Manhattan Toy Winkel #200940 Review

The Manhattan Toy Winkel #200940, with its crazy-maze style tubing, is brightly colored and immediately strikes the eye, engages and grabs the infant’s attention.

The pliable plastic tubes, going in and out in different directions, offer several different benefits. Firstly, the tangles of brightly colored tubes are fairly thin. This makes them perfect for little hands to grasp. Because the Winkel is easy to grip from any angle, it is great for encouraging hand-eye coordination and two-handed play. Two-handed play is an early development objective and it is helpful for infants to get an opportunity to work on this.

Whichever way the tangles of brightly colored tubes are held, the little ones (recommended age 3-months to 1-year) can grasp and hold in a way that the toy can be put in the mouth – making for a great cooling and soothing teether.

Product Features  

Safe, soft, pliable tubes ideal for teething babies
4.5-inch in size
Easy to handle and grip

Reviews & Ratings

The Manhattan Toy Winkel is a light weight, teether toy. It is easy-to-hold. Easy-to-clean, and has a little rattle in middle that appears much like a dice.

Babies will be amused and engaged by the simple rattle, which is often cursed by parents who detest toys making constant irritating noises, but fortunately with the Winkel the rattle isn’t nowhere near loud enough to be hateful to others.

Comments on the negative side; some parents say the toy might be a little too heavy for the babies at the lowest end of the recommended age bracket, especially if playing one-handed. Although, this toy is really a two-handed plaything, so this shouldn’t really be a problem.

If searching to a baby’s toy that is easy to grasp, offers stimulating colors, will not hurt if hit with, and can be put in the mouth (without concern), then this toy is able to get a positive tick next to all these points.

Fisher-Price Little People Lil’ Movers Airplane #J0001 Review

The Fisher-Price Little People® Lil’ Movers™ Airplane is one of a series of brightly colored products aimed at the toddler. If a little one already owns other Little People toys (Animal Sounds Farm, School Bus, Wheelies, etc) from Fisher-Price then this will easily fit the collection. For kids who love to play with action toys that have several different parts and able to keep the mind engaged, this product should do the trick.

Probably the most fun and exciting feature to his Little People toy is the swooshing airplane sounds and flashing lights. Pushing down on the pilots head while seated sets the lights off, causing sound effects or gets the pilot to give an announcement or sings a little sing-along song. While the sound effects might be limited to four or five, these still greatly increase the entertainment value for the little ones.

From a mom and dad’s point of view, the Little People Lil’ Movers Airplane is a perfect choice as it is so well-constructed. Your little ones can drop this toy over and over and it isn’t likely to break, so you can rely on this well-built toy to last a long time.

The three Little People figures which are packaged with the airplane are just the right size for a toddler’s hand. They’re strong and chunky, as well as being easy to pick up and play with. The plane itself is quite large and might well be difficult for a toddler to pick up, but for the thoughtfully designed handle position on top – which is great to grip while pretending to really fly the plan.

Product Features  

Multiple actions – Light & Sound (taking & sing-along songs)
Includes airplane and 3 Little People figures (pilot & passengers: Mia, Roberto)
Built-in carrying handle
3AA batteries required (not included)

Reviews & Ratings

This Fisher-Price Little People set is able to take its far share of abuse, meaning it can be stepped on – dropped – and even crashed into doors and this tough little toy will stand the test of time. This super sturdy toy is colorful and cute, and is a very nice toy for the 3 – 5-year olds. Fisher Price is a really great brand which sells solid-built toys.

The chunky Little People Lil’ Movers airplane and three figure (and accessories) come with a variety of sounds, it also plays some music, but that only activates when the pilots seat is pushed down, so isn’t overly annoying to mom and dad. As with all of the Little People play sets, the people and accessories are interchangeable.

A criticism that is occasionally spoken of in relation to the Little People Lil’ Mowers Airplane is price tag at approx. $25 (click the Check Price button to see the latest price), but as it’s so well-built it might well be worth that price. If a toddler likes to play with chunky, brightly colored toys and loves vehicles or planes then this is a perfect choice.

Related articles

• Five great gender-neutral toys: vehicles (guardian.co.uk)

Lego Police Station #7498 Review

The LEGO Police Station Set #7498 is a modular-styled building and minifigure set which offers a lot of playability and one of the best CITY sets.

The instructions are very-well done; the finished Police Station Set is not only able to entertain for hours when constructing station and accessories, but also gives months of playtime once the building is complete. Many of the LEGO sets are more appropriate as an addition to a pre-existing set – yet the Police Station makes a great starting piece to a collection.

Extremely detailed design, the LEGO police Station and accessories features an evidence room, a helicopter landing pad, a mug shot area and a control command centre. Accessorized with fully-playable items, such as the police car and van, while the accessories like the police dog and wanted poster let the child really go to town with their imaginations and get involved its story.

Product Features  

783 pieces
Includes 4 police officers, police car, 2 robbers, police dog, and bicycle
Accessories include mug shot area, dog kennel, handcuffs, wanted poster, evidence room, crowbar and secret compartment

Reviews & Ratings

Praise for the LEGO Police Station often relates to the modular style of building which is perfect for the little ones that aren’t so experienced with complicated or difficult builds.

