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Lego City 7630 Front-end Loader
by jo1976
My four year old son has adopted his older brother's Lego City dump truck, so I thought it would be a good idea to get him a digger from the same range so that he can load up the truck.
I picked this up from WH Smith instore for £9.99 (on special offer from its usual price of £13.99.) At just under £10, this is quite expensive ... for what is, essentially, quite a small single piece of Lego equipment but still fairly average for Lego sets overall.
Although my son is just under the recommended age range of between five to twelve years, I did think he might be able to put this together himself, with lots of adult help. In theory, he should have been able to, as the instructions are, as I'd expect from Lego, really clear and easy to follow. As they are based on step-by-step diagrams rather than written instructions, a child doesn't need to be a confident reader in order to follow them. My four year old started well and the exercise seemed a useful educational one - encouraging him to count out the number of circles on each block and helping him to identify the correct pieces for the next step. My son quickly lost interest, however, and luckily my nine year old son was happy to take over the construction on his behalf. It took my older son around half an hour to put the digger together, with just a little adult guidance, so I do feel the recommended age range is a fairly accurate one.
Once construction was complete, my four year old was happy to take over and set the digger to work. Although slightly smaller than I'd expected, my first impressions of the completed digger were fairly positive as it looked a pretty impressive replica of a real JCB. As soon as my son started to play with it, its limitations as a working toy became quickly apparant. Although the digger bucket is designed to lift up and down easily, it's not robust enough to withstand a child actually playing with it. My son became frustrated because the arms kept coming away from the rest of the digger whenever he tried to lift up his load of Lego bricks, as they are attached to quite a small collection of bricks, which makes the front section quite unstable.
As well as the bucket section coming away easily, the whole of the front section of the vehicle comes away too, on occasion, including the two front wheels.There are quite a few little lights, postioned at various points around the vehicle and my son found that he kept knocking these off, whenever he tried to reattach the broken pieces. This is obviously pretty frustrating for a youngster and my son soon lost interest. His older brother was not too impressed that he had managed to destroy his hard work - within minutes the whole vehicle had pretty much fallen to pieces.
A further disappointment was that the design of the vehicle didn't seem to have been thought out with actual play in mind. For instance, this comes supplied with a single workman mini-figure which seems reasonable enough. The figure fits snugly inside the cab of the digger but, rather stupidly, there is no door or opening on the cab, so a child has to completely remove the cab section to get the man out or to turn him around. (Again, this was something that my son found impossible to do without virtually destroying the whole vehicle.) This design clearly hasn't been thought through with any consideration to youngsters wanting to use these for any active imaginative play.
As a model of a digger or a gift for an older child or an adult who enjoys assembling Lego kits, this is perfectly serviceable and a fairly impressive looking vehicle. Unfortunately, this is not really sturdy enough, or well designed enough, to withstand actual play from a child at the lower end of the age recommendation. This does limit its ongoing appeal and makes this much less value for money overall as it really only offers any play value as a half hour construction project.
I do find Lego products, and the Lego City range in general, to be pretty good value for money, as they are usually incredibly durable and offer lots of ongoing play value. Sadly, that is not really the case here and I'd be reluctant to recommend this particular set, unless this was being purchased purely to be built and left as a non-working model.
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Lego 8423 Cars: World Grand Prix Racing Rivalry
by azana
When I bought this 135 piece Cars 2 set in a half price sale I didn't realise it was a limited edition, rather than the £5 or so I paid it now seems to retail at the £20-25 mark. In the box you get all you will need to build Lightning Mc Queen and his opponent in the Cars 2 film, the flamboyant Italian Francesco Bernoulli. Both cars ... can be bought as part of other sets as well but are well reproduced in this smaller set which my 5 year old really enjoyed making, particularly as she was able to do it all by herself.
The pieces come in two separate bags, all you will need to make the cars and then everything to build the starting grid. The instructions in booklet form are clear and straightforward and there are not too many steps and only a few small pieces such as the wings of Bernouilli's car and the starting lights. My daughter managed to assemble everything quite easily though she did need some help to put the tyres onto the wheels. and putting the stickers onto the flags. In what is a nice touch most of the details on the cars themselves such as Lightning's number 95 and his opponent's eyes are printed rather than in sticker form, it's nice to see Lego doing things properly rather than taking the sticker short cut, which seems to be the case in many of the recent sets.
Once made both cars are sturdy enough for play and roll particularly well on a laminated wood surface we have found. The cars are only about 5cm long, so average toy car sized I would think. This is a nice set which has been much enjoyed in this house but for which, even for an ardent Cars fan I would be loathe to pay more than about £8-10 as there is limited construction and although 135 pieces sounds like a fair few, when some are tiny it's really not as many as you would think. That said this set has good play value and was fun for my child to build so on that basis I recommend it.
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Lego 5506 Duplo: Large Brick Box
by anwar7
When you are looking for suitable toys for toddlers there is a confusing amount of choice. I think one of the best presents you can buy a child is a starter tub of Duplo. Duplo is recommended for children from 18 months and is something that will encourage them to use their imagination and is virtually indestructible.
My son ... was given a Duplo starter tub for his 2nd birthday and he played with the bricks constantly. We still have the tub as the bricks fit the smaller mainstream Lego brick and he sometimes uses them to create his own models.
The Duplo set number 5506 comes in a handy plastic storage tub with transparent lid. The storage tub is quite large and you may be disappointed to open it and find the bricks included barely cover the bottom of the tub. There are 71 pieces in this set, including a window and window frame brick, a male figure, vehicle chassis and various different colured bricks. There is also a small green base plate and ideas booklet included.
Unlike Lego, Duplo bricks are especially designed for young children. They are quite large so don't prevent a chocking hazard. They are also easy for little hands to hold.
I really like the way that this toy grows with your child. My son first learnt to pull the bricks apart, but it wasn't long until he was fitting the bricks together to create his own creations. Following the simple instructions to make one of the suggested models, took a bit longer. I think playing with Duplo has many benefits other than helping to encourage a child to use their imagination. It also helps with concentration, encourages a child to follow simple instruction and increases self esteem as your child produces models they are proud of.
The ideas booklet gives instructions for building a simple house with a window. The widow brick clips into the window frame brick and can really open. There is also a plane and vehicle to build. The male figure can sit in the car and fly the plane. The base plate is useful to build onto to enable you to move your creations once completed.
Overall this is an excellent starter tub of Duplo and can be added to over time. The storage box is very useful and has plenty of room for lots more bricks! I would have liked a female figure to have been included in this set as having a male to drive the vehicle and fly the plane does tend to reinforce stereotypes!
This set is widely available and costs around £25.00.
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