Playmobil Junior & Disney: Moana’s Sail Boat Review
DISCLOSURE – THIS ITEM WAS GIFTED TO THE REVIEWER FOR THE PURPOSES OF WRITING THE REVIEW. ALL THOUGHTS AND OPINIONS ARE THE REVIEWER’S OWN.
Reviewed by Michelle
We very much love Disney in this house and I’m delighted to be able to introduce Disney themes to my toddler alongside the building and imaginative play that Playmobil offers. The Playmobil Junior & Disney Aqua sets are perfect as first Playmobil sets for toddlers and would make an ideal gift with Christmas getting closer. They’re aimed at children aged one to four and can be played with in water for the ultimate in splashing, squirting or pouring fun. They are designed without small parts so there’s no choking risk. They are made from BPA free plastic and manufactured in the EU.
I love that Playmobil has improved the sustainability of their products, with the packaging using recycled paper and at least ninety percent recycled cardboard. There was no plastic wrap, or ties to be found in the packaging. The PLAYMOBIL junior sets themselves are made from over ninety percent plant based plastic and seem as solidly built, safe and durable as the sets my nephews played with a number of years ago. Both the box and the instruction booklet contain a QR code which takes you here where there is full information about Playmobil’s sustainability mission. A nice touch for those of us who are trying to be more environmentally conscious.
The Disney Moana’s Sailboat Set is an eight piece set and all the pieces chunky enough for little toddler hands to hold easily and with rounded edges. The catamaran is of course an exact replica of the boat from the Moana movie it is themed on. Being an aqua set it is greatly suited to bath time play but would also be great in a paddling pool or for water table play. Moana’s boat itself is one solid piece with a sail as the second piece. The other pieces are a Moana figure, a Heihei figure (the rooster), three colourful flowers and a grey piece. The flowers can stack on the grey piece or on the boat in combinations of one, two or using all three of them. When attached to the grey piece they can be used as water squirters. My toddler loved this feature when I was squirting him but found it a little hard to fill with water and squirt on his own initially. This was the first time he had been presented with squirters of any sort though and as he could scoop water and watch it flow through the holes of the sail he was happy to leave the squirting to me.
The sail and the flowers can be attached to the boat which contains two round slots for this purpose. The round bit on the sail and on each flower are the same size so they can be clicked in interchangeably to either slot and come out as easily as they go in. Being round there are no issues with having to position them correctly which makes them perfect for a first building set. Moana and Heihei can be balanced on the boat or set in the large spaces interchangeably. These don’t click in and are not secured to the boat in any way so we found they kept falling out and taking a swim in the bath. We also found that the larger indents in the boat, while great for putting the characters in, easily filled up with water making the boat sink. My boy quite enjoyed filling these on purpose and then pouring the water out.
Unlike many bath or water toys there are no tiny holes to let water into the pieces so I’m not worried about the pieces not drying out properly between bath times. The hardest to get dry piece is the grey squirter but it has a large enough hole for attaching the flowers too so it dries well in the air too, as long as all the water has been poured out. I’m happy therefore that there isn’t any risk of the pieces becoming mouldy, something which would shorten their life and safety as a bath toy.
The box states “play and grow” which I feel is very apt. As he grows my toddler will get the hang of how to use the flower as a squirter, practice will make sailing the boat and attaching the pieces together an easier task for him and he will certainly be able to grow into using this set for imaginative play or role play.
Now we have had a few plays for the purpose of reviewing it I will be putting this set away and bringing it out at Christmas. As he is only twenty months my boy is young enough to forget he has seen it before and it will make a lovely present for him to open on Christmas morning. Given that the Playmobil junior sets are long lasting, can be combined with other sets if wanted and will provide years of playtime fun I think I’ll be giving them to the other toddlers I will be buying Christmas gifts for also.
Rating: 5/5
Purchase from Hamleys here.
RRP: £29.99