The Talking Om Nom Review

When we arrived home from a recent holiday I found a little cute green thing waiting to greet us.

Yes, it’s Om Nom the adorable sweet munching green thing from the very successful game and app ‘Cut The Rope’

It was the boys who instantly feel head over heels in love with him. What with his great big eyes and cute Om Nom sweet munching noises, who wouldn’t?

To be honest the little man didn’t get much of a look in and Alice Sara didn’t get near the thing full stop! Why? Because the toddler has sort of claimed him as his own. We are off to Butlins for the weekend on Friday and I’ve already been informed that Om Nom is coming too! Watch out Bognor Regis… Lock up your yummy sticks of rock as Om Nom is coming to town.

Children who love the game will love the all new adorable talking Om Nom plush by Vivid Toys! Even those who have never even played the game will have a hard job rejecting the Om Nom.. The toddler is proof of this!

All you have to do to get Om Nom talking is gently push the very top of his head. Note… The batteries are non replaceable, though I’ve been informed they have lasting power so here’s hoping.

Om Nom can be brought from all good toy retailers and has a RRP of £9.99

Oh, and if this isn’t exciting enough kids can also get their hands on cute collectable Nommies! Perfect for pocket money spenders at just £1.99.

Check out the Vivid Toys website to find out more.

Disclaimer: The children were sent the Talking Om Nom free of charge for the purpose of this review. Nonetheless all opinions are honest and that of my own.

Mookie Toys – Pillow Pets

Mookie Toys have a number of awesome products, some of which the children have reviewed. This time Mookie have brought to the UK, from the US the original Pillow Pet.

Pillow Pets are more than just your average pillow but a super soft cuddly toy that can be hugged but also slept on once the velcro strap has been released and the cuddly toy is converted into a beautiful soft cosy pillow.

We were sent one of these Pillow pets by Mookie Toys to review. We choose the awesome brightly coloured yellow Bumble Bee known as BumblyBe! Others in the series, include a cuddly Monkey, playful Penguin, Cosy Panda, Cute Puppy, Magical Unicorn and a whole host of others. What’s more a new range of fluffy bunnies are due in for Easter!

We love these and although the pillow was intended for Alice-Sara (the toddler got something similar before Christmas) It’s been the toddler who has claimed it! Honestly no one is getting near this thing, Harley loves it! He can either be found cuddling up to it or resting his head on it as he watches one of his many Bob dvds!

These are seriously super tactile so ideal for the child who is tactile defensive, or those with sensitive skin. Little man loves the feel of pillow pets but given Harley is guarding BumblyBe like his life depended on it, Little man hasn’t really stood a chance of cuddling up to it!

Pillow Pets are really lovely soft cuddly toys that double up as fluffy inviting pillows. If you fancy getting your little ones a pillow with a difference, it’s hard to go wrong with one of Mookie’s Pillow Pets, even I’ve had a cuddle (at my own risk)!

Check out Pillow pets by visiting pillowpets.co.uk (prices from £16.95)

Related articles

• The Mookie Mini Street Cruz 2 (aspergersinfo.wordpress.com)

Win Flip & Tip the dustcart from Wow Toys in our Big Christmas Countdown

7

DAYS TILL CHRISTMAS

With just a week to go till Christmas everyone’s getting pretty excited, myself included!

As promised, I’ll be bringing you some super competitions in the run up to the big day, so… here’s yet another of them awesome competitions right here, right now!

The Prize

This fantastic flip and tip dustcart so kindly donated by the lovely people at WOW Toys

It’s so easy to enter, just do the following compulsory action and for extra entries, just follow the steps below.

Compulsory Actions

Comment on any other post here on the blog… then return to this post and in a comment tell me which post you commented on as-well as your all time favourite Christmas food!

Be sure to leave only the one comment for the compulsory action with your contact details (twitter, email etc.)

Additional Entries 

For additional entries, just use any of the share buttons in this post to share the competition, remembering to leave an additional comment for each and every additional action you do. Please remember to leave a contact so I can reach you in the event that you win!

