Chuggington Die Cast Training Yard Playset with Loop
I recently was given a promotional DVD with a few short episodes of Chuggington. Move over Thomas, Chuggington is pulling into the station and honestly, I think this is one of the most adorable animated series I have seen in a long time. Now there is a Die Cast Train Set for your children three and up to enjoy playing with their own Chuggington characters.
This Training Loop set is one of many different playsets, others such as the Launch and Go Roundhouse, and Fix & Go Repair Shed can be incorporated into the train play. The set includes the train Wilson. After he is positioned at the top of the ramp and with a few taps on the push button he heads down the ramp, crashing through obstacles, until he hits a motorized launcher, zooms through a 360 degree loop and takes off across the room! One other train from the Chuggington series can be added and they will zoom through the loop in a multi-car train!
It took me about 30 minutes to put the set together, about 5 minutes of which was spent searching our house for a very small Phillips head screwdriver and 2 D batteries. Unlike many train sets that children are able to put together by themselves, adult assembly is required and recommended. The tracks are labeled underneath so that you can assemble them sequentially. It may take a bit to locate the numbers initially, but once you do they are very easy to push together. The directions are pretty self-explanatory. The directions are in several different languages, and sometimes it can be confusing trying to find the relevant information to the set up. First I set it up on our Constructive Playthings train table to utilize it. However, it is best used in a large area with a hard surface because the train zooms out of the loop and pretty much crashes into the side of the table. Make sure you press and hold the launcher button at the top, if you tap it too quickly it sometimes takes a few tries to launch the train into action. The motorized launcher is a bit loud once it is turned on, I did put my fingers on the motorized launcher and it stops automatically as a safety feature. There is a loud speaker play piece, but it should be noted it does not play music or speak, so make sure your kid’s give a big “Let’s ride the rails” in true Chuggington fashion before Wilson heads out on the loop!
I know this is geared to be a toy for a 3 year old, but Gavin (13 months) enjoyed watching me test this toy. He was happy to go get the train after it zoomed across the room and even tried to place it at the top of the track when he brought it back. He did quickly pull some of the rails out, but they were pretty easy to install. So for all of you that have more than one child, keep this in mind!
Learning Curve provided this train set free to facilitate a review. The opinions expressed in this blog post are purely the bloggers own.