Sunday, 31 July 2011

Artisto by Keter - for Toys R Us

When this box arrived at our house we were all very sceptical.  The outside displayed young children at a plastic table having lots of fun but we were not so sure.  As we opened the box in the garden our doubts soon began to heighten.  The box which was very small contained LOTS and LOTS and LOTS of pieces, "Oh my god, how did so much fit into such a small box?" Worse still was the FEAR OF TERROR running through my mind of Oh no HOW LONG IS THIS GOING TO TAKE ME TO PUT TOGETHER! 



Ok the Hickmotts were ready for the challenge - well at least Mum was - and was determined NOT to be defeated. Suprisingly the challenge was not very difficult at all - in fact it was incredibly easy with the help of the two toyologists within 15 yes I did say 15 minutes the whole thing had been put together.  The girls had not lost interest and were soon keen to add the stickers over the areas which contained screws - which I may add were only a few and that was it.




Well not quite - marker pens. We searched high and low - felt tip pens did not do the trick they had to be MARKER PENS so a quick journey to the shop and back we were playing non-stop games, drawing, attaching images with the study clip (see below) and letters to trace and also using the bench and table for lunch.




So what is not so good about this - well it was definitely a bit of a squash and squeeze for Bailey (7) and the actual space on top is limiting for paper etc.  The screen is also quite a reach if you are sitting down, but a quick stretch up onto their feet and the girls were fine.  Also a word of caution, it does take up alot of space - and it has been in our garden since it was built.

Price is £79.99 which some may argue is a hefty price for a piece of plastic - but then again it is for two so great if you have twins for instance.

Overall:-
As a former primary school teacher - making learning fun is key and the idea of using the clear screen is a great concept instead of pen to paper - Savana in particular loved practicing her letters and had no worries about making a mistake, as one quick wipe and she could have another go.

The mini toyologists and mum love this table.  It is very sturdy, and wipes down INCLUDING the screen after being left out overnight in the garden (or in our case since it was built) very easily.

Check out our video to see how we got on with it:-


This is probably one of our favourite toys received so far this year and we all give it 5 out of 5 - thanks Toysrus!

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