Monday, November 2, 2009

TRIO review

My son recieved a trio building set from the nice people at bsmmedia.com. I recieved an email looking for boys 4-7 and thought well I have a four year old. I answered the emailand I got a reply literally within minutes, confirming that I would be receiving one in the mail. It came pretty quickly and although I wanted to give it to my son right away we were pretty busy and he was already tired, so I figured it would be better to wait for a quiet moment when his little brother was not around to distract him.

When that moment finally arrived, I pulled out the Trio building system and set him up on our kitchen island. He was excited to play with it upon seeing it. To describe the set, it's kind of a cross between Legos and Kid Knex. Kid Knex are a hit around here as they let you build well, whatever your imagination can come up with, with lots of plastic sticks and funny shapes. This kit has the sticks and connectors mixed in with blocks of different sizes so it goes where a Lego does not. In the set we recieved we had a car that pops off of its wheels so the wheels can be built on, a few panel pieces, a roof peice, a propellor, a little man. straight and curved stick/bar peices. All of course in bright fun to look at colors. It all came in a red plastic container that holds the set, and the lid is a yellow plastic grid to use as a base to build on.

At first I gave him no instruction. He emptied it out and figured out he could build on the base pretty quickly on his own. One thing to be aware of, a new set is pretty tough to click together and take apart. When I saw him struggling to click the bricks together I stepped in and helped, thinking he just did not understand what he was supposed to do, but no, it was the amount of force needed to push them together. I am happy to report that is no longer a issue once you play with them for a while. They now click together easily and hold together just fine. So here a few pics of him playing with it.









This toy has now been in my home about two months and I can honestly report it has recieved daily play. It is always out in my living room and I have been impressed and surprised by what he has been able to put together. Everything from very tall buildings, to fences, to vehicles thanks to the the car with the removable top, and honestly what little boy doesn't love a propellor?

My younger son Ben is just 2 years old, and he plays with it just as often as his big brother does. He does not have the skills to build the creations his brother can, but he has a great time clicking things together. We have lots of kids that come and play here, in this same 2-5 age group both girls and boys, and I have also noticed that they seem to gravitate towards it. Every single one has hopped right in and had a great time with it. No child who has been in my house since we have recieved it has walked by it and not picked it up to play with.

Ok so what didn't I like? Not much to be honest. I was a little concerned with how frustrated he got when we first opened it with the blocks requiring so much force to click together. My son is likely to just chuck the whole thing aside and never look at it again if it frustrates him. In this case he kept at it and once the blocks had recieved some play they click together much more easily, but also still hold together well, so he can build BIG! We definately could use more of them though, because he runs out of bricks before he runs out of ideas, and has to stop when he isn't ready to, and start over. The lid to the container it comes in just sits on top of the box, it does not latch at all. so if the container is knocked, or pulled over they all spill out. I'm torn between wishing the lid latched in some way so they did not dump it when they are trying to move it, and being glad that they have such easy access when they want to play.

I asked my son before sitting down to write what he thought of this toy, he says that "It's awesome. I can take it out of the box and build whatever I think of. " He also said "The other blocks fall apart, but these stay, so I can.. " and then gestured big with his arms. I asked if he wanted anymore blocks like these and he said "YES!" We looked at the website and he is now asking for the constructions set and the firehouse set. He reasons that one can be for Ben and one for him. I told him Santa is coming. In all honesty, this set is such a hit that I will buy both for christmas. A toy I already know my kids love? Sold.


The best part though? The kind people who gave this toy to my boys, are willing to give another one to one of you! Leave me comment, with a way for me to contact you, and one person will be selected at random. I will leave this open until midnight on Thursday. Friday I will use a randomizer to select a winner, and post it.






3 comments:

Life As I Know It said...

looks like fun...and maybe a good Christmas gift :)

libertygirle said...

Wow I can't believe what he built with it! Looks like he really enjoys it. I would totally enter but my kid is only 15 months! Thanks for sharing though!

Kelly g said...

This will make an awesome christmas present.