Maped Helix Star Wars™ Stationery Review

Reviewed by Louise Totton

Trying to encourage reluctant learners to engage with school work and learning isn’t exactly easy. I dare not add up the amount of money I have spent on learning resources for my eight-year-old over the years. She tends to need a fair bit of practice to feel confident and secure with new concepts and skills, so I try to make sure we have lots of resources at home for her use.

She is currently in year 4 at school, and has recently started work on identifying and measuring angles. For the time being, this is at a very basic level, but next year she will start having to measure and draw angles herself, using a protractor, as well as beginning to draw and segment circles using a pair of compasses. With this in mind, I wanted to give her a bit of practice at home with what she’s working on, as well as a bit of a head start on next year’s stuff to try to boost her confidence. So, it was brilliant timing that we were sent a small selection of stationery from Maped Helix.

We were sent:

• Star Wars™ Retro Maths Set
• Star Wars™ Stormtrooper 30cm Ruler
• Star Wars™ Death Star Pencil Sharpener
• Star Wars™ Pencil Case
• Star Wars™ Pack 12 HB Pencils
• Maped Color’Peps Poster Paint (primary colour selection)

The Star Wars™ Maths Set looks great; it reminded me of the Helix Oxford Maths Sets that my mum used to buy for me ready for the new school year every September. It comes contained in a brilliant tin, featuring R2D2 and C3P0. All of the usual geometry suspects are neatly packed inside – there is a 15cm ruler, 180-degree protractor, a 45/90 set square, a 30/60 set square, a metal pair of compasses, small pencil, sharpener, eraser and a small plastic alphabet stencil. The ruler, protractor and set squares are made of coloured transparent plastic with ‘May the force be with you’ printed on them. The plastic is good quality and durable, so I think it will las quite some time. The compasses are sturdy and metal. The hinge is stiff enough so there is no movement in it once correct opening has been set, and the screw mechanism holds the little pencil securely.

Of course, sometimes a 15cm ruler isn’t enough for some of the homework she has been set, so the Star Wars™ Stormtrooper 30cm ruler is a handy addition to the homework box. It saves the frustration she gets if she has to move the smaller ruler along as she uses it, meaning she can create a straight line far more easily. It isn’t as useful for the maths applications as it is opaque rather than transparent, but generally the smaller size is plenty big enough for geometry tasks anyway.

One item that we always seem to be short of in the homework box is sharpened pencils! I have no idea where they go but it seems that I am always fishing around looking for pencils and sharpeners. I have even resorted to whittling blunt pencils down with a pen knife. So the pack of 12 Star Wars™ HB pencils we received will come in very handy, and should hopefully mean I don’t find myself in the same situation again. Each pencil is topped with an eraser, which does actually rub out unlike cheaper pencils that just smudge. They also sharpen really well with the Star Wars™ Death Star Sharpener. Just as I’d expect from Maped Helix, the leads don’t constantly snap, so the pencils will last a long time. We have stored the pencils and sharpener in the cool Star Wars™ Stormtrooper Pencil Case we were sent, along with a few other bits so we always have a basic set of bits to hand that she can just grab.

Finally, because it’s not all about work, we were sent a set of Color’Peps Super Hero Poster Paints. In our set is six small (75ml) squeezy bottles of poster paints. The paints came in a reusable cardboard carry case, so they can be kept together as a set. On the back of the caddy is a mixing guide, so the kids can see how to make various different colours from their six bottles.

The paints are super hero themed – the bottle lids all look like Batman style masks, so the kids thought they were great. The paint claims to be ‘mega opaque’ and ‘ultra-washable’. I have to say that both claims are spot on. The paint covers the paper really well and dries to a satisfying opaque finish. We didn’t spill a great deal of paint on our clothes but the small amount that was spilled came off on a standard 30-degree wash.

We were delighted with the quality of what we were sent, and I think it’s all great value for money. Maped Helix seems to be one of the few brands that hasn’t suffered a massive decline in quality over the years and is a brand we will continue to buy. The Star Wars / Super Hero branding might help to encourage kids who are a little less keen on practicing their school work, and as such I think they would make a great gift for Christmas or birthdays too.

Rating: 5/5

For more information visit www.mapedhelix.co.uk.