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Mega Bloks Thomas & Friends Sodor Airport
by angelboouk Mega Bloks are large blocks of plastic which resemble Lego. The larger size makes them ideal for toddlers and younger children to build with. There are several Mega Bloks sets which are based around Thomas and Friends. Each set has all you child needs to create a scene and options include the Sodor Fair, Tidmouth Sheds and the Diesel ... works. ~Sodor Airport~ The Mega Bloks set we have is model 10538 - Sodor Airport. This is a 75pc set which is suitable for children over the age of 3 (due to small parts). This set can be bought as a stand-alone set or you can collect the different sets my parting with more money! The Sodor Airport set is one of the medium sized (and priced) sets in the collection. Mega Bloks - Sodor Airport, is presented in a large, colourful box. Children will instantly recognise Thomas and Harold the Helicopter. The side panel of the box details the various pieces which are included in the set. Other pictures on the box illustrate possible building options but your child can build in whatever way they wish too. The Mega Bloks are presented in various sizes and have standard colours of red, brown, white etc. The bulk of the set is made up of individual blocks which feature different amounts of 'holes' to join the blocks together in several ways. This set also features a helicopter pad and various blocks which can be joined together to create a Thomas the Tank and a Harold the Helicopter figure to play with. As far as educational benefits go, this set is said to encourage fine motor skills, colour and shape recognition. ~Price~ This set currently retails on Amazon at £14.99. It is priced at £30.00 on the Tesco website. Alternatively, www.cuddysonline.co.uk has it reduced to £14.99. ~Our Thoughts~ My Mum was wondering what to get her two youngest grandchildren (my son and nephew) as a toy gift for Christmas last year. I mentioned that my local Tesco had Trackmaster sets reduced and she sent me over to buy two sets. When I arrived, they only had one set left so I picked it up for my nephew and chose this Sodor Airport set for my son. At the time, it had been reduced to £10 from the rrp of £30.00 so it was a considerable saving. It is a good set but I would say the most it is worth is £15.00! The packaging is a bit much given that the 'blocks' take up very little room inside. The various blocks were packaged in plastic bags and no instructions were provided (or required for that matter). The set did come with a sticker sheet with little window and door pictures but many were stuck to our doors before Christmas Day was even over! My sons first impressions of this set weren't brilliant. Despite owning a rather large collection of Mega Bloks, these blocks looked rather boring in comparison. The set grew on him though as we set everything up and had a look at what we could build. ~Sodor Airport - Back Where It All Started!~ This is the only Mega Bloks set we have from the Thomas range but my nephew has the Fair set and the sets are quite similar except for a few small details. The blocks are made of a decent quality, durable plastic and have smooth edges. We like Mega Bloks in general - they are easy for my son to grip and join onto other blocks. I am less likely to miss a block lying around and therefore there is less chance of me standing on one like I would will regular Lego. The blocks are a good size though I do feel the age recommendation is ideal as some children will attempt to eat anything they can fit in their mouths! The variation of blocks in this set isn't amazing but there is enough there for my son create different platforms for Harold to rest on. I cannot really understand why Thomas is there as you don't often see trains in airports! Anyway, the different shaped blocks consist of those which are curved at one end, long thin blocks, blocks with 4 - 8 'holes' on them. Most will join perfectly onto others but some are specifically shaped to fit on certain pieces such as the helicopter pad. My sons first priority was to build Harold and Thomas. Harold comes supplied in 6 different pieces of various sizes. These blocks were easy for my son to identify from the regular white blocks as they had red markings on them. At first, my son got frustrated as he couldn't figure out how Harold to be fixed together but he is a pro now. Thomas is fairly easy to build up from 5 blocks and both figures look realistic and solid when built up. My son often uses the figures in other Thomas activity sets that he has so they are quite versatile! My son is nearly 4 and he enjoys building up Sodor Airport and can do so without any help from Mummy or Daddy. He can also take the blocks apart easily which is something he used to struggle with when using proper Lego. He lets his imagination run wild and has built various towers and platforms with his blocks. When he