Toot toot with Thomas! (Thomas & Friends: Take a tour with Thomas)

Member Name: kaitlinsmummy

Product:	Thomas & Friends: Take a tour with Thomas
Date:	20/02/08 (160 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Hopefully saves your remotes!

Disadvantages: None!

I bought this "Travel with Thomas" dvd and book set as a christmas present for my son last year. As with most children his age (two!!), he has a genuine love of playing with remote controls, so on seeing this set thought it would give him his own remote and hopefully put him off playing and breaking mine!!!(I have just recently had to replace my sky + remote due to the fact my son threw it across the room one day!!!)

~~~THE SET~~~

This set comprises off a book, a dvd and a childrens remote control. The idea is that once set up, the child can play games, stories and songs through the television, without too much adult help!!!

The first thing that you are asked to do is put two AAA batteries into the remote control.
Then you have to programme the remote control to work with your dvd player,(this set works with ALL dvd players and the set up is easy and relatively painless!!!).
On the remote control are the page forward and page back buttons, they have to be pressed down for at least two seconds to put the remote into programming mode, to show it is in mode a red light comes on and stays on at the top of the remote.
You then have to position the childs remote and your dvd player remote so that the sensors on them are touching.
There is a list of the buttons on the childs remote and the corresponding button to be pressed on the dvd player remote listed on the inside of the book, the buttons must be pressed at exactly the same time. The light will flash three times thus showing that particular button has been programmed. Once all the buttons have been programmed press the page forward and back buttons together and the light will go off, meaning the remote is now operational.
You only have to set up the remote once, so even when you haven't played with the game for a few weeks it will still be compatible.

~~~THE REMOTE~~~

The remote is made of tough blue plastic,(it is extremely tough due to the fact it has been thrown around a lot and still works!!!).
At the top of the remote there are two orange triangular buttons which are the forward page and back buttons.
Next are four rectangular navy coloured buttons situated below,they consist of -
The bouncing ball,(picturing a bouncing ball), which when pressed activates the gaming mode. The games include simple spot the diference games and counting games.To answer the questions there are four different shaped buttons to answer through multiple choice.

The read to me mode,(picturing an open book),when this button is pressed the story is read aloud, allowing the child to hear and read along to the story with the use of the book.

The music mode,(picturing a music note), when pressed plays a selection of familiar songs from the show and rhymes that have been adapted to the Thomas programme. The words to all the songs are also shown so the child can sing along karaoke style!!!!

The movie mode,(picturing a film cell),when pressed shows short clips of film from the Thomas and friends programmes.

Finally there are four shape buttons, a yellow star, a green diamond, a red circle and a blue square, which are to be used for answering the multiple choice questions mentioned above in the activity mode.

~~~THE BOOK~~~

The book is a 16 page storybook that can be used just as that without having to put on the dvd.
It is beautifully written and illustrated, and features all the favourites from Thomas and Percy to Sir Topham Hat and Harold the helicopter.

~~~THE DVD~~~

The disc follows the book, but for every page of the story in the book there are four other activites, games and songs on each page that can only be accessed via the remote control.

~~~PRICE AND AVAILABILTY~~~

This set was bought through my book club at work and was purchased for the extremely reasonable price of £7.00.
I have not seen anything like this on the market before, but inside the book is a website address to purchase this and many others from. This address is - www.pilbooks.com.

~~~CONCLUSION~~~

This is an interesting and educational book that promotes learning through play. Although my son is only two, can operate some of the properties on the remote and a slightly older child would have no difficulties at all.
In conclusion it was a great buy that has kept my son,(and daughter!!) enthralled for hours. A must, i feel for any parent!!!

Thanks for reading my review!!

Summary: An interesting addition to our Thomas collection.