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Brio 33335 Medium Straight Tracks
by Coffeetiere
My son really loves anything to do with trains, and since he was about two and a half we have started to build up a Brio train set for him. At Christmas "Santa" added to his Brio some new tracks and a few new trains.
I ordered my Brio from Amazon as they were doing some good deals and I got one pack of curved tracks ... and two packs of straight tracks for £17.50. Each pack has four track sections so altogether this has made a nice extension to my son's track. The two straight tracks we got were the medium and long length ones. The medium, as in the picture above above are coded 33335 and are about 15cm long, so adding around of 60cm track to play on from this one box.
My son is almost three, which is the recommended age for Brio, however I do think he was ready to play with it from two and a half, with some adult intervention. He can now put the track together himself, even if it sometimes doesn't match up and has lots of dead ends, but I feel this is part of the play.
The track itself is sort of like a jigsaw and I feel it helps develop coordination skills. Also, I find the Brio is excellent for creative play and my son will draw other toys into his train play, such as cars, Lego and plastic animals. So the track has more than one function, there is the building of it and then the actual playing with it, although mostly these are done side by side. Whilst he is playing with the track and train he talks a lot about what he is doing, and makes train etc noises which is really quite cute.
My five year old daughter also likes joining in too so I can see this Brio being played with for quite a few years to come. The downside is that it is quite expensive, but if you can get pieces on offer, or even second hand then I think it is worth it. Brio is made from good quality wood, beech I believe and nicely carved and sanded down. The joints seem easy to put together even for little hands, so it's a well thought out toy. Each piece of track can be used on both sides, making it very child friendly to assemble.
Brio seems to be hard wearing and although is often chucked into a box we keep it in doesn't seem to scratch or dent. The wood is wipe clean too, as sometimes I have found food and sticky little finger prints on the tracks which I wipe with a damp cloth.
At the moment we would be lost without this Brio and it is keeping both my kids very entertained! Plus, I have to admit I rather like playing with it too!
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Learning Curve Diecast Chuggington Calley with Box Car
by cha97mw
Chuggington is a childrens television series filmed for the BBC and shown on the cbeebies channel and on bbc2. I became familiar with this programme just over two years ago when my boys started watching it as a new programme. In a similar vein to Thomas the Tank Engine, trains are given human features and emotions, and complete tasks ... around the town while getting up to mischief and learning from the error of their way.
My children really liked this as a telly programme, so my mum decided to buy them some of the trains from the TV show in the form of diecast engines, and we amassed quite a collection. One of the sets that we own came as a two piece set. This retails for around £9.99 on amazon, which is a reasonable price as one engine alone can retail for around £5. However, if you shop around, stores like the Entertainer can have these engines for a lower price, and obviously, the lower price is better value if you are wanting to buy a few trains from the set.
Calley is a small shunting engine in the show. She is an assistant to the larger shunting engine, Dunbar. She can be found pulling flatbed trucks, but she also is seen in the show going to the rescue of engines that break down. We already own the tow truck and the fire engine truck, but in this particular set, Calley is towing a slightly more boring box car.
Both Calley and the box car are a little smaller than the other engines in the series. Most of the diecast engines are on a plastic base that has 8 wheels. Calley and the box car both have 6. The width of these trucks are the same as the other engines. The box car is the same height and Calley is a couple of millimeters shorter.
Calley is quite a striking little engine, with bright orange and olive green paintwork. I feel she has quite an old look with prominent facial features. There is a section that is more prominently stuck out, which is the nose and mouth of Calley. The headlights are like cheeks, and her windscreen has gold highlighting and wipers which looks like heavy eyelids and eyebrows.
Calley and the box car both feature the ball and socket coupling system which is unique to the Chuggington engines. This connection is really strong, and Calley can connect to any other engine or accessory truck, and the box car can be towed by any character engine.
The box car is a bit dull in my opinion. There is yellow, orange and blue detailing to make it look like a truck. There is a panel in the middle of the left hand side of the truck which slides to the right. It reveals a sticker which shows the inside of the truck and some tools and cogs. This sliding panel is very stiff to unclip, and I find it requires a lot of effort to move it and the children find it hard to do alone.
Both engines are little enough for toddlers from about 2 and a half to walk around with and operate by themselves. They run smoothly along tracks and smooth surfaces. You can use them on the Chuggington track, but they work equally as well for us on the Ikea (Brio style) wooden track that we own, and the Thomas stuff.
Personally I don't think this is the most appealing pairing in the set. I don't think my boys would notice much if they didn't have this set as they prefer the characters that get more screen time. Its well made like all the other engines in the Chuggington range, though the orange paint on Calley has sustained some chipping on the edges with being played with a lot. The box car paintwork seems to be a bit shinier and harder wearing, and doesn't show any signes of wear at all.
I think I would personally buy some of the other characters like Frostini or Action Chugger before buying Callie, as this set is just not as big on the personality and play is less satisfying from what I have seen with my two boys.
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Brio 33571 Classic Train Pack
by Coffeetiere
Another of my son's Christmas toys was the Brio classic train set, no. 33571. This set of one engine and two carriages comes in a wooden box and my son loves it.
The train engine is wooden, as are the two carriages. The engine and carriages are a nice colour coordinated red, black and yellow paint and I think they look quite ... stricking in a traditional kind of way. The two carriages are actually like oil tankers, which is what we call them and both the carriages and the engine have "Brio" written across them in white.
Obviously only being a week old I can't comment on wear and tear, however all the other painted wooden Brio trains we have seem to be very sturdy and don't scratch easily. They are all packed into a box, sometimes thrown in, which annoys me on clearing up so the paint must be pretty tough.
I like that this engine and carriages are joinery together by magnets. They are easy to put together and pull apart for little fingers but it also teaches children and magnetics and how two of the same pole retract.
Even the wheels on this set are wooden, like little wooden buttons. They fit perfectly onto the track and smoothly run along as they are being pushed/pulled by my children. They also run nicely without the tracks on the vinyl of my kitchen floor.
Obviously this set can be joined to other Brio trains and carriages and my son likes to make the longest train he can using up as many engines and carriages as the magnets will allow him to pull. The front engine will usually pull about eight carriages before it becomes too must force on the magnet joining it to the next carriage.
The box indicates this toy is for children two upwards, and this is about right. There are small pieces, ie. the wheels however they are well attached and I'm always within supervising distance when my son is playing anyway. It's a lovely toy for little boy and girls can play too, I do wish I had got my daughter some Brio when she was younger as she does seem to like it, and it's a good way for father's to spend quality time with their daughters.
I bought this toy a while back from a local toy store when they had an offer on and it was £9, which I think is ok value for the three parts. I think this is a very smart little traditional toy.
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