I don't know how many of you remember Meccano from years ago now, but I remember playing with my dad's meccano when I was younger and used to love it. Meccano was the predecessor of lego really and was great fun to construct and really helped you understand the mechanics of building something as it wasn't just slotting bricks together but involved screwing metal parts together and the use of bolts etc.

When I saw this Mecanno easy box earlier in the year I thought I would get it as my oldest son is about 5 years old now and thought it would a great little starter set for him to get to grips with. It cost around £19.99 and he loves it I'm glad to say.

This set really fits the sort of thing you would associate with meccano in general in that it comes in it's own little toolbox like a builder or workman would carry around and arouses the interest of your child from the start as they carry this around with them. Packaging can be so important with any product trying to appeal to kids and this has done a good job.

The toolbox is plastic and it has three seperate compartments in it. In addition it comes with a great little instruction book that is easy enough for a young child to understand but also keeps the interest going enough to make it a little challenging too. It has easy to follow detailed pictures that you can follow and tells you which colour parts you need for certain parts of the construction. My son loves trying to figure out which bits screw to others and make things.

Also included in this set are all the basic tools you need like a spanner, screwdriver and each screw has a different colour that can be associated with that's in the book.

I would recommend this to any parent who wants their child to get involved in building things and actively constructing parts. It's great to get them to learn how to build and they have great fun while doing it. Much better than just sitting in front of the TV.