SWEET STREET Schoolhouse; HEY!! School can be fun!!
Written: Jan 12 '04 (Updated Dec 31 '04)
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Pros: It's self contained and my grand daughter loves playing "make believe" with it.
Cons: No adult male role models.
The Bottom Line: This can give many hours of play time
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| popsrocks's Full Review: Fisher-Price Loving Family Sweet Streets School |
For Christmas Santa brought a Sweet Street Schoolhouse to our four year old grand daughter. This has become one of the toys she keeps at grandma and grandpa's home to play with when she visits.
THE BOX
Unknown to me at the time is that the Sweet Street Schoolhouse is part of a town that includes homes, shops and vehicles. They are all pictured on the box the "Loving Family" Sweet Streets School came in. There is a mat depicting streets and grassy areas that can accommodate all the added Sweet Street items. Information of getting into the promotion to get the mat is in the box on a mail in card.
We are warned on the box that the actual products colours may not match what is illustrated on the box. I found them to match very well and in fact most were perfectly duplicated.
The box also tell us this is for ages three and up. There is a warning of a small piece, a basketball, that happens to be attached to a tether, as being a possible choking hazard to younger children.
Just to note here, the ball is well attached to the school by the tether. I suppose in time it could come loose. I am evaluating how often my grand daughter actually uses this part of the school house gym. She can take shots at the hoop with this ball. The hoop has a slot in it so the tether does not get tangled. I do happen to like this little added addition in the Gym.
OK, back to the box. It took me almost ten full minutes to untie the twists and tapes that held the parts inside the box in a display manner. These twists and things are more of a choking hazard than the ball and tether.
FIGURES
This set comes with two figures that bend at the waist and have arms that swing and a head that turns.
The three inch tall teacher, a white female in a blue jumper over a white blouse has red eyeglasses hanging from her neck. She wears brown loafers.
The two and a half inch student figure has red hair and is wearing a blue, above the knee skirt, and orange blouse with what looks to be a brown sweater over it. She is wearing orange coloured shoes.
THE SCHOOL HOUSE
This old fashioned two story brick building is about a foot high. It houses six rooms. One is behind each of the six open "glass" (not real, just imagined), paned areas of the front. Through these windows you can peek in and see the rooms.
The six open panels consist of one bottom level door with nine open panes of "glass" and five, nine paned windows surrounding that door. On the ground level one window is on each side of the main entrance door. The other three windows are all upstairs on the second level. One is directly above the door and the two others are set, one left, one right. The windows are framed with white trim that stand out nicely against the pink brick of the building. A blue shingled roof is above.
A clock is above center on top of the building. It is set at ten o'clock. This is one of the many stickers that have been pre-set. This is good. The chore of putting them on is not up to mom or dad.
The building swings out on hinges left and right of the middle panel containing the door. The hinges allow the sides to swing about 2/3 open.
This is when you can see the interior rooms. On the left downstairs is the lunchroom cafeteria. It even has a "cafeteria lady" with a friendly smile standing in the kitchen area. She is part of a sticker. You can see food plates on some shelving.
A cafeteria table is also included as an extra piece that the figures may sit at. On top are three dimensional depictions of small milk cartons with straws and two plates with food. One looks like a fish dinner and the other is a sandwich plate. Wrapped tableware in napkins, a banana, and what looks to be squeeze mustard and ketchup bottles are also on the table.
There is also a clock in the kitchen just above the ovens exhaust system. FYI it's either 4 or 5 o'clock. I can't tell for sure. The middle hand is between the 4 and five. The different reading of this clock from the one on the outside of the building made me think of the clocks in the school I went to a long time ago. The clocks in the school building always seemed to be set at the wrong time. I felt this was an ingenious bit of reality set into the Sweet Street School.
Above the cafeteria is the music/art/library room. It's my favorite, and more importantly a favorite of my grand daughter. She spends a lot of time playing in this room. The back panel sticker has three children playing. Two are playing musical instruments and one is painting a picture. In the middle of the sticker is a bookshelf with many books. The room also comes with a separate piano. This upright is made so that the figures that come with the set can sit at it and "play" it.
