Isaac loves construction toys and will often spend hours building a special set, or making up his own designs.
During this lengthy time at home, I have been keen for him to keep occupied with things other than schoolwork and gaming, so when we were invited to review the Meccano 10 Model Dinosaurs Set, I jumped at the chance.
This great STEM set comes with instructions for how to build and re-build 10 different dinosaur models, from the nimble raptor to the terrifying T-Rex.
The pack comes with 179 parts split up into plastic bags, which helps you find the parts you are looking for and all the tools you need to build your epic creation, including a screw driver, wrench, screws and bolts.
The pieces of the set are small and fiddly to work with and I have to admit that Isaac did get very frustrated with it, despite intervention from Kian and his Dad to help.
In fact, he started building it on the 12th May and it has taken him 3 weeks and a lot of encouragement to get it finished!
Unlike LEGO, where you push the parts together, with Mecanno you need to get the balance right between the tightness of parts and their ability to move to play with it and Isaac found that it needed lots of re-adjustment to get it just right.
There is no doubt that Meccano sets encourage kids to learn about STEM skills, but I would be very prepared to help them out and build it together. Maybe a good one for Dad or Grandad to help out with!!
The Mecanno Dinosaurs set has an RRP of £16.99 and is available from all good toy shops.
Disclaimer: We were sent the set to review. All thoughts and opinions are our own
That looks like good fun. Definitely a great way to keep kids occupied in lockdown.
We’ve been considering getting Jack some Meccano so this review was very timely – it looks great but I’d definitely be prepared to help.
This looks like such a fun idea for kids – I don’t know a huge amount about meccano but it looks great to build things with.
I love Meccano, the boys used to have this when they were younger and I used to love playing with it x
Thank you for your review. My grandson is still a bit too young for this kind of toy, but I will still get it for him so he can enjoy it when he is a little older.
A friend of mine recently introduced Meccano to us, my son does love dinosaur so this would be a fab set to get for him for his birthday
Meccano is such a great heritage brand but I agree, it is tricky for kids used to Lego. We bought our children a set and they really struggled with it as they are used to instant results with other construction toys.
My son is a big fan of meccano. He normal does the cars and vehicles, but I don’t think he has made a dinosaur yet