Competition will close on the 5th January 2012 at midnight

T&C

UK only, closing date is as stated above and no entries will be entered after this time. The winner will be drawn at random soon after the closing date and the winner will have 72 hours to respond to the winning notification before a possible redraw. There is no alternative to the prize which will be sent out directly from the people at WOW Toys. Winner will need to email me their postal address which I will forward to Wow Toys and their name will be published on this blog as the winner of the competition. 

Related articles

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• Win a Toy Dyson Ball in Our Big Christmas Countdown (aspergersinfo.wordpress.com)
• Review and competition of the new Jack and Holly’s Cosmic Stories (aspergersinfo.wordpress.com)
• Win Arm & Hammer MyWay Spinbrush’s (aspergersinfo.wordpress.com)

Casdon toy reviews and competition

8

DAYS TILL CHRISTMAS

Woo-hoo… were now in single figures & to celebrate I have two fantastic Casdon products to add to the Little Helpers Wish List, as-well as two Casdon Self Service Checkout’s to give to two very lucky ‘A boy with Asperger’s readers’!

 First up we have the ‘Little Helpers Dyson Ball Upright Vacuum‘

Housework… Yes, I’m training them young, especially the Littlest tot, Harley! At the grand old age of 2 this little dude really is a dab hand with the vacuum cleaner as you can see from this super sweet image below.

Seriously, I’m not punishing my tribe with child labour, “What do you take me for?” 😉 This perfectly formed Little Dyson happens to be nothing other than a perfectly formed toy! Please, don’t pretend like you already knew, you really did think the two-year old was doing the chores, didn’t you!

 Casdon are the guys responsible for this fantastic lifelike gadget known as the Dyson ball upright which forms part of it’s Little Helper range of toys. It’s so brilliant that it really does actually have some degree of working suction and cyclone action for understanding cause and effect as-well as providing much amazement from mum!

 This little toy Dyson ball upright is a great addition to any little tots toy box with it’s bright colours providing plenty of visual stimulation. Not only does it help develop your child’s all important gross motor skills with its great manoeuvrability but it also helps your child to explore the world of make-believe while training them up for the real deal (well, one day)!

You can’t get much closer to a real Dyson ball if you tried, this groovy little replica is so realistic you’ll have to look twice.

 Honestly would you believe it, this awesome toy has already created some fantastic parent/child interaction, it’s cute but funny watching my little fella grab ahold of his vacuum and walking beside me as I engage myself in the real task of housework.

This is the perfect size for the little guy and he can work the on and of function with ease, what with it’s nice fat chunky red button located right below the handle. Once started the Little balls in the cylinder fly about madly and once you get going with the chore of vacuuming you can really hear it becoming more & more powerful making it sound like a real life vacuum.

However, one word of advice… Do reframe from vacuuming your pets, cats especially!

It’s clear to see the 2 year loved it (however, note this is recommended for the slightly older tot of 3-8). Me… I like to train them that little bit earlier and as you can see, Little Harley will make a fine husband one day (though I don’t really want to think about such a prospect)!

 Parental Perspective

 What can I say? This looks great, it’s made well, in my opinion its good value for money and it trains your little people for the days of reversed roles, you know, the ones where you sit on your back-sides watching the box and they do some housework.

 Note this is a Battery operated product which requires type C batteries.

5 stars 

 This funky Little gadget for funky little people can be picked up from around £19.99

Prices do vary according to retailers… Here’s one or two…

Tesco direct & Amazon,

 For those of you that didn’t know already, this mum is happily playing the part of Mrs Santa, giving you my lovely followers the chance to win one of two ‘Casdon’s Little Helpers Dyson Ball uprights’

 The Competition is currently already running and will close on December the 22nd 2011

Click Here to be taken directly to the giveaway

for my next competition just continue on…

Next up it’s the Casdon Self Service Checkout

Harley went from cleaner to shop worker in a minute when I presented him with the Casdon Self Service Checkout, however being just two he didn’t really do much role play here, rather just made a mess of his freshly vacuumed living room. Nonetheless, it didn’t matter because as soon as my daughter dropped her school bag at the door, this little self checkout somehow made it’s way into her bedroom.

