Paperpod Rocket

Toy: Paper­pod Rocket

Retailer: On-line

Web Link:http://www.paperpod.co.uk/index.htm

Price: £29.95 (+ £5.95 postage)

Score out of 4:5

Ini­tial thoughts: I was a bit skep­ti­cal when I saw the box– it’s not the type of thing I would buy just because of its size AND card­board! I was wor­ried about the qual­ity.  I do love any­thing that Squidge needs to use her imag­i­na­tion to play with so I was keen to get into the box and assem­ble it.  If you’re like me and a bit chal­lenged in the flat pack depart­ment you might need some help.  Luck­ily for me I had a friend who whipped it together in no time.  Once it was up we had a hard time keep­ing the kids away from it.  We set them up w/ mark­ers and crayons and they had a fan­tas­tic time doo­dling on the rocket.  If you have a crafty child this rocket will keep them enter­tained for days and days just dec­o­rat­ing it.  Our 3 were a lit­tle impa­tient and after a few doo­dles it was time to blast off!!

We Liked: It was a bit out of the ordi­nary and the kids just really took off and let their imag­i­na­tion run riot.  If you have a child who is mad about space/planets then this will really get them excited.  It’s made of some pretty sturdy card­board. It’s made from recy­cled mate­ri­als and is recy­clable. CREATIVITY!  CREATIVITY!! CREATIVITY!! No princesses, trains or explor­ers and it can be any­thing your child wants it to be. I would buy one for this rea­son alone.

We weren’t keen on: It’s size. If you strug­gle w/ space like I do then this is not the toy for you.  Although it’s angled so it does fit eas­ily into a cor­ner and being card­board it can eas­ily be dis­as­sem­bles and stored away.  I’m of two minds with this one– some of the things I love about it are also the things that I am not keen on.  It’s a bit pricey for a card­board toy BUT our three played w/ it for ages and ages.  If you have the room for it then it is well worth the £35.

Over­all: It’s cre­ative. It’s fun.  If you’re look­ing for some­thing that will stim­u­late imag­i­na­tions and increase role play­ing the range of Paper­pod prod­ucts fits the bill.  The fact that it’s not “branded” is a huge bonus for those of us that try to find alter­na­tive prod­ucts for our chil­dren.  I think it is made in the UK– I had a good look around their web­site but couldn’t find any­thing that said dif­fer­ently. I’m always look­ing for locally made prod­ucts so if it is in fact made in the UK it is another rea­son to buy.

I did sub­mit this review to a fab new UK toy review web­site Great Toy Guide . I feel that although a lot of the toys can be pur­chased in the US it is nice to have one that is UK based and from what I can see some of the toys will/are by small toy com­pa­nies so YAY for independent/ organic/green toy companies.