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Meccano Mechanics Box
by louisechackett
My son loves to build things and has done from being quite small and so for Christmas when my son was four my mum purchased the Meccano mechanics box for him which I believe cost her around £25.00 but is available from Debenhams for £17.50. My son had no real experience of Meccano before but did have a large set which his other ... Grandparents has bought for him the year before from the early learing centre which involved fastening screws through wheels and such like to make a car. He loved this set and so my mum thought it would be a good progression to try the Meccano set.
The set comes in a sturdy looking orange box which opens much like a tool box by pulling the box in the middle to open it up. On the box you are told that this construction set is suitable for children aged from five to eight and that you will be able to make ten models using the 120 plus pieces inside. I have to say over the years that the box has proved to be not as sturdy as we would have hoped but it still opens and closes and holds the pieces in and so it isn't too much of an issue. The box does feature a grooved section to the middle for easy carrying which was something my son did like as he felt like his granddad carrying a tool box around!
Inside the set there are lots of pieces including cogs, wheels, and rectangular pieces with holes in to slot the screws and bolts through as well as a plastic screwdriver and spanner too. The pieces feel well made and not like they are going to break with the slightest bit of play which unfortunately some plastic toys do. The pieces in the kit are small and so I would recommend that you use this set somewhere where you have plenty of space and where you will be able to find the pieces afterwards.
My son was keen to play with the set when he opened it but from the onset he found that the small scale pieces, nuts and bolts were all a little bit too much for him at the age of four. There are instructions included to follow but these were too complex for my son at the time and to be honest I am not the best at constructing things and so we decided to take the set to my mums where it could stay for when my son was there. If I am honest the set wasn't played with much up until perhaps a year ago when my son was within the recommended age guidelines and more confident as a builder.
The instructions in the set in my opinion are still quite complex and tricky for a child to follow and so my mum has often had to help my son if following them to make one of the vehicles in the booklet. More often than not though now my son takes it upon himself to create his own little inventions and in all honesty I much prefer that he does that anyway as he is using his imagination and testing out possibilities when adding new pieces or problem solving as he removes them.
My son doesn't really play with this set as much as we thought he perhaps would and perhaps that is because he never had any experience with easier Meccano and so became a bit disillusioned by this quite complex set. He much prefers to make things using Lego or K'nex as he is able to follow instructions with them but also use his imagination and make things from scratch too which is what he prefers to do I think.
I don't think I will purchase my son any more Meccano simply because he just doesn't seem to enjoy playing with it as much as the other construction type toys he has and so it seems a bit of a waste. I would personally say perhaps pick up an easy construction kit which seem to be available on amazon first just in case your child doesn't take to this brand like my son didn't. I cannot really fault the toy as such, other than the fact that the instructions and tasks involved in making a model are rather complex, but my son just didn't seem to get along with this one and so for that reason I award it three stars.
Thank you for reading my review!
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Build It Racing Car
by QuinDogg
My little 5 years old nephew is pretty much hyperactive and for christmas I had to come up with a good gift that would keep him busy while he learns. This is why this toy car was a blessing because it is one of the few things I have seen he focuses on for long periods of time. I bought it in the Early Learning Centre for a pretty good ... price of 15 pounds. Apart from the pieces to assemble the racing model car, it also includes a really cool battery-operated drill with which he can pretend he is a professional F1 pit stop mechanic. It came in red and yellow with the thick black tyres. They are pretty gender-neutral colours so would suit girls as well as boys.
I think the toy is great for really knowledge-hungry kids who just love to play assembling things, it's much more interesting that just a plain car, and who are always curious to know how everything works. The quality of the toy is outstanding since they have to be very sturdy to resist all the falls and hits against walls that they going to suffer being handled by children. Of course it has a couple of scratches and dents, but to be fair, that is what toys are for and so long as it still works and it can be disassembled and reassembled with the nicely working drill, it does not matter if the exterior aesthetics of the car are in a deteriorated condition. He still loves it and obviously won't complain about some scratches he made!
I absolutely recommend this toy, it will entertain your children for hours and you wont regret the purchase at all.
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Postman Pat SDS Vehicle & Accessory Set Ted Glens Truck
by xmum2threex
**The truck**
My youngest son loves postman pat and although this was initially brought for my oldest son when he went through the postman pat stage but it has been adopted by my youngest son now. There are different variations of this toy we have the one that is supplied with sounds, a ladder but no Ted figure. My son was a ... little confused why he did not receive a character to drive the car but as he had some from his other postman pat sets this was not too much of a problem and they are compatible with this truck.
The truck is an exact copy of Ted Glen's truck on the TV show and comes with ladders for an accessory. These just sit in the back of the truck there is nothing to hold them in place and they have been lost now at the bottom of a toy box but they were well made and provided a little extra fun for my son's.
One of the best features of this truck is on the top there is a small button that can be pressed and the child is rewarded with either the postman pat special delivery theme tune or some well known phrases from Ted himself. These include Oh steady on and ohhh crumbs and my son absolutely loves this. This button is a large square and very easy to locate and press even for younger children just exploring. This truck has movable wheels and when the truck is pushed along it travels quite far it does work on carpeted floor but as you would expect it travels a lot further on wooden flooring. There is also a small crank on the front of the truck that when little one twists it around in circles it makes a clicking noise which again both my sons really enjoyed.
**In play **
My son was a little disappointed that no Ted figure was supplied with the set but he decided postman pat was going to drive the truck and there is a small part moulded in the driver's seat for him to sit comfortably. There is space for another character in the passenger sea but this has nothing to hold them in and so without the doors they tend to fall out while they are making deliveries. Also you have to prop their feet up as there is not a lot of room when two characters are inside the truck.
The back of the pickup truck used to have a part that flipped down to allow for easy loading of the truck but unfortunately that has been pulled off during the three years of play. It did last really well and was only recently broken of the truck but as they work on hinges there is no sharp edges and it could have been clipped back on but after 100 times of putting it back on to the truck mummy got a little fed up and got rid of it while the boys were sleeping. (Bad mummy I know.) Also the doors of the truck used to open and closed but my youngest son recently pulled them off too however this does not make any difference with play. My son actually prefers the truck with the doors off as it means he can get his characters in and out easily.
My son does use this with other parts in the special delivery postman pat line but this is a toy that could be used on its own quite easily and it is a fun toy without having to go out and purchase a lot of toys from the same range. They like to make up scenes from the postman pat TV show and basically drive the truck around my front room again and again. It really helps that the truck is an exact copy of the TV show as it means it is instantly recognisable and as it includes Ted's most known phrases they try and make stories up based on them.
Even with the doors missing, the fold down ramp at the back of the truck missing and three years of use from my two boys this toy is still going strong. It can be wiped down because it is made of plastic and it fairs well against the many times my children have dropped it on the floor or crashed it into the wall.
One thing to mention is when we purchased this truck the batteries came with it and we brought it over three years ago for my eldest son and he did play with it a lot. Now my youngest son has began playing with this truck every single day and the batteries have still not run out and there is no slowing of the voice so it is not a battery eater in the slightest.
**Summary**
This is a great truck that has lasted a lot of play and is certainly worth the £10 we paid for it. The batteries last really well and it has a lot of different features to keep little one entertained. We brought this from Tesco but it is available on Amazon, play and other online retailers. This really is a perfect toy for any post pan pat fan and especially if they enjoy the character Ted Glenn. It is suggested for an age range of three years plus but I think it can be used before this as my two year old son is currently playing with it now. The doors are not small enough to be a choking hazard when they come off but of course if a younger child is playing with this I would keep an eye on them just in case.
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