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"Fun and Educational"
Like many other VTech toys the sheer weight of colourful, noisy reaction from this toy can seem a little overwhelming for the parent, let alone your toddler. But with Smartville what seems to be a fault of overkill is a bonus. We found that although Tom was overawed with stimulus at first there are certain routes around Smartville that can recognised and used to good educational effect. The alphabet sounds and connected words, the clock that tells you the time, the five-key piano keyboard, the different characters that can be electronically identified when placed in certain areas and this is just the interactive side.
Simply as an imaginative toy for pre-toddlers the Smartville Train Station is a great start, with trains, track and assorted animal friends. As Tom is only just 13 months we found that the educational interactive elements are interesting only for their lively sounds and the mini-lightshow that illuminates one of the towers.
Still, we can see how he could learn to navigate the alphabet train-track (and, obviously, learn letters and words) as he matures. The whole shebang folds up compactly for those times when you want to re-arrange your room, although it would have been nice to have some sort of storage for the various bits and pieces as there are quite a few of these.
Price:
On the whole this is very reasonable priced at £30. It’s the sort of toy that can work easily on two levels: imagination or interactive/educational. There are also easily enough extras (animals, engine and various miscellaneous parts) to entertain and encourage children playing together. Altogether a good educational toy that needn’t always be used as such.
Member review by dave - Dad to Tom , 13 months
- review date 27th October 2006
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