Early Learning Centre Wooden Farm > Reviews > Excellent Long Lasting Toy Farm

Author's product rating:   

Age Group	3 - 5 years
Wear and Tear	Very tough
Value for Money	Excellent

Advantages:	Can be collapsed flat after playing for easy storage
Disadvantages:	Can be tricky for kids to put together

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

We got my son the ELC Wooden Farm for his Christmas present when he was 2 years old. He was always into animals and loved playing with horses and dogs especially, so we thought a farm would be an excellent toy for him.

We paid £15 for it 2 years ago and I have just checked the ELC website and it is still the same price today.

What do you get: -

Well there are two large wooden floor pieces with grass and a pond painted on to it. This is meant to be the basis for the farm buildings to stand round. They just sit next to each other or you can have them anyway you like - that’s the beauty of kids imagination!

You also get a cowshed, a stable, a pigsty, a dog kennel, and another building, which I guess could be a barn.

Along with this you get chunky wooden fence pieces, which slot together to form a wall all the way round the farm. These can also be used to make other things, like a small enclosure in a field for a horse or even a chicken pen.

All the buildings slot together really easily as it comes flat packed. There are no instructions but the picture on the box is enough to go by and be able to make each building. Once you have done it a few times it is easily remembered without the box anyway. Lucky as ours fell apart after a few times of being packed away. I now store all the pieces in a plastic box with a lid to keep them safe.

The roofs of the buildings are made from two pieces of wood joined in the middle with a kind of fabric material so they bend in the middle and slant over the building tops. This is a really good idea, although I was worried they would tear easily, but after 2 years and very much play they are still strong as ever.

ELC also do animals that you can buy to play on the farm along with the farmer and his family. My son already had the majority of the animals so we just brought him the farmer and family but if we had needed to buy the animals I think some of them are not in proportion to the buildings. Like the cat they do for instance is massive, as are the dogs. The horse, pig and sheep seem to be OK but the others are just too big for the buildings. However there are plenty of places to buy cheap toy animals from which are perfect on this farm.

Overall opinion on this farm is excellent. It is a strong sturdy, collapsible farm that has had loads of play in it here and will hopefully have loads more to come when my daughter starts playing with it properly instead of wrecking everything. The colours are bright and pleasing on the walls etc and my son loves it.

Only real disadvantage is that because it is collapsible I have to put it together every time my son wants to play with it. It is a bit tricky for kids to do as it involves little dowel type rods being pushed into little holes on corresponding pieces of building.

This review seems short by comparison to my others but this is a basic toy and it is up to the child's imagination and creative play skills to make it into an exciting game for themselves. My son has certainly enjoyed it enormously. Recommended absolutely by me!