My twin boys collection of toys is ever growing and a large majority of our toys come from ELC. My boys really love playing with the ELC HappyLand Range of toys and ELC frequently include these sets in their half price toy sales. Because I can't resist a bargain I noticed that during their half price toy sale there were a number of toys from the HappyLand range that had more than 50% off them. One of these included the HappyLand Mobile MoonBase which I bought for my boys.


***HappyLand Mobile MoonBase***
The HappyLand range from ELC is aimed at toddlers and within the collection are various sets to make up an imaginary town, consisting of different buildings, vehicles and characters to help children explore their imagination.

The HappyLand Mobile MoonBase is described on the ELC website as "Explore the moon with this mobile space station. It opens to reveal a room for scientific experiments - or a cup of tea and a nap."

The Moonbase set includes a Moonbase which is essentially a grey plastic capsule about 20cm long and 10cm wide for the three figures that come with the set to fit inside. The capsule has a door which when opened has a set of fold out stairs attached. There is also a rock digger that comes with the set. This is a small red vehicle with a large digger at the front of it. There are two spacemen figures and a silver robot figure included with the set.

ELC state that the HappyLand Mobile MoonBase is suitable for children from 18 months old.

The HappyLand Mobile MoonBase is available from ELC and Mothercare stores and online from both of these stores websites. The HappyLand Mobile MoonBase is priced at £16.00 which considering how basic this set is compared with many other of the HappyLand sets I think that this is very expensive and would not recommend purchasing at this price. I purchased during a "half price toy sale" and this was one of the HappyLand sets that had more than a 50% discount on it. I paid £7 from my local Mothercare store which at the time I did feel was really good value however in light of quality issues this is now questionable!


***Our Experience***
Like many of the HappyLand sets from ELC, as a parent you will need to be prepared to have a 10 minute battle with packaging and ties when you remove the HappyLand Mobile MoonBase from the packaging. However once removed it is ready to be played with.

When taken out of the box I did feel that the HappyLand Mobile MoonBase felt like it was made to the same high quality as the other HappyLand toys and sets and did not notice any real difference. On the moon base capsule I did feel that the door opened very easily but at the time thought that this was an advantage in order for a young toddler to be able to open up the capsule on their own. The rock digger vehicle was also made to a high quality and the plastic and blue rubber wheels on the vehicle felt very chunky and this felt like a durable set.

As soon as we got the HappyLand Mobile MoonBase home and my boys seen the set out of the packaging they wanted to play with it. Although the set comes with different parts (i.e. the moonbase and digger) it is not the best of toys to encourage sharing between children. I think for this being quite a small set the number of characters and figures that comes with the set is generous in comparison to some of the sets but with the moonbase my boys tended to fight as the capsule was too small for two children to play with and there is only one rock digger vehicle.

At 18 months old my boys were capable of opening the moonbase capsule up and lifting down the stairs that come from the capsule and also were able to place the different characters inside of the rock digger vehicle which had a indented slot for one character to sit in. Watching my boys play and based on their development (which I would say was average) they could have played with this set at around 14/15 months old and had no issues opening the different parts of the set up. The three different figures are very easy for a young toddler to hold and move around and all three of these characters could easily be placed in and out of the moonbase capsule.

I did initially think it was a benefit that the door section on the moon base could open and shut very easily as it meant my boys at 18 months old could play independently but after playing with this set around 4 or 5 times I noticed that one of my boys could pull the door off if he used too much force. As a parent I became a little frustrated having to keep clicking the door back into the slots so it stayed in place. However during one play time one of my little boys dropped the plastic moonbase capsule. He was standing up and the toy fell onto laminate flooring but this was dropped lightly in comparison to the throwing / dropping of most of our ELC / HappyLand toys. However the door section to the capsule smashed off completely and I could not put it back on. I also noticed that this had crack the plastic along the top of the moonbase capsule. Therefore I decided to throw this part of the toy away for safety reasons. I think that this is really disappointing considering how durable ELC toys usually are. So now my boys only have the rock digger and three space themed characters to play with. Fortunately the rock digger vehicle is very durable and has survived being thrown around a lot over the last 7 months. The moonbase lasted less than 2 months before it was put in the bin. The three figures that that come with the set are made from a more rubbery plastic and despite my boys regularly chewing these there are no apparent teeth marks and none of the detailing has been scratched off.

ELC state that the HappyLand Mobile MoonBase is suitable from 18 months and my boys were this age when the set was bought for them. Personally I would have had no issue with my boys playing with the toy from around 14/15 months old and think they would have developmentally been able to play with the toy. However unlike many of the HappyLand sets I would have been more apprehensive from a safety perspective of giving this toy to a child of a year old because of how easily the door to the moon capsule smashed off. The door did come off yet was not small enough to be a choking hazard to a young child but I still feel the fact that a young child was able to break this toy should cause some caution.

For the creative play and imaginative benefits I do think that the HappyLand sets are more suited to children from 18 months old but will still be of some interest to younger toddlers. For older toddlers their interest in the HappyLand Mobile MoonBase and other HappyLand toys will be very much dependent on their personal preferences. I feel the range of Happyland toys are probably suitable for children up to the age of 3- 3 and a half but this again will be dependent on the individual child.

Developmentally I think like many of the other Happyland sets the HappyLand Mobile MoonBase is great for encouraging a childs hand to eye coordination in order for them to be able to open up the moonbase and be able to put the characters inside of the rock digger. However the main benefits to the Moonbase and other Happyland sets are they encourage a childs imagination and creativity. My boys at 2 years old love to sit and talk to each other as they play with the different HappyLand sets (both individually and together). Although they do not have all parts of this toy anymore they still play with the robot (and can say the word robot) and when they play they play out different imaginary scenarios.

Unfortunately like the other HappyLand toys the HappyLand Mobile MoonBase does not come with a storage case therefore it is difficult to keep all of the parts of the set together. When we had the Moon capsule part all of the figures did fit inside of this section but the rock digger did not. I now find I just have a big toy box for all things HappyLand which is helpful but as I have an obsession for keeping parts of toy sets together I think storage cases would be a huge benefit to this range of ELC toys.


***Overall***
In my experience this has been the worst purchase from the ELC HappyLand Range that I have made and I would definitely not recommend the HappyLand Mobile Moonbase to others.

At full price I firstly thing the toys is very expensive at £16.00 considering the set only includes a capsule vehicle, a small digger vehicle and three figures. However even at less than half price (which I paid) I do not think the toy is good value because of its poor quality and the fact that it breaks so easily. At 18 months old my boys obviously play quite roughly with toys but only after being lightly dropped (in comparison to some other of our ELC toys) the door to the capsule moon station has completely broken off and will not go back on and the top of the plastic capsule has a slight crack in it.

A great looking toy however the only place this space toy landed was in the bin!