EDUCATIONAL INSIGHTS was very kind to send over a Wrecker the
T-Rex Skid Loader from its
DINO CONSTRUCTION COMPANY lineup of toys for my family to play with. The Dino Construction Company combines two of my son's favorite things: dinosaurs and trucks/construction equipment and was a finalist for the 2014 Toy Industry Association "Best Preschool Toy" category in the TOTY Awards. The TOTY Awards are nicknamed the "Oscars" of the toy industry so that is pretty impressive! The Dino Construction Company has four models to choose from: a bulldozer, backhoe, steam roller, and skid loader.
T-TOP the TRICERATOPS BULLDOZER
BOOM the BRACHIOSAURUS BACKHOE
SPIKE the ANKYLOSAURUS STEAM ROLLER
WRECKER the T-REX SKID LOADER
My son and daughter both enjoyed playing with the T-REX SKID LOADER which they used indoors and outside. The construction is very sturdy and it handled being dragged and banged around our sandbox without any parts coming loose or damage occurring to the toy. It is a nice sturdy toy that stimulates imaginative play.
A few of the features that my children enjoyed were that it has a seat and steering wheel compartment for a driver and they threw in various action figures they found around our house to "drive" the "robot dinosaur" making use of their other toys to promote creativity while they played in an imaginary robot desert world. My son really liked the big white T-Rex teeth on the skid mover and its swinging jaw was very useful in picking object up and moving sand. My daughter liked fiddling around with and moving the articulated tail in a variety of positions. As a parent, I appreciated the toy
DOESN'T need batteries (it's kid powered!) or have parts/ pieces that are always coming loose requiring me to repeatedly have to snap back on or adjust for my kids (all parents have dealt with those toy that has a "necessary" part which keeps falling off that we need to constantly fix for our child-gives me a headache just thinking about it-this isn't one of those). This toy doesn't need any parent interaction with it once you've taken it out of the box unless you want to jump in the sandbox and have a roaring good time playing with it along with your kids. It is also nice to see a fun toy that is powered by a kid's imaginations rather than electricity.
The only negative about the toy was that it's tracks didn't really work very well. They were difficult to roll on carpet and jammed up and didn't move at all in the sand. It would have been cool if the tracks left a trail of T-Rex foot prints across the sandbox but they aren't even imprinted to do that if they did work and essentially my kids just dragged the toy around the sandbox. They didn't seem to mind that the treads didn't roll though, but that is one thing that did catch my attention, especially with a $30 price tag on the toy, and would really elevate the toy from a nice product to a great one if Educational Insights could improve upon that.
The Dino Construction Company T-Rex Skid Loader is an indoor/outdoor toy that can stand up to tough play spurring creativity and imagination while putting a smile on a kid's face making it a winner in my opinion.
For more information about the T-Rex Skid Loader or any of its companion Dino Construction Company crew members visit:
www.educationalinsights.com
DISCLAIMER: I received a complimentary T-Rex Skid Loader toy to utilize for this review. The opinions and views expressed are my own. A positive review was not a mandate to receive the complimentary product.
