Planet Junko Zoomer! Kit (Master kit) Review

Reviewed by Hannah Chan

We’ve all been there, it’s half term again! I love the children being off for half term, but with having three of them at different ages it can be an expensive time when we all head out somewhere and nowadays, post pandemic, good outdoor places are usually ridiculously busy.

I always try to have a few activities in hand for the time at home. Not just for bad weather but so that we have something to do together, something educational and entertaining to keep us all busy, something that doesn’t cost the Earth. When I say cost the Earth I don’t just mean money, I also mean resources! Activities like slime making equals plastic waste, toxins in the water as we wash things away, many other kits have excess waste. I find over half term, especially in bad weather, it can be a battle between taking the children somewhere busy, expensive or with lots of packaging and single use waste.

When I was told about Junko, I thought that is an amazing concept! I love STEM kits especially ones with recycled materials, which are few and far between despite the gradual change by many companies towards being more environmentally friendly. These kits make real working toys and encourage the children to use things around the house, even household waste!

Pete Rope began Junko as a family based company in the UK, who launched their first sustainable toy kits 2 years ago. The idea was to come up with something original, ethical and reusable for junk modelling with his children. After some trial and error and learning of new skills, they came up with the kits which are on sale today. They’re true to their eco ethos and work hard to ensure their kits are made with fully recycled plastic and card, and are themselves fully recyclable. I wish more companies thought as this one did. Well done Pete! You have become the second clever, ethical and influential Pete I am aware of (the first being Pete from Babi Pur Towers in Wales where in fact, this product would sit perfectly in their range of ethical and sustainable toys!)

I was a little sceptical, but also very excited when the box arrived on the doorstep. As you can imagine, a 6 year old who loves junk modelling at school might not be enthused about our half term family activity being junk modelling too. When he saw the tube, his little face lit up! We were not disappointed.

The packaging itself is bright and immediately catches the eye. There is so much information on the tube I’m surprised they fit it all on, but with the packaging being a cylinder the information can wrap around the whole thing which is clever. It clearly shows you what is included on the tube. The box says for ages 6 and up, this is due to small parts which could be swallowed or the risk of things like flicks from elastic bands. It is most certainly suitable for 6 year olds and adults too! The lid of the tube also becomes a handy bowl to hold all of the loose pieces, they’ve thought of everything!

Included are 76 pieces, including recycled plastic (and custom designed) extenders, wheels, elastic bands, fixing pieces and magnets. There is also a comic book/instruction manual. We just needed to add the junk from our recycling bin which was very easily sourced as our recycle bin is always full. On occasion we needed a little tape too, we used eco friendly paper tape.

The kit itself is really educational and encourages the children to be little engineers, exploring moving parts in a fun, hands on way. I loved watching them figure out the science behind how the models were moving. If you have a child who loves to learn by making and doing, then this is the kit for you!

Once made the kit fits junk – boxes, milk cartons, tetra packs, up to 40cm by 40cm! So some really big projects can be made, and the whole thing is adjustable so can be used on a single 1l juice carton too! It’s made to fit what you already have at home so you don’t need to head out and get anything else. The instructions are so easy to follow, my 6 and 9 year olds had no problem at all navigating them and identifying which pieces they needed for their projects. Although only one wheel base can be made per kit, it is easily swapped between projects as it uses magnets in places! This is really clever as tape can be so messy and frustrating if you stick something in the wrong place.

The wheels actually move, just pull the toy back to wind up the elastic bands and then let go! I love the idea of designing the cars to hold passengers, there are endless possibilities with this kit and I challenged the little ones by asking them to design different things. In fact, as I type this up, Mr 6 is currently making a truck for his Mario Kart racers, to get them to the track.

Sharing the same booklet as the instructions is a full colour comic! The paper is recycled and really good quality so I don’t think it will tear easily at all. The children loved flicking through and reading about the characters adventures. The Junko Heroes follow the rules of reduce, reuse and recycle so a strong message is embedded within the comic in a way which resonated with the children.

Once the younger two had finished modelling, my 12 year old daughter appeared and had a look at the pieces. She didn’t even read the instructions but began experimenting with the elastic bands to make the wheels spin, so for her it was a different kind of learning and discovery.

You can even add lego!! With specially designed clips with bumps which connect to edges! Magnetic components for adding card and images so each project can be personalised. It can be as simple, or as complicated as you or your child choose, you might stop at a drinks carton on your first attempt, but then the next spend hours adding pieces on.

I also love that the whole kit glows in the dark! Plus after having a look on the internet for some background information about the company behind this fantastic kit, I realised that you can purchase extra pieces like corners and magnets to make other projects with your kit or make larger toys.

There are other kits too by the same company, boats, buildings and there is a great section on the website where you can share your projects! Plus mini videos full of ideas. As an extra aspect, they encourage you to share your images of projects, which will also encourage those children who love to share things they make on social media platforms.

I give this product a full five out of five! It ticks all of the boxes, educational, cost effective, ethical, fun! It is the perfect way to spend a day, or days, over half term! Plus it’s portable, so take it camping! Take it in the caravan, we all have those mornings where the children want to be busy but we want to sit with a brew…take a kit along and let them use what they can find to make something! Then pack it all away at the end of the day.

Rating: 5/5

RRP:The RRP of this kit is £36.99, although at the moment it can be found on offer in a few places! (Guess what my nephews are having for their birthdays and Christmas this year?!)

The company website recommends Amazon for purchase via this link.

I am really excited to see what the company come up with next!