutlass. The rowing boat connects magnetically to the ship and the telescope moves from side to side. There is also a table and a treasure chest with this set.

The suggested age range for this product is 18 months to 4 years which I think is about right. Children of different ages will play with this product differently. For the younger ones, it is more about opening and shutting the doors or putting the figures in and out of the ship. My three year old plays with it in a much more imaginative way - the pirates are always sailing off in search of islands with buried treasure, looking for land through the telescope, setting off for shore in the rowing boat and returning with the chest or taking each other prisoner and holding them hostage in the 'dungeon' at the base of the ship. The ship definitely encourages this type of imaginative play without the worry of them losing small pieces that you have with a toy designed for slightly older children.

It is a very durable product which I can see my next baby playing with once my son has finished with it. The only issue I have with it is the one I have with so many of the ELC toys - the doors come off far too easily and I'm always being asked to put them back on. This is also true of the space rocket, the moon base and the garage, all of which are popular toys in our house, so it's an issue that I am rapidly learning to ignore. After all, what is the point of stressing about the few seconds it takes to clip a door back into place, when your child is having a lot of fun with the toy? At least it's not permanently broken!

The Pretty Polly Pirate ship currently costs £25. You can also buy it with the Fantasy Pirate Cove (priced at £15) and save £10 if you buy the two together. I think we may well get the Pirate Cove at some point so that the pirates really do have somewhere to sail in search of that elusive treasure, but if you're buying it for younger children then it probably isn't really necessary.

Overall, I would recommend the Pretty Polly Pirate ship for all pirate-obsessed two and three year olds. It is a well-made toy which definitely sparks their imagination and encourages imaginative play and would be particularly good for those with younger siblings as there are no small bits. One day we will graduate to the objection of my childhood desire, the Playmobil pirate ship (the one toy that I really wanted but never had), but for now my son is loving creating his own pirate stories with this one.

Summary: Great for encouraging imaginative play in under 5s