| Product: |
Chad Valley Super Garage |
| Date: |
30.04.08 (92 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: cheap and so much fin
Disadvantages: Daddy plays with it too much!
Chad Valley Super Garage
I do believe that I get far more excited about Jacks toys than he does himself. When I see something I had as a child I feel I have to get it and my partner is the same. I feel however that we are going to end up with a rather spoil child on our hands!
Jacks Nana sent down an Easter card and a £20 note instead of chocolate for him this Easter so we decided to get him yet another toy. This time it was my partners turn to get excited as when we popped in Woolworths we saw this Chad Valley Super Garage, and although it didn't look much like the one he had as a child it was the same sort of thing, we just had to buy it.
The original price n this garage was £39.99p although I cannot think who would pay that price for it. It had been reduced down to £24.99 pence and then again to £17.99 pence. I had gone in a Woolworth out of town the week before and seen it at £25 but now it had gone down to £18 I thought it was too good to be true! The chap at the checkout said that this was the last one so my local store had added a further reduction just to get rid of it! How lucky for me!
So we got it at a bargain price and rushed home to set it all up. Now the age recommendation for this toy is 18 months + but Jack is only 10 months and he is able to play with it nice enough and there are no small pieces that would be dangerous to him. Setting it up was pretty easy as it came in rather large pieces that just slot in together. There were basic instructions but I felt that these were not needed it was that simple to do. The garage does need batteries and they are 2xAA ones but luckily these were already supplied so no need to buy them or fit them.
Along with the garage itself you get three different coloured cars that free wheel along the ground lovely and smoothly. One of the cars is coloured blue and has "Police" written on it. The other two are just brightly coloured and lovely and chunky to hold. One is a convertible and the other looks to me like an old Beatle.
The garage itself has a few pretty snazzy things going on. There is a helicopter landing pad situated at the top of the garage (and we have subsequently bought a helicopter and plane set from the Early Learning Centre for pretty cheap.) and a car wash on the top floor of the building. The car wash consists of a pink horse show shaped piece of plastic coming out of the floor with three wiggly pieces of blue plastic hanging down. The cars fit through the car wash lovely and Jack really does love poking them through although I doubt he would know that it is indeed a car wash.
On the top floor of the garage there is also an exit or entrance to the lift which can take the cars to and from the top floor to the ground floor. This is operated by a leaver on the left hand side of the lift and as you move it up and down a funny noise, which is nothing like a lift, goes off. The lift will propel the car out of the lift so that if they are travelling from the ground floor to the top floor the cars will shoot from the lift and down the ramp and back to the ground floor which if it was a real car lift would be most unhelpful! There is an exit barrier that can be dropped up or down when leaving the lift on the ground floor and this prevents the cars from wheeling right off.
From the top floor there is also another way to get down other than taking the lift and that is the sliding ramp. This is done in a sort of twirled manner and comes from the top back right round to the bottom front. There is also an exit barrier that can be lifted up or down to prevent the free wheel cars just cruising off. This particular barrier is very helpful when the cars get out of the lift on the top floor as they are sent shooting down the ramp at such speed and if the ramp is down it stops them in their tracks but if the ramp is up however the cars speed across the floor and are out of sight in no time (especially when you have laminate flooring like we do).
Along the front of the garage on the right side of the lift there is a petrol filling up station and an air pump station. These have two big flashing buttons as lights with a symbol depicting which button is for which action. The petrol pump symbol is obvious and the light flashes yellow and there is such a great sound make that sounds just like a petrol station (I don't think) but it does sound good. The air pump has again a pretty obvious picture on the front of an orange flashing button and the sound it makes when pressed does sound rather like the air being pumped into tyres.
Jack loves to press these buttons and for some strange reason seems to prefer to press them with his toes if he can!! He doesn't however fully understand what the petrol button is for and that he should have one of the free wheeling cars positioned next to it for full effect but this I am sure will all come with age and knowledge.
He seems to really enjoy playing with this toy if he can get a look in with his Daddy around! The colours of the garage are so bright and cheerful and not really like a real garage at all but it does look lots of fun and very appealing. The fact that everything is so big and chunky makes it easy for Jack to push the cars or even lift the barriers. Because it is from 18months + I would think they have tried to make everything nice and chunky for those with little hands!
There are a few stickers that are positioned around the garage and because I had the garage near the radiator these have peeled slightly at the edges and now Jack has started to pick at them. I will have to get some suitable glue to stick them back down again but this in itself is a bit of a pain.
Overall I would give this Chad Valley Super Garage a fantastic score of 10/10. It really does tick all the right boxes. It is very affordable at the price I paid. It is good for younger children as it is so lovely and chunky. There is a lot to do and play with. Not only is there flashing lights and buttons to press but there are different noises to listen to and leavers to pull and push.
This is such a great buy I would highly recommend it to all parents as a must have I think even little girls would enjoy it as I think everyone love to play with cars!
I hope this has been of some help to you.
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Summary: a great toy for all the family if Daddy ever gets off it!
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