Constructive Playthings also included a magnetic wooden train set with the table. Though they arrived on different days and were not shipped together, this magnetic wooden train set contains over 100 pieces. The pieces are made from birch and beech hardwoods and are very soft to the touch without any rough spots. The set also includes straight tracks, curved tracks, bridges, crossovers, freight cars, animals, crossing gates, signs, people and trees. The set is completely customizable and it is suggested for children ages 3 and up.

Here are some suggestions for using this train set with your children to can enhance their development.

- Encourage your child to develop other muscles of their body by not only playing in standing, but playing on both knees or with one knee in front in a half kneel position

- Some children get frustrated with putting together the tracks in a specific design- first place a sheet of paper over the table and once you come up with a simple configuration, trace it, then store any unnecessary pieces in another location so they can rebuild it from their road map in a puzzle fashion, without getting distracted by all the extra pieces

- The set comes with signage that includes a stop sign, pedestrian crossing and traffic light – practice teaching your child the concepts of stopping and looking both ways to make sure there are no pedestrians in the way of the train

- Using the traffic light, call out a different light when their train reaches the light to help their learn whether they should stop, go, or move slowly in an interactive way to role play so they can generalize these skills to real life situations when navigating the community with you

-  In my design I created “road hazards” with trees over the track  to assist children with problem solving or role playing these situations as part of their pretend play scenario’s

Constructive Playthings is giving away a Train Table and Train Set to one lucky reader!  Please consider visiting the Constructive Playthings website to locate great gifts for the holidays while completing your holiday shopping!

Mandatory Entry:

1. Visit www.cptoy.com by clicking on the Constructive Playthings Button to the right and take a look around.  Come back here and tell us what other item a child in your life would love to receive for the Holidays. Remember that by clicking this button you receive a 15% discount off your entire order.

Extra Credit Entries:

1.  Follow Constructive Playthings on Facebook at this link:

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2.  Follow ConstructiveMom (realize there is no S at the end of MOM) on Twitter at this link:  

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Contest ends Friday November 5th, 11:59 p.m. EST

Photo credits to Derek Wilmot at www.derekwilmot.com

I received this train set and train table free from Constructive Playthings for the purpose of a review, though the opinions expressed in this review are purely the bloggers own.

My little “Lego Lover” friend was very eager to help construct the pyramid.  With only a bit of cueing for placement of the pieces, after 20 minutes, we had maybe put together 1/4th of the game, so thinking we’d have time to play the game faster, I began assembling the pyramid in super-speed, giving him a few suggestions of bricks to find along the way. It took us a solid 45 minutes to get the pyramid together, with me hustling for about half of it.  Due to time constraints we had to postpone playing the game, but my friend was happy to play with the pyramid.

A week later we got together to play the game. I started to read the directions and initially got seriously confused. The goal of the game is to move your LEGO adventurer first around the base of the pyramid and then ultimately up and down the pyramid, trying to get to the top to defeat the mummy King Ramses. Along the way the adventurer collects colored crystals and looks under the secret temples to guess what color crystal is hiding underneath. Players will need to use their memory so that later on they can remember what colored crystals are hiding underneath each secret temple.  With each turn guessing the correct color of a crystal will allow them to move  move up, down and laterally to different levels on the pyramid.  Simultaneously, with a roll of the dice, mummy’s are released from the top of the pyramid, preventing your adventurer from accessing different levels on the pyramid, as well as allowing for rotation of the levels of the pyramid to change the path to the top. Once the first adventurer reaches the top of the pyramid and rolls the dice to a mummy, they defeat King Ramses and get access to the treasure room hidden in the base of the pyramid.

In the manual I found a link to games.LEGO.com, where there were animated tutorials providing the directions using a visual demonstration.  They made so much more sense, I would recommend this over trying to read the directions.  If your child has difficulty with multi-step directions they will most likely need some assistance in remembering the sequence.

So as is typical of LEGO’s in general, fine motor skills and hand strength are required in the process of building the pyramid. This particular game includes visual memory, as each person has to remember the color of the crystals located in the secret temple to gain as many crystals as possible to make moving up and down the pyramid easier. Visual spatial skills are involved to determine exactly how many spaces are between the edges and temples when building the pyramid. Though I was not successfuly in learning this game right out of the box, after 30 minutes of play, we became much more confident. I think this game would appeal very highly to the 8-12 year old boy. Not only does it include the ability to recreate a very detailed and cool Egyptian pyramid, but this game does promote customization with changing the rules and team building through cooperative group play.  At the very least, this makes a rather cool pyramid where children can create their own imaginative play.

Though LEGO provided a free copy of Ramses Pyramid for review, the opinions are purely the bloggers own.

Dr. Michael Shore from Mattel is interviewed by ToyQueen, Keri Wilmot regarding some of the developmental aspects that have been included in Mattel’s process of toy creation and development to promote emotional benefits, imagination, empowerment, and the sense of discovery in the design process. Toys featured include the Fisher-Price Trio Building Set, Preschool game Uno Moo and Matchbox’s Rocky the Robot Truck.

The Trio Building System, for 3-5 year olds, was engineered with concepts in mind such as the auditory feedback that is provided when the blocks are successfully snapped or connected together.

Uno Moo was developed to make a compelling game for young children, that were not able to hold a large deck of cards. It’s a matching game that incorporates color and animal matching with manipulatives that are more appropriate for the preschool age. Game play sessions were created to be brief, it’s active and comes in a nice storage container.

Rocky the Robot Truck is a fully interactive truck, great for boys ages 3-6. This type of construction vehicle play brings a whole new magic to the truck, as Rocky was developed with a personality and movement. Rocky makes over 80 statements, that are rewarding and encouraging, that also invite children into the play pattern. The children are also able to activate many of the features themselves through the use of buttons, etc.