One of the great pleasures and perks of having a blog is being sent products to review. A couple of weeks ago a large box arrived at my house and generated a great deal of excitement with the boys; it was new set of Meccano.
21st century Meccano has some similarities with that of my childhood, in that it is still a system of coloured plastic pieces held together by plastic nuts and bolts; however the variety of pieces and the sophistication of the models that can be built has moved on significantly.
We were trialling the new Tipper Truck set; a large box with many pieces and instructions to build 5 different models. We chose the tipper truck to start. The instructions are detailed and easy to follow, but are quite complex. My son is just 6 and would not have been able to complete by himself, however he and his younger brother (4 ¾) enjoyed collecting the pieces and helping to bolt it all together. The Meccano has a built in ‘helping hand’ which allows the bolt to be held still whilst little fingers tighten the screw with either the spanner or the screwdriver.
I am a big fan of construction toys and kits for young children – I think they really help develop fine motor control skills and instruction following. This kit is recommended for 5 – 8 year olds, and I do think that the lower age bracket is optimistic – and it is necessary to help a child of that age if they wanted to build a set model, but I also see this as a positive point as I like things that challenge. But best of all it was a great excuse for me to have some fun building something with the boys, and of course there are limitless possibilities they can build of their own creation.
The end result models are robust and practical, and unlike many construction based kits, can withstand some heavy duty play without falling apart as we tested to the full! So – would I recommend this? Yes definitely.