has his concentrating mind on, I have seen him referring to the box (which we have kept to store the blocks) and picking out the correct blocks to create one of the illustrations on the box. There is enough blocks to create a few small platforms at any one time and also enough to create an airport control centre. We did manage to salvage a few stickers and placed them on the blocks to make the control centre look more realistic. The towers and platforms are pretty solid when build and knocking them over doesn't have a major impact as we discovered when my nephew threw a strop with my son recently and tried to destroy his control centre - boys! The roleplay benefits of this set are limited. When the set was initially constructed, he would fly Harold around but the novelty wore off. The set can be dismantled easily and stored away. As I said, we kept ours in the box but you could recycle the box and store the blocks in a toy box. ~Conclusion~ Can we recommend this set? Yes for a tenner we can. This isn't the most exciting Mega Bloks set and isn't something my son wants to play with daily. He does get enjoyment and satisfaction when he is building Sodor AIrport so he can highly recommend it. I am glad that Thomas and Harold were present as it did bump up the value of this set as they can be transferred to other sets. Overall 4 stars! Thanks for reading :) Read the complete review |
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Mega Bloks 08237U 3-in-1 Play n Go Table
by AmyP1985 We bought my son a big bag of Mega Bloks for his first birthday and he really loves playing with them so we decided to add to his collection at Chritmas and bought him the Mega Bloks Table. We purchased the table from Toys R Us for £29.99 but you can now get it at a cheaper price of £22.99 from Amazon with free delivery. The table is ... packaged ready assembled with table legs folded under. The table is completely made of brightly coloured plastic, four blue legs, red table top and four "building plates" that slot onto the top of the table (yellow, orange, green and blue). 20 various sized colouful building blocks are also included, along with a car and little person. Various stickers are in the pack, which fit neatly onto the blocks, the stickers include various details, such as plants, fire hydrant, window and door details, football, teddy bear etc. The legs of the table can very easily be unlocked, with a quick pinch of the appropriate plastic parts, and then folded underneath the table top, this is great feature and I always fold the table down when not is use. It's equally as easy to click the legs back into place again when needed. The four "building plates" slot onto the table top and are locked into place with a small twist of the plastic lock in the centre of the table. When in place, the plates create a track for the included car to be pushed around, along with building areas for blocks to be connected around the edge and middle of the car track. The plates can be removed to reveal adequate storage space for the blocks that come with the table (although not enough space to store my son's additional blocks). I actually can't fault the table and think it would be great for most kids. Unfortunately, although my son loves building tall towers and then knocking them down again, he prefers to play with his blocks without the aid of the table! He often asks for the table but just likes to remove the plates and climb into the storage space or just stand on the table with the plates fitted, obviously, although very sturdy, the table is not intended for this purpose and we are constantly telling him not to stand on it! My son is 21 months old. If this review was based on my son's use of the table I would only be giving it a couple of stars but there really aren't any problems with the table, just my son's lack of interest in it! Read the complete review |
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Bob the Buider Jackhammer
by angelboouk Bob the Builder is an animated show aimed at young children. The show mainly focuses around Bob himself and various machines including Scoop, Muck and Dizzy. ~Jackhammer~ Presented in an open front box, this toy is designed to resemble a jackhammer. A jackhammer is a piece of machiner which builders and other ... tradesmen use. It is a combination of a hammer and chisel and is designed to break up concrete. This jackhammer is part of the Bob the Builder toy range and is suitable for children over the age of 3. The jackhammer takes 2 x AA batteries and measures 41 x 6.6 x 27.1cm. The jackhammer has sound and vibration features which are designed to give a realistic feel to the toy. This jackhammer is designed to promote imaginative play. ~Price and Availability~ This jackhammer is widely available. Tesco stock it priced at £14.97. It is more expensive in Hamleys at £20.00. Amazon offer this jackhammer at just under £7.00. ~My Thoughts~ Last