 As many may know, Little man (my eldest with Aspergers Syndrome) was never good at make-believe, he just wasn’t interested. Then Little sister came along and required a friend to play with, so… over time she taught him games such as school’s and yep, you guessed it, “Shops” even though his not very imaginative when engaging in such activities (tends to play the same way every time) he still enjoys it, and the fact that this was a “Self Service Checkout” made his day, given he loves the real deal at our local supermarket! Once home, Little man joined his sister and they went missing for some time. In this respect it’s my opinion this one isn’t  just loved by little monsters, as my daughter is 8 and will very soon become 9 and Little man is 11 though his just catching up on all that play he missed out on! 🙂

 The Casdon Self Service Checkout has some pretty neat features!

Spoken instructions for understanding and cause of effect; realistic features with lights and sounds for visual and aural stimulation plus pretend play food and money (great for the development of counting skills, as well-as social & life skills).

 Prenatal Perspective

 It’s a good toy with lots of accessories supplied therefore providing lots of playability. I’ll be honest, I was surprised, yet overjoyed at how it appealed to the older two children. The fact that it helped to develop some great interaction between the two was fabulous given these days you are more than  likely to find them fighting (and I mean full on punch ups)! I can most definitely see this one appealing to the slightly older child 3-4 which is what it actually recommends, though Harley is only 2 years old, he does still continue to gain lots of enjoyment from this toy, Ok… he doesn’t actually play shop keeper (which at 2 I wouldn’t expect) but his enjoying himself all the same! The two older children loved the Casdon Self Service Checkout and have tried their hardest to claim it as their own. Therefore it’s fair to say that it was a definite hit with them (they gave it a full 5 stars) However as a parent I’m going to give it a 3 and a half stars as I think it should be a tad lower in price though I still would recommend this, as it’s a great toy providing hours of fun .

 The Casdon Self Service Checkout is priced at around £19.99 though prices may vary from retailer to retailer

Amazon currently have it in-stock and are selling it at £19.03

Big Countdown to Christmas Competition 

 win one of two 

Casdon Self Service Checkouts

That’s right I have two of these babies to give away! So do you want to win one for your little shopper? Here’s how!

You must follow the complusory actions, those who don’t will not go into the final draw.

Complusory Actions

Comment & share your thoughts on another review out of the options below

Mookie Street Cruz

KidCam

Olly the Little white Van

Jack & Holly’s Cosmic Stories

Come back here and leave a comment telling me which review you commented on!

You must leave a contact either twitter or email please

Additional Enteries

For every additional entry you must leave an additional comment again leaving a contact. You can enter as many additional entries as you please.

Subscribe to this blog (either by email, networkblogs, google rss, or wordpress follow {for wordpress users only} as far as I’m aware). Then leave a comment letting me know how you subscribed.

Tweet: I want to win a Casdon self-service checkout with @clairelouise82 adding the ULR to this post! Please then leave a comment telling me you did it and your twitter name.

Use the stumble or Digg buttons located in this post to share the competition, remember to let me know you did it in a comment leaving an email or twitter contact.

 Competition will close on the 30th December

T&C

You must follow all the required steps to be entered, your post may be deleted if you don’t. Competition is open to the UK only and will close at mid-night on the 30th December 2011, with winners being announced shortly after. There is no cash alternative for this prize and winners name will be published on this blog. Winner has 72hrs to respond to the winning notification.

Related articles

• Win a Toy Dyson Ball in Our Big Christmas Countdown (aspergersinfo.wordpress.com)

DID YOU WIN A MIX AND FIX MIKE FROM WOW TOYS?

11

Days till Christmas

I have been running some fabulous competitions as part of our Santa’s Little Helpers Big Christmas Countdown and I’ll now announce the winner of the Mix & Fix Mike donated by those lovely lot at WOW Toys!

So… The winner is…

Sarah Catherine Parker

Massive congratulations Sarah and a very Merry Christmas

For the draw protocol click HERE

Sarah, please email me at the email address located in the sidebar and I’ll forward this to WOW to dispatch your prize. Please bear in mind the advised time that has been allocated for a response before a possible redraw.

