"Thomas is babyish" was the first comment we had from our six year old when he saw this Fisher Price Thomas and Friends Take-n-play Great Quarry climb set...yet within minutes of mummy setting it up (and I did need to follow the instructions!) he was busy pushing Thomas around the track and using the winch to get Thomas back to the top again.
It seems that although this product is aimed at children aged 3 plus, that once that mini-testosterone surge hits little boys at around age 4, suddenly Thomas goes out of fashion faster than you can say "come along engines" and suddenly Ben 10, Spiderman and all those action-hero types become all the rage.
Yet having said this, both boys did enjoy some play value from this toy as they liked the two main features of Thomas triggering the saw to fall and the winch which attaches to Thomas with a magnet and then pulls him up the steep track at the quarry.
Although this set is part of the Take-n-play set and so in theory can be packed up and taken out and about with you, even with it packed up (the instructions show you how to put the pieces of the track into the tower section and then the red part of the set doubles up as a carry handle), I would still find it too big and bulky to regularly pack up and take out with us.
The big plus points for this toy are:
- A perfect christmas or birthday present for Thomas the tank engine fans.
- Part of the take n play set so additional pieces of track / other engines can be bought separately and added to this if you wish to.
- No batteries needed (YAY!). The saw and the winch are both mechanically (not battery) operated.
One downside is that once it is set up, it no longer can be packed away into the box (a big bugbear for us mums when tidying toys away).
My main advice would be (to save those embarassing moments) please make sure you buy it for the right age group and a child who is 'into' Thomas. My boys often receive Thomas toys for birthdays and Christmas despite having long grown out of it (and kids aren't always the most diplomatic delivering the news to aunts/uncles/grans/grandads etc that this really is NOT what they wanted).
Overall, a fantastic buy for any keen Thomas fan who would really value this set in their collection.
Available soon from Toys R Us.
Great review. My 16-month old son is Thomas *obsessed*. We always think it is weird that the toys are all 3+ when it seems to be the perfect age for him now!
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean - I think other than the ones we need to be careful with for safety reasons, parents are the ones who know their kids best to know what toys they'd love to play with most regardless of the target age range. As Josh is on the autistic spectrum, we see a lot of autistic kids are really into Thomas way into their teens - so it just depends on the individual child i suppose. x
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