Christmas, my son received several construction like toys including tool sets and a tool bench. We already knew some of the items he would be receiving from family. My fiance never comes to the supermarket with me but one day in December, he did and I have realised why I don't take him shopping! I wandered around picking up food and he found me. He had a smirk on his face which meant he had bought something I wouldn't like - a jackhammer for our son. I wasn't exactly thrilled! We already have loud toys in our house including drums and a keyboard but I knew I would need to put up more! At the time, Asda had this reduced from £10 down to £5 which is a fair price to pay. On my last visit to Asda, they were down to £2.50. Batteries weren't included but we had stockpiled them for Xmas day anyway! The batteries were easy to insert at the back (screw driver required). ~Quality and Design~ This jackhammer is mainly yellow in colour and is made of light weight plastic. It is durable. It looks fairly similar to the real thing. It features a main body with non-moveable (just for design) springs. A sticker showing Bob is the only Bob logo on the jackhammer. The bottom of the jackhammer features a chisel head which can be moved up and down. The handles at the top are connected well and big enough for a child to hold on to and there is also a curved part at the top so that this jackhammer can be carried around. The quality of the jackhammer is good though nothing special. There are no sharp edges or small parts which could break off and cause any issues to a child. There is a light panel at the front and a conceal speaker area to allow the noise to flow through. There is no on and off switch though or a volume control - my poor ears! This jackhammer has stayed strong despite rough play ie using on the walls and doors as well as the carpet and also during toddler tantrums. ~The Opinion of Boo~ My son is nearly 4 and a big fan of Bob the Builder. He wasn't too sure about this toy at first but on Christmas Day, his Papa showed him how to use it as he uses one at work, My son can carry this jackhammer about easily. One thing I would say is that whilst the jackhammer is fairly big, it isn't ideal for taller children. My son is quite tall for his age and he has to bend quite far over whilst using this. This limits how long h will actually play with the jackhammer at anyone time as it must be uncomfortable bending over so much! The button to control the noise and vibrations is located on the front of the handles. This is quite an awkward place to have the button as my son has to stop, reach around, press and then play again. Thankfully, this jackhammer isn't quite as noisy as the real thing. I can think of nothing worse than walking past road works and hearing that deafing roar from a jackhammer! The volume when the batteries are first inserted is quite loud though with regular play, the noise has started to fade to a more desirable level. The noise produced by this jackhammer mimics a real jackhammer - quite screechy and not something you want to hear at 7.30am - thank you Boo (good way to wake Daddy up though hehe). When in play, the light panel changes to red and the noise carries on for a short while before the button needs to be pressed again. This isn't an exciting toy but good for when my son is in 'builder mode'. The jackhammer can be easily moved up an down though does stick occasionally. It is a little unstable on wooden flooring and does slip around a bit. The vibrations aren't overly strong and like the sound, they do start to fade. They don't shake the whole floor but are quite noisy especially on wooden flooring - my poor neighbours! I wouldn't say Boo plays with this jackhammer often as it has limited features though when his cousin visits, they have a competition to see who can make the most noise (and mess usually) and this is a tool for that job! ~Conclusion~ Not as headache inducing as I initially thought but not a toy to use at bedtime! Totally worth £5.00 given the quality but not worth any more than this price due to limited functions. The batteries last fairly well though I expect we will need to change them soon. A good addition to a Bob the Builder playset. Thanks for reading :) Read the complete review |
12 Months + Construction Toy |
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1 review Brand: Mega Bloks / Type: Construction Toy |
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1 review Construction Toy / Brand: Character Options |
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Chad Valley / Construction Toy / Type: Building Blocks |
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3 reviews Brand: ELC / Construction Toy / Type: Building Bricks |
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3 reviews Brand: Mega Bloks / Construction Toy / Type: Brick building table / Age: 12 months + |
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