Sorry to all those that entered but sadly never won. Nonetheless we still have some awesome competitions running with many ending soon so get in there quick.

We also have some fantastic competitions on the way.

Related articles

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• Win stocking fillers for the toddlers in the countdown till Christmas (aspergersinfo.wordpress.com)
• Win £100 of Argos Vouchers With Our Countdown to Christmas (aspergersinfo.wordpress.com)
• A Double Wow! (aspergersinfo.wordpress.com)

Giant Jenga

Image via Wikipedia

Little man has a bit of a thing for the game Jenga, it all started when he first discovered it at his new special school for children with autism and aspergers.

That’s why I jumped at the chance to review the ‘Giant Jenga Game’ from Garden games. Ok, it’s not exactly summer outside but Giant Jenga can be played both indoors and outdoors.

The Giant Jenga that goes by the name of ‘Mega Hi Tower In A Bag’ consists of 58 mega blocks measuring 34x 70x 207mm and comes in its own waterproof carry bag.

Little man was extremely excited to be sent the Giant Jenga and within five minutes of it arriving it was already out of the bag and well on it’s way to becoming a mega high tower right there in the middle of our living room.

Jenga is a great game for children on the autism spectrum as it helps them to “think outside the box” problem solve, helps aid the development of both fine and gross motor skills, as-well as teaching the child patience and how to deal with competition (a vital life skill for any child).

The children had great fun with this game! It was actually quite nice to see my two eldest playing nicely together, as little man tends to push his sister away preferring to play alone (obviously, playing Jenga alone isn’t much fun). Even the youngest member of the family, 23 month old Harley observed his siblings in play mode before going in for the kill.

I do recommend that you stay close by if younger children are playing, this falling tower will hurt! Another recommendation would be to ensure all children are wearing appropriate footwear, as a tumbling tower will no doubt hurt little toes.

A massive advantage to playing the extra-large vision of this much-loved game was the fact it was much less fiddly  for the little man! Yes, you do still need to take extra care not to remove the wrong piece of Jenga and make your tower tumble, but it’s much easier to remove the pieces if the child has poor fine motor skills like Little man. The Giant pieces are defiantly a bonus in this respect.

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All in all, Giant Jenga provide us with a lot of family fun, though it will be that much better come the summer, played in the garden with a BQQ going.

Giant Jenga could also prove a good game for the adults, as I can see myself pulling this one out come Christmas Day when a few of the family join us. It will provide lots of laughs especially after a few glasses of bubbly, that’s for sure.

At £49.99 I did consider it a tad pricey, though if I’m honest this is a well made game, so its bound to last for years to come.
An awesome 4 stars from us.

****

Click Here to order yours

The KRE-O Bumblebee construction set from Argos

As mentioned last week Argos have come on board and are now taking part in our, ‘Santa’s Little Helpers’ feature. Last time, I introduced you to the, ‘Fab 15’ (Argos top toys this Christmas) and with the help of Alice-Sara, my very willing 8-year-old daughter, we shared with you our review of the fabulous new baby Annabell.

This week it’s Little man who takes the rains when testing the ‘KREO Transformers Bumblebee’ construction set by Hasbro.

This construction set is a cross between LEGO & Transformers. It was launched a few months back and has already been hailed as one of the biggest boys toys this Christmas.

The set was delivered well boxed and contained some 300+ pieces, plus 3 Keron figures. The contents allow the child to build in two modes, giving them the chance to either build a robot (Transformer) or vehicle (Sports car).

Yes, there are lots of pieces to put together, but given to the right child this is an awesome toy. The instructions were not overly complication but maybe a tad advanced for a 7-year-old but also had lots of images to help your child along the way. Little man was really pleased with the ‘KRE-O Bumblebee’ his a big fan of LEGO and when I first told him he was being sent the KRE-O, he insisted he wouldn’t like it as it wasn’t “LEGO” How wrong he was, he honestly loves the set and a few more have been added to his Christmas Wish list.

