Mega Bloks - Monster Fun (Mega Bloks)

Name: owensmum

Hello doyoo user, You have to be logged in to use these functions... Login or register Close window

Send message to member

Product:	Mega Bloks
Date:	11/04/08 (65 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Colourful, Bright, Fun, Education

Disadvantages: Tidying Up!

For Christmas 2007 I decided I wanted to buy some kind of building tool for my then 14 month old son. There were various options available but the product that seemed most suitable for his age were Megabloks. Megabloks can be purchased in numerous different quantities and with different themes. The many different products available can be seen on their website www.megabloks.com. The prices quoted on this site are in Canadian Dollars, but items can be found in stores in the UK such as Argos and Toys R Us. The company that produce MegaBloks are Mega brands. They also produce other items the most well known being Magnetix.

The particular package we chose was a 120 piece bag which has a monster theme.

~*~The bag~*~

The bag itself is made up of mainly a transparent plastic. The edges are reinforced with red plastic and there is a red zip around the top. The handle on the top is useful for carrying the bag and is made of blue canvas. On the front of the bag is the brand name etc along with pictures of the bricks built up into 3 different monsters. On the back of the bag is lots of information about child development by the use of building bricks. Our bag has split down the front after only a short time. However we do have some other bricks which have inevitably got muddled with these and we may have forced extra bricks into the bag to make it split. It may be necessary for us to rehouse these bricks some time soon and so this is something to bear in mind.

~*~The bricks themselves~*~

The bag contains 120 pieces of various sizes, shapes and colours. The majority are the actual building bricks. These are similar in design to lego. Having the circular bits on the top which fit into the bottom of other bricks. This has the words Mega Bloks written on each one. The bottoms of the bricks are cubes. These particular Mega Bloks are the maxi bloks and so they are a much larger size than lego making them a more suitable choice for younger children. They come in singles, doubles, threes, fours (either squares or in a straight line) and eights (two lines of four). The bricks are five different bright colours, red, blue, green, orange and yellow. Some of the bricks have thinner bottom sections to vary the sizes.

The rest of the pieces are monster themed and are designed to fit into the main bricks. These monster pieces are either slightly different shaped bricks with stickers and attachments or tube shaped. They enable you to add eyes,legs, arms, hands and wings to your monster. There is also a set of stickers included which has mouths and noses to use if you wish.

The bricks are easily wiped clean and will need to be as they get chewed a lot! They do seem to be durable as we have no damaged bricks so far and my son does like to throw them and bang them together a lot!

~*~Child development~*~

These bricks are designed to develop the use of imagination in your children. By 'creating' their monster and then playing with it. This then leads to social interaction either with parents or siblings as you play together. Helping your chid build or playing with the finished monsters. It aids with colour and shape recognition as you encourage your child to pass you the red/square brick etc. It also can help with focus and attention and hand eye coordination as your child learns how the pieces fit together.

~*~My opinion~*~

We have had these for about a month now. We leave the bag unzipped at the top and my son occasionally will go to the bag himself to get some bricks. He then walks around the house and leaves them in various rooms! If I get several bricks out for him he will sit for a short time picking them up, joining a few together and then pulling apart again. If either myself, his dad or brother sit with him and build stuff with him he will play a little longer before getting bored. The bricks are aimed at age 1 plus and at only 15 months his attention span is limited. As he gets a little older I think he will get more use from the bricks.

~*~Drawbacks~*~

There is just one drawback and thats keeping the bricks tidy. I have to do a sweep around the house at the end of each day to find all the bits that have wandered! This doesn't bother me too much as this happens with everything that has 'bits' to it.

~*~Cost~*~

We bought these for £19.99 from Argos in early December 07. They are on the website now for the same price. The other sets for this age group are all around the same price. Toys R Us don't have this set but have a lot more to choose from than Argos and some are on offer at time of writing.

~*~Recommend?~*~

Yes definately. They are fun, educational and an easy toy to play with. I think that we will get a fair few years of use from these as my 6 year old son plays with them too!

Summary: Hours of fun!