Coming in at $68 (click the Check Price button to see the latest price), this LEGO set is far from cheap, but with in excess of 700 pieces, this is really a standalone toy which is great to play without a need for any other toy.

On a negative side; this LEGO set has very few down-sides, as it offer an all-round package in relation to construction and play, although it does miss out on a helicopter to go with the helicopter landing pad. As a stand-along toy, the kit should really come with all required pieces to play and let children use their imagination to the full.

All in all, the LEGO #7498 Police Station might not be what the hard-core collector is searching for, but for a young child, this set might be very difficult to beat.

Battat Take-A-part Airplane #68024 Review

The Battat Take-A-Part Airplane #68024 is a perfect toy for teaching basic construction skills, memory, and eye-hand coordination skills.

Unlike the well-established construction-type toys, such as Meccano and LEGO, the Take-A-Part Airplane is targeted at the youngsters (3 years & up) who haven’t yet been able to develop the rights skills and create mind to construct something from scratch.

The Take-A-Part Airplane is constructed in big, bright pieces (up to 21-parts) that make it easy to construct and at just right difficulty level to keep the little ones entertained. Not-too-small nuts and bolts help with attaching the propeller and wings. A genius aspect to this type of toy is that the assembling and disassembling part is also meant to be a fun part of the play, as well as playing with the plane as a stand-alone toy once constructed.

The Battat multi-piece airplane is equipped with a child-friendly power screwdriver to assist in assembling the different plane parts and pieces. A construction toy tests a child’s ability to assemble the parts in the right order, promotes hand-eye coordination, develops motor skills, and also mechanical understanding.

Product Features  

25 pieces
21 vehicle parts
Child’s power screwdriver, with 3 bits
Requires 2AA batteries (not included)
Suitable for ages 3+

Reviews & Ratings

Praise for the Take-A-Part Airplane by Battat often relates to its durability. A toy designed for young children needs to stand-up to rough play, and this Take Apart Plane is able to handle this very well. Even if the plane is flighted across the room fully-assembled, the pieces of the airplane don’t show any signs of breaking or cracking on crash-landing.

Another plus to the Take-A-Part Airplane is that the pieces are easily put together, with such big parts (mainly wing and wheel assembly), the toy is kept simple and quick to take apart and put back together again.

Besides the airplane, the Battat series of construction toys also features a Roadster, Humvee, Crane and 4×4 – with each of these toys being just as fun to play with as the next.

Negative points noted; for the children at the lowest end of the recommended age group it might be difficult to screw or un-screw the pieces in the right order, so starting out, a child often needs the assistance of a parent to get going.

Overall this 25-piece construction set is a really nice toy that kids will love to play with for the long-term and keep coming back fore more. Besides the fun aspect of playing with the fully-assembled play, this toy also has its educational aspect.

LEGO Bricks & More Builders of Tomorrow Set #6177 Review

The LEGO Bricks & More Builders of Tomorrow Set #6177 is a set of colorful LEGO bricks and nothing else.

With 650 pieces, this LEGO set offers endless building fun and is a perfect starter kit for a child just getting into LEGO or as booster kit to expand on the construction possibilities of an existing kit which might more offer enough flexibility in building options.

Bricks & More Builders of Tomorrow Set are colorful and come in light green, brown, yellow, blue, orange, white, dark green, and black. A great LEGO set with basic bricks which let a child use their imagination to create whatever they want.

One of the best things with any LEGO set, whether a long-time fan, an old school builder, or a complete newcomer, is that it encourages creativity. For children new to LEGO creations, it can open up endless play and lets a child explore their imagination. For the experienced LEGO builder, a large collection of extra bricks is perfect to unleash a completely new wave of creativeness if things get stale.

Product Features

650 pieces
9 colorful LEGO bricks
Endless building possibilities

Reviews & Ratings

Praise for the LEGO Bricks & More Builders of Tomorrow Set relates to the loose bricks and the ability to offer a child the chance to use their imagination and create whatever building or vehicle they want. It can also be difficult to find the plan LEGO bricks in stores so it is great to discover packs like these online.

Specific sets are great, but once assembled they are often played with as a stand-alone toy. Whereas, these bricks take you back to the original days of LEGO, with the kids assembling and disassembling to constantly create and think up new and different designs.

Negative points noted; although the LEGO set is named “Bricks & More” it is in fact a collection of 650 basic bricks, which is still perfect to build all types of things, yet if specialized parts are required for roofs or similar, you would need to look elsewhere. Also, some comments relate to the number of regular-sized blocks, which by some is considered too low; quite a few 1×1 and 2×1 LEGO blocks feature in this set.

All in all, for a child that loves to build with LEGO, than the set is certain able to offer a ton of extra bricks to create endless creations or expand on the building possibilities of an existing LEGO set. LEGO isn’t cheap, but fortunately they are able to last for years and offer the kids open-ended fun and entertainment.

Related articles

• Full-scale X-Wing replica touches down as world’s largest Lego model (gizmag.com)
• What Can We Build with All the Lego Bricks in the World? (gizmodo.co.uk)