What’s really fantastic about the Hasbro KREO Bumblebee construction set is the fact it’s prices are compatible with all your other major brands such as LEGO. They fit together perfectly and can be used together with ease.
On arrival of the KER-O Transformer bumblebee, Little man set about getting to work almost instantly having decided to construct the vehicle first. He enlisted the help of his father and in a few short hours they presented me with this…

That was it for one night. It was the following day the boys started up again and it wasn’t long till it was finished and here it is the end result…

Pretty impressive, don’t you think?

The doors open and close which delights my Little man (it’s the little things that count isn’t it)! You can also take two of your three keron figures for a test drive!

Little man has refused to take this apart to make the transformer which is father is dying to do (boys & their toys)! He told me he hasn’t yet had enough fun with his sports car, which is fine, bless him! What I can tell you is that once in Robot mode the wings can be converted into gliders for your Keron figures to take a ride on.

Little man really loves this set and despite his difficulties with fine motor skills, he has no issues, even with the smaller pieces.
Little man gave it a high 5 awarding it the full ***** stars

Parental perspective

Yes, I’ve stepped on one or two pieces of KRE-O… Ouch… they resemble LEGO in every way, including the pain they provide to your foot when trod on. I really couldn’t tell the difference between the two, so would defiantly recommend to all LEGO lovers, you wont be disappointed!

The recommended age of 7+ seems about right, although I would advise that younger children may need a little help to follow the instructions as may those who are on the autism spectrum as did Little man.

Lots of small (I mean very small pieces) so make sure this is done away from toddlers.

Provides a great bonding experience. Little man and his father had hours of fun building the bumblebee car together.

Pieces are fully compatible with other leading brands, your child may not want to build the vehicle or the robot! KRE-O helps to enhance your child’s creativity offering a multitude of play scenarios.

Once desired mode is assembled (vehicle or robot) your child is left with a great toy with lots of playability

Only disadvantage for me was that fact it came with no plastic storage case! What with the amount of pieces, I would have really liked there to have been one. However if your child has many sets of this kind the chances that they will already have one is pretty high.

Recommend: Yes

**** 4 stars from mum

Price: £29.99 ON SALE FOR £22.49 25% OFF

You can get the ‘KREO Transformer Bumblebee’ construction set from Argos stores nationwide or online
Click Here for yours.

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• Playing with Hasbro’s Kre-O Transformer kits: don’t call them Lego (arstechnica.com)
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• KRE-O Ready to Roll Out (benspark.com)
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The Silly Soft

 I was quite excited when I was contacted by the guys at Gander Kids and asked to test a Silly soft. I had never heard of anything quite like it. However I was up for discovering what it was all about.

 The Silly Soft, made by P’kolino is a real smart toy, not only is it designed in three pieces that enables your child to puzzle together a big brightly coloured friend, it’s also multifunctional! 

 The ‘Silly soft’ can become a cosy toddler chair, table, foot-rest and more, the possibilities are endless.

 The Silly soft is aimed at children age 1-3 years. It comes in a range of  funky designs and in five different colours (orange, red, green, blue and purple).

 We were sent the orange Silly soft via speedy next day delivery.

 The Silly soft was well boxed, but easy to unpack, no horrid plastic twisty things to get through! (God I hate them things, a mothers worse nightmare)!

 It was much smaller than I first expected! However this was only because I had the image of a huge chair stuck in my head, I needed to remember this was aimed at toddlers, so, actually it was the perfect size!

 Harley was having a nap and when he woke he got mega excited when I announced, ‘mummy had a surprise downstairs’ bless him!

The outer packaging has a clear plastic window to allow you to view the toy in the box, Little H started clapping and then jumping around shouting, “Rab-bit, rab-bit” mimicking the sound of a frog. 

 Despite the colour Harley recognised that it was indeed designed to resemble a frog and he was now pretty keen to get it out of its box.

I took the three parts out the box, they were very spongy maybe made of some kind of foam that was covered in a fleece like material making them super soft, most tactile and light. Harley was able to pick each piece up with ease. He instantly got to work, puzzling where the pieces went to create his froggy friend, at just 21 months he did this with ease which left me rather impressed.

He had a huge amount of fun, throwing the pieces around the room then diving on them.

He sat on it and indulged in a little Cbeebies, jumped on it, throw it, danced on it, played on it, and finally slept on it! 

