Janod Limited Edition Silver Magnetic Wooden Rocket Puzzle Toy Review

Reviewed by Kelvin Tebbs

I’m sure that if you asked a group of young children what they would like to be when they grow up, at least one of them would say….an astronaut!

With this limited edition, Janod’s wooden rocket puzzle, fuel your child’s imagination and make dreams come true, as they shoot for the stars with their very own rocket ship!

Janod is a well established French toy maker synonymous for producing both wooden and cardboard toys and games. In order to celebrate and mark the company’s 50th anniversary, they have released their iconic, magnetic rocket puzzle in a limited edition, silver and white paint work design (traditionally painted red and yellow).

Although, as a family, we have never owned and aren’t particularly familiar with any of the Janod products, I was really looking forward to receiving one of their wooden toys and reviewing it. It’s also nice to have a change from the vast array of plastic toys that are strewn across our living room floor and instead, to have something more traditional for our daughter to play with. Not to mention that this toy is far more environmentally friendly than its plastic counterparts! Many of the Janod toys are FSC®-certified (made using wood from sustainably managed forests) which again helps to protect our planet and I value the ethos that this company promotes with the toys that they make.

The magnetic rocket puzzle is aimed at children aged 2-6 years of age and is comprised of 5 stacking pieces. Each section has small, little magnets, which I assume are buried into the wood (they aren’t visible), enabling the rocket to be held together or pulled apart. Without being able to see any of these magnets, they must be internal within the toy parts so I feel confident that these little magnets won’t get put into ‘little mouths’ and potentially swallowed!

The one downside to the magnetic aspect, is that the magnets aren’t particularly strong and the 5 stackable pieces have to be sat on top of one another in quite a specific way, in order for the rocket to stay together and ‘whole’ without easily falling apart. Unfortunately, this means that anytime my toddler tries to ‘fly’ the rocket, it is guaranteed that at least one or more of the parts (which aren’t being held by her hand), will fall off. This is not ideal when you are trying to encourage your child to play and use their imagination as they blast off into space for a wild adventure! It also meant that my daughter ended up being frustrated when the pieces wouldn’t stay together. However, she certainly enjoyed placing the rocket puzzle pieces together and taking them apart, over and over and over!

The base of the rocket has a spinning propeller which helps with fine motor control for ‘little fingers’ to spin it. As you pull the pieces apart, the head and shoulders of an astronaut is revealed. The astronaut sits inside the rocket and is attached to one of the 5 stackable pieces. When the Janod magnetic rocket is fully assembled, the face of the astronaut is visible through one of the little window holes of the centre stacking piece too.

On one of the 3 ‘tripod’ like rocket boosters, you will find the company’s (Janod) name printed with the words ‘depuis 1970,’ which is French meaning, ‘since 1970.’ Having never owned any of these toys, I’m not sure whether this is something they do on all of their manufactured toys, or if the marking is specific to this particular model due to it being a limited edition. Also marked on another of the rocket’s thrusters, is a stamp (mine says 1884/3000) which I assume shows that the company have made 3000 of these limited magnetic rocket puzzles and that my particular rocket is number 1884 from the production line.

The fully built rocket is about 16cm in height and is very aesthetically pleasing! It looks very sweet when sat on top of the toy shelf. Due to the gorgeous colours they have chosen to use for this limited edition version, it blends in nicely with any room’s colour theme and means that it is also gender neutral.

After being introduced to this brand, I decided to visit the Janod website (www.Janod.com) because I was intrigued to see what other toys and games are available to purchase. I was really pleasantly surprised to see the huge selection of items available. The company not only do the authentic, traditional toys which they are so well known for, like rocking horses, pull along toys, puzzles and building blocks whereby they clearly cater for babies and toddlers, but in fact they also produce items for older children with the likes of board games and jewellery making sets. The website has also demonstrated to me that the company has adapted and evolved with the times because they have branched out with the materials that they use (although primarily they are still very much wooden and cardboard based) but they also now do plastic products too with a more modern approach, for example, they do a squirting bath time PVC unicorn which requires a battery and lights up on contact with water or a finger.

In summary, this cute little rocket would be a lovely little gift for a toddler for a Birthday or Christmas present and the toy helps to promote ‘hands on interactive play’ which I deem vitality important for a child’s development. Also, it means no ‘screen’ time which is always a bonus in my opinion!

I would rate this product: 4/5

RRP: £18.00

The product can be purchased from Kidly here.