The drawings of the children in this room and other
rooms depict children of different skin tone, colour hair, and gender. I'll also note at this point that male adults are not to be found on any of the school room stickers that consist of a cafeteria lady and nurse. The teacher figure that comes with the set, along with one young blond girl student are both female. There is also a school bus that is sometimes packaged with the Sweet Street School house or sold separately. There are no male adults here either. That set does have one boy as a figure that comes with the bus set as well as two girls and a female bus driver.
I mention this because as I play make believe with my grand daughter, she relegates the one male boy figure from the bus set to me to play with in the school house. To her gender must match. She was four years old December 31st.
On the other wing of the building is the downstairs gym. The center point of this room is a basketball hoop with a tethered basketball. My grand daughter tried it a couple of times when I suggested it, however, does not seem to have much interest in it any longer. She seems to enjoy more of her make believe interaction with the student and the other figures from her bus set.
My grand daughter has not started school yet so I do not see as much interplay between the teacher and student. For this reason, the school house should come with at least two students. Actually, I would prefer three, two girls and one boy. This gives an option for boys who may be playing.
The gym has a picture in the back of two girls in tights doing stretching exercises. Trophies, pennants, ropes and other gym type detail are in the picture too.
Included as part of the gym is a balance beam. This part has little "pegs" sticking out on top where the figures that come with the set can be placed. There is a hole on the bottom of one of their feet so that they will stay on the bar. This is a cute feature, however, at just four years old, my grand daughter has trouble with the hand eye coordination to do this. I believe the balance beam is excellent for older children who may play with this set.
Above the gym is a classroom. The background picture has one boy sitting at a computer and two girls seeming to interact with each other. A black board with the words "good morning" in five languages is set near a shelving unit with a globe, and microscope.
This room also comes with a three dimensional piece. This is a desk/computer station. This is also made so the figures can be placed sitting at one of the two seats in front of the desk.
Between the upstairs class room and the music room I spoke of earlier is a hallway. The back wall shows a boys and girls room with the a boy and girl coming in and out of the appropriate doors. Between the two doors is a water fountain that is molded into the school house. I thought this a nice touch. My grand daughter has taken figures there to get a drink many times.
Downstairs and the last of the rooms in the schoolhouse is the nurses station. This is by far her favorite room. She happens to have one of those children's a doctors/nurse kits she received as a gift a while back. I believe it is because of this that my grand daughter likes playing the nurse in this room.
The back sticker shows a red headed nurse in whites holding a chart. An eye chart is behind her. In the middle of the room is a bed that is molded into the room. My grand daughter often has a figure on it as she asks how the "child" is feeling.
IN CLOSING
The best part about the building is that when it is brought back into the closed position, all part are inside, no messy clutter. When back together the pieces click into position and will not open accidentally. My four year old grand daughter can easily open it to play when by herself.
The school building has a handle on top. The whole complete unit is easily carried from place to place.
I have to say that as of now, this is her favorite toy at our home. She looks for it and plays with it well on her own or with others she asks to join her. She has three aunts who still live in my home. Here's some personal news for those who regularly read my reviews, one of them, my oldest girl at twenty two will be getting married this March!
I feel my grand daughter will continue playing with this toy and once she has more school experience, will be able to relate to all the rooms a bit more.
As I stated earlier I do feel that more adult males should somehow be built into these sets. Yes I know, little girls may relate to and play with female figures more naturally, however, good male figures, I feel, are important for a growing child.
More little person reviews by popsrocks,
Thomas Train and Friends
Sweet Street School Bus
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Graco Jumper
Fischer Price Take-a-Long Swing Thing This item Rocks!!
Safety 1st, Swinging Gate It does its job.
Kolcraft High Chair
Corduroy A tale of acceptance. This is a wonderful book for children 3-6 yrs.
The Polar Express A book for adult children
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 15
Type of Toy: Playscene
Age Range of Child: 3 to 5 Years
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