It would seem that Little H  rather likes his P’kolino Silly soft, don’t you think?

This is a toy/come seating area that’s extremely child friendly, it’s soft, comfortable, funky, bright and fun! Basically it’s all the things a toddler wants from a toy.

Oh, and don’t worry about Silly soft becoming a “Dirty Silly Soft” the covers are removable for washing ( please do check the labels care instructions).

I cannot give this lower than a 5 star *****  It put a huge smile on my toddlers face, is great for the development of gross motor skills, plus it’s different and we, at A boy with Asperger’s love different)

 The P’kolino retails at £39.99 and is available at Gander kids

The Bumpeez Giveaway

I recently contacted the guys over at Bumpeez to inform them that since writing the Bumpeez review the blog has gone a tad Bumpeez mad.

 Daily when I visit my blog I discover that many of my visitors have found the blog via google when searching the word BUMPEEZ!

 So, with this in mind them lovely Bumpeez lot sent me a Bumpeez album with an additional packet of Bumpeez, to review and share with you all!

Plus the bonus of an extra album set for one of you! Yep, you can win one right here!

 We, were pretty sure Bumpeez would be a big playground craze and a hit with children on the autism spectrum and its looking pretty much like we were right! I know that little man is now a tad mad about about these little funky chips, his really enjoying collecting the chips that come complete with their outer silicon case and has already began swapping with the neighbours.

 The Bumpeez album gives you a way to Keep all your Bumpeez chips in order! The album consists of 30 pages and contains a check list of all the Bumpeez and is a super collectors guide to playing all of the Bumpeez games. You can easily find where a chip should be placed by the picture and the number displayed ! This album is a really cool but entertaining way to keep your Bumpeez safe (Please note that you cannot display the chips when in their outer casing, this should be removed first. 

 The album pack also comes with an additional packet of Bumpeez that contains 2x chips and 2x outer cases (retail value £1.99) 

Special rare packs of Bumpeez contain Silver swirl (bi-colour) and Gold Bumpeez. Golden Bumpeez can win you an awesomw prize (ipods and more).

Bumpeez also have an online official website www.bumpeez.com where kids can access games and exclusive features.

To see the  original review and learn more about Bumpeez please do, by clicking HERE

 For your chance to win a Bumpeez Album with additional packet of Bumpeez simply…

 Comment below telling me why you would like to win! Please include a contact, whether its you’re twitter ID or an email address.

 For an additional entry click the tweet button below under the sharing options for this post, edit to add the words, “I want to win a Bumpeez album with clairelouise82 keeping the ULR the way it appears.

Leave me a additional comment from that of above telling me you have done so!

 For another additional entry, follow me on Networkblogs link located in side bar. Tell me u have done this via an additional comment 

 Finally for one more additional entry rate this post by clicking on the stars at the top of the post. Let me know you have done so in an additional comment than those above. 

 You must provide a contact email or twitter id

This Competition is open to UK residents ONLY, and will remain open in-till the 12th October 2011. You must be over 18 to enter, and will be given a week to make contact following the winner notification via the blog.

My Little construction workers

 Alice-Sara, shared her construction skills when reviewing the Meccano tool box for girls, back in August, Now it was the turn of the boys.

 Products we were sent: Space-Chaos & the Build and play mini case.

 First up it’s Little man’s review of the Space Chaos

 Space Chaos is designed for children 7-14 years (at almost 11yrs this was well within his age range).

 Before getting out the cash and splashing out, I suggest you find out if, (a) your child is a goodie (therefore the Silver force is what you should be aiming for) or (b) Your child is a baddies (therefore requiring a construction set from the Dark Pirates range).

As we were sent the products for the purpose of a review we didn’t put a request in, but on arrival of a Space Chaos, Dark pirates, I felt this was the right choice (Yes, he actually prefers to be a baddie, like his mum, *Evil laugh* follows)

 So, what’s the fuss about!

 Space Chaos is a collection of Air craft/space ships consisting of drones, raiders, bombers, fighters, destroyers and more! Each Set can make two models with a pack contents of around 140+ parts and pieces. The kit contains a special sound function that can be activated at the push of a button.

