I’m a huge fan of BRIO. We’ve had many of their toys for several years now and the quality and design of the toys is hard to beat. Their toys for younger children (like my personal favourite the BRIO crab, or their pull along toys like the giraffe and the dachshund) are simple and fun, and a welcome alternative from all of the loud battery operated plastic. As children grow older BRIO have a whole range of other toys on offer, the most popular being their huge range of BRIO World train sets and accessories.
What I love about BRIO World
In a time where electronics, video games and YouTube are so popular, I think it’s refreshing to simplify play with something as ‘simple’ as a train set. The opportunities for role play and imaginative thinking are quite literally endless, encouraging a huge range of different skills, and the amount of different sets and accessories BRIO World includes means there is something for little ones with any interest. Whether your little one has a huge collection of various track and accessories, or they have just a few bits, they all have the ability to build, create and imagine an entire world prompting any number of different scenarios or games. They develop so many skills – concentration, planning, design and building whilst creating their tracks, then communication, imagination, problem solving, creativity and more once they begin to play and move their trains along their chosen track.
The BRIO World range is made up of six themes – Village, Explore, Travel, Rescue, Countryside and Lift & Load. The toys are all marketed in a completely gender-less way, which is a huge attraction for me as a mother. Whether you choose to purchase the BRIO World Rescue Police Station, or the BRIO World Village Family House you’ll find them all in their familiar green packaging, marketed as children’s toys instead of ‘for girls’ or ‘for boys’. Making the whole range accessible to all children is an important part of BRIO’s play philosophy and something that clearly appeals to their customers too.
All of the BRIO World products can be used together, so each purchase can be used either on its own or combined with the rest of your collection. This means you can end up creating your own fully customised worlds, filled with things that spark your little one’s interests and imagination. We often end up with a track featuring some of our Safari Railway (this is one of my favourites – love the little monkey who steals the banana truck), a bit of BRIO Farm and always some of the BRIO Metro/Tube Railway (Dil’s fave). Any new BRIO purchases just gets added in to Dilan’s collection, meaning we can always create different combinations, new worlds and bigger and better tracks.
BRIO World Cargo Transport Helicopter
The newest addition to our BRIO connection is the BRIO World Cargo Transport Helicopter, which was kindly sent to us to review by BRIO. The helicopter comes with a friendly looking pilot, and two lots of cargo loaded onto trains which are compatible with BRIO train tracks. It adds a really nice extra level to our BRIO role playing, as we take to the sky as well as journey along the tracks.
The helicopter, like all BRIO toys is excellent quality and “sibling safe”. This means that, although lots of BRIO products are recommended for age 3+, they do not include any small pieces and so are safe to play with around young siblings. The toy’s RRP is £34.99, but I often find some BRIO bargains on Amazon so it’s always worth shopping around. I do think that the price point is a little high, but you are getting two extra trains as well as the helicopter for the price.
Take a closer look at the BRIO Cargo Helicopter in this video of Dil playing with it and our new BRIO Travel Station Set, which we will also be reviewing shortly. (Also seen in the video is our BRIO Battery Powered Engine)
*The BRIO helicopter was sent to us to review. All thoughts are our own. Post contains affiliate links*