Interplay Electric Stunt Buggy Review (and Giant Hornet!).

I was given the chance by Interplay to review their electric Stunt Buggy, but at Blog On I found a Giant Hornet kit in my goody bag, and it's awesome, so I'm including that! Both sets are mainly card or thick paper, and the assembly is recommended for children aged 8+.

Interplay are a UK company formed in 1998. They specialise in making craft, nature, technology and science kits for children. All of my older children have had many Interplay kits, they've been a regular feature here since around 2002 - Christmas always brings a few to our house.

The electric Stunt Buggy is from the Technokit range, and will help your child to learn about electronics and scientific principles. Everything except batteries is in the box, including an instruction leaflet.

Although the kit is designed for age 8+, our 6 1/2 year old master-builder is excellent at following instructions. He was a little confused when it came to putting together the elastic band running gear, but otherwise understood them. He wasn't however physically strong enough to put together the kit.

We found when assembling the card parts of the buggy that it was really a very tight fit, and several times we had to check we really were doing it right. It makes it very sturdy, but it worried me throughout that I'd made an error somewhere.

Assembly of the wheels and axles is well thought out, runs beautifully, and is amazingly strong. My 6 1/2 year old had no chance at pushing it together himself, and when he decided he wanted to cut out the paper 'wheel rims' and we needed to disassemble the wheels to fit them, my partner was really cursing because it was incredibly difficult to do.

There is room for customisation. The model can be built with the white side out, so you can decorate your Stunt Buggy however you wish, and it arrives with 3 different sized cogs to learn the Science behind gears.

The engine sits neatly on top and to one side of the main chassis, and the battery pack is fastened by velcro to the rear loadbed/boot area of the the buggy.

And does it work? Yes. It's really quite fast, it has enough power to get up over the carpets without flinching, and it doesn't complain when it drives into a wall. It's really easy to adapt to go backwards, but isn't very 'stunty' particularly. It will drive in a large circle on it's back wheels, and it drives true and straight a treat, but it doesn't really do anything else.

Aside from the fact that this kit is actually very stiff to put together, and is more 'strong' than 'stunt', we give it a big thumbs up. My son is very proud of it, loves that he made a moving vehicle with a battery, and the Stunt Buggy has had pride of place in the middle of his headboard since he built it.

The Interplay Electric Stunt Buggy has a recommended price of £ 9.99 and we think that's good value for money and makes an excellent gift which really does teach some basic scientific principles.

In my Blog On goody bag I was really excited to find an Interplay Giant Hornet. This is from the Rivetz range. My 6 1/2 year old built it with me, and we both found it awesome.

Made entirely from thick paper, it's got a fantastic little safe rivet gun, which works incredibly well. My 6 1/2 year old had the strength to use it, but my 5 year old doesn't. It's a brilliant design which will only fasten paper with holes and little else. Maybe watch your wooly cardi....

This was great fun to put together, partly because without the rivet gun it would take hours and be incredibly frustrating. Rivetting makes it amazingly quick and even very complex folds and curves become fairly easy.

In all the Giant Hornet really IS giant - at a whopping 49cm x 28cm when completed...and it comes with a string for wall-hanging....