 Space Chaos Models come with a range of stickers to pimp out your ship, as-well as two trading cards showing the unique powers of each spaceship. Each trading card also displays a secret code, this can be entered online to access lots of extra goodies, including wallpapers, posters, cards, combat cards and plenty more.

 Getting stuck in!

Before I go any further I wish to remind or inform the readers who don’t know, that little man has Aspergers and has associated difficulties with his Gross and fine-motor skills. His recent Occupational therapy assessment highlighted that he has a much greater difficulty with his use of fine motor skills, then we all thought and expected. With this in mind I wanted to see how he was able to cope with the Meccano set, or if it could actually help better his skills.

 I grabbed some drinks and on my return discovered he had open every single individual sealed bag which contained the many different parts and mixed them together as one! “Great, this wasn’t going to be easy” All the pieces in the set were a mix of both plastic and metal. The instructions looked simple enough, yet the pieces were mixed and I can’t even construct a kinda egg toy let alone this thing!

 Little man was getting nowhere, so after what seemed like days I finally managed to separate all the parts into their required piles. The bits where very fiddly for little man and he continually dropped them, he became angry refusing to try again. Little man has very low concentration, so, we did some sections over the course of a few days till day three when he spent time with his father, the model was finally completed.

 Advantages

Good instructions

Builds two models 

Sound effects

Trading cards and online feature

End result, a great toy that offers lots of playability

Little man doesn’t stick with something for long specially if it’s not bus or train related. Through with his fathers help he remained focused, Patient, and willing. To have completed the model into something that offered playability. This was a massive achievement.

Disadvantages 

Difficult for children who experience difficulties with their fine motor skill.

No storable click case

The build and play mini (5-8yrs)

 A small sturdy solid case containing around 30+ pieces of flexible, easy click parts that allow a child to construct a total of two models (note: only one at a time)

 Now, this was Harley’s set and I’m not about to moan about the fact he didn’t have the first idea how to build this (apart from the construction of a wheel, which I’m sure happened by chance)! Why? Because at 21 months this set, that is recommend for 5-8 year olds is way to advanced and wasn’t going to happen. The idea was for Alice to carry out the honours and construct the set and once together, Harley would have a chunky car to text drive around the living room!  I now jokingly call  Alice Wendy from (Bob the builder) as she seems to have a skills when it comes to Meccano builds.

The way in-which the pieces click together is the same as Alice-Sara’s own meccano set. She read the instructions with ease and being at the top of the recommend age range for this toy she experienced little if not any problems at all.

 The end result, Harley had a very nice buggy type car with beady eyes.

 I’m unsure if a 5yr old could construct this set as well as maybe a 7 or 8 year old. Little man also had ago at Harley’s set and despite his fine motor skill problems, he had no difficulties due to the easy click together action and the bigger more flexible pieces.

 For this reason I would personally recommend the set designed for younger children, with the bigger easier to hold parts, if buying for a child with difficulties with their fine motor skills. (Just remove the label displaying the recommended age) little man would become very dishearten if he saw this.

Advantages

Capability to build two models

Big chunky pieces

easy to follow instructions

End result, a good toy with lots of playability 

Plastic click case to store parts

Disadvantages 

You can only build one model at a time

I Liked both products, but could see myself buying the latter (mini build and play) purely because of Little mans difficulty with the Space Chaos. I think the finished models of both sets look great! The build and play looked fantastically funky and cute, especially the big beady eyes. The Space Chaos had the added touch of the sound effects which Little man loved.

I also love that the mini set comes in a click case allowing you to store the pieces away nicely, something sadly the Space Chaos lacked.

 Stars awarded

Space Chaos ****

mini build and play *****

Prices do vary so I would suggest having a look around online

But for those who hate bargain hunting you can get

Space Chaos Dark Pirates for : Amazon for £18.38

Mini build and play: Amazon for £9.99

 The world of Space Chaos can be discovered by visiting its websites which has been dedicated to the Space Chaos entire range.  http://spacechaos.meccano.com

Related articles

• Girls can do Meccano too (aspergersinfo.wordpress.com)