Plan City construction set/crane?

[mamaecb]

Does anyone have this? Know anything about it: good, bad, or otherwise? I am thinking my construction-obsessed DS might like it for Christmas. He'll be 2.5 then -- is that too young? I can't get a feel for the scale of this stuff. Has anyone had experience with 2 year olds playing with Plan City? I'm also eyeing the vehicles and gas station. Thanks for your help.

Here's a link for the crane at Magic cabin:

http://www.magiccabin.com/magiccabin/product.do?section_id=0&sc=1004&bc=1004&pgc=810&cmvalue=MCD|CROSSSELL|PRODUCT|1087


Emilie, mama to Henry

[new_mommy25]

We have the crane. My DS got the Hearthsong set for his second birthday.

The crane comes apart into three pieces for storage. It's a little top heavy so it could fall apart with a child that plays rough. Initially we tried gluing it together with E6000 but we could never get a good hold. DS is 4 now so it's not really an issue anymore as he can play carefully.

The crane is operated by two knobs which spin the crane in a circle and lower the elevator up and down. The knobs are difficult for a two year old to master but not essential to play. DS can operate them now.

The vehicles are quite tiny and the wheels are covered in rubber. The rubber is very easy to pull off and could be a choking hazard. Not too big of a deal if your DS no longer puts things in his mouth. The construction wheels are a bit on the delicate side IMO. When my DS was two he was pretty gentle with his toys so we didn't have an issue. However my nephew is younger and was able to break a couple of the vehicles right off the bat.

The cars and trucks are sturdier than the construction vehicles. Bear in mind though that the cars and very tiny.

If you ever plan on getting the garage you might skip the gas station. The garage has one on the bottom level.

We have the garage, gas station, fire station, and rescue center. DS likes the crane and the garage but kind of ignores the other three pieces. If I were you I would skip the garage and get some roadway and the vehicles. The deluxe roadway is better than the standard set because it includes the bridge which my DS loves. However a two year old probably wouldn't care one way or the other. The roadway is also compatible with Thomas and other wooden trains.

Here is a picture of my DS when he was two so you can see the scale of the train. Let me know if you need any more information.

HTH.

Ignore the background. We were in the process of a renovation at the time.
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