mizgnomer's Full Review: Playtown Wood Family House
When my older son was a toddler he LOVED playing with play houses, as did most of his little male friends, so I never understood why toy manufacturers seem to insist on putting pink all over the doll houses that were available back then! The Fisher Price house I grew up with was a nice, gender-neutral blue & yellow! Now my youngest son is two and is the perfect age for imaginative play with toy houses, so we greatly appreciated the opportunity to try out the Play Town Wood Family House with him.
Product Description:
The Play Town Wood Family House is a simple, toddler-friendly play house constructed from a mixture of wooden and plastic parts. The house measures 14½ inches tall, just over 11 inches wide, and approximately 6 inches deep. The house consists of stories with a nifty little storage area in the attic (accessible by lifting one side of the roof). Most of the walls and all of the support columns are made of wood. The floors and roof are made of plastic (as is the front, downstairs wall -- probably due to it housing some of the interactive features).
The color scheme on the front/exterior of the house is mainly yellow, pale-green, and (a rather bright) purple with some white trim. The front door opens and closes. There is a purple doorbell that rings (the old-fashioned bell way) when pressed. One of the open windows features a flower box complete with a spinning cylinder that reveals the different stages of the flowers growing and blooming in the flower box. In addition to the lift-up storage/attic, the roof has a rather cool balcony on-top, and the decorative sticker includes a nice sandbox in which the baby character can play.
The interior of the house is pretty simple and contains no built-in interactive features on either of its 2 stories. The graphics reveal carpets on the floor and additional furniture and whatnot on the house's walls, including a stove, television, and various toys in the baby's room.
The house also comes with some furniture. The circular table with its translucent green top is particularly cute and is accompanied by two purple chairs with real wood seats. The baby's crib is made of white plastic and does rock from side to side. The parents' bed is somewhat confusing -- it is pink and includes a wooden pillow that just really doesn't look anything like a pillow. Additionally, there is only room for 1 character on the bed (are Mommy and Daddy still on speaking terms?)
The set comes with 3 figures (a Mommy, Daddy, and Baby). Like the house itself, the characters are also constructed from both plastic and wooden components. The torso and head are made of wood while the arms, legs, hair, and hats are all plastic. Our Mommy and Baby figures differ from the ones pictured on this listing. Mommy's hair is brown and she wears a pink headband which matches her pink pants and sleeves. She wears a white shirt that zips up the front. Daddy is a red-head with gray pants and a yellow shirt. Baby is a boy, wearing a blue cap on his head and blue shoes to accompany his white diaper. I suppose he's wearing a white shirt with a bunny on it, but it is hard to tell as the wood must have soaked up the white paint, making it look more flesh-colored. Baby also clutches a cute plastic teddy bear in his arm. Each character stands just under 3 inches tall (baby is just the tiniest bit shorter than Mom & Dad). They are a tad taller, wider, and rounder than your average Little People character.
Accompanying the toy is a little "Play Town" book called "Sounds Like Fun". The 6-page book tells the story of a party being held at a Play Town house, with various Play Town guests arriving. There are 3 sound buttons to the right of the book's pages. The sounds that play are a doorbell sound, a horse galloping sound, and the sound of a bunch of kids laughing. The same book comes with Play Town Pirate Ship (so if you get both toys you'll have 2 copies of the book).
There are no batteries required for the house itself, but the book requires 3 button-cell batteries (included). The manufacturer recommends the Play Town Wood Family House for children age 1 year and up.
Our Thoughts & Experiences:
My two year old has enjoyed having a playhouse and has spent quite some time with it. He's in a stage where he does a lot of imaginative play where he talks for his characters and takes them through various play-scenarios, so this toy has been very good for him. By far my son's favorite thing is the attic storage area. He has the characters play "hide and seek" in the attic and likes storing some of his toy cars in there on occasion. My son is also thrilled that there's a "baby" character (with a teddy bear). He has a thing for babies and always makes a big deal over real ones, so I think he enjoys having a baby-character to call his own.
An odd aside: All of the adults in "Play Town" have receding hairlines. I know it sounds weird, but that's what it looks like! I suppose that's how we're to tell the "kid" characters from the "adult" characters, since with the exception of the slightly-shorter baby they're all the same size. It looks a bit strange, I must admit.
I may gripe about their hairlines, but I do really like the "Play Town" characters. They are chunky and different from the all-plastic Little People characters that we have an abundance of already. According to the little pamphlet that came with the toy, additional characters are available separately (such as different parents, young children, and a "girl" baby).
I do appreciate the fact that you can store the furniture in the attic. Because this isn't one of my son's "favorite" toys, we do tend to put it away in our toy closet and pull it back out after he hasn't seen it for a while. Having a place to secure the furniture and figures is nice and keeps it from getting lost in storage. That being said, if you left the toy out all the time you wouldn't really use the storage space, since there is plenty of room in the house itself for keeping the furniture. The attic door did pop off once (when the boys were playing a bit rough with opening the top) and there is now a bit of stress-discoloration in the plastic from when I reattached it, but since the "attic" is by far my son's favorite part of the toy I probably shouldn't complain too much about it.
The parents' bed is particularly confusing. It took us a few minutes to figure out what it was supposed to be. With its cylindrical wooden pillow (or is it a headboard?) it looks more like some kind of pink printing press than a bed. Only one figure can sleep in it, and there isn't a couch so I guess Daddy's sleeping on the floor tonight. I do particularly like the table with its translucent green top though. There's even a nub on the table-top so you can place one of the characters onto it securely - something my son has loved doing ever since we noticed that the characters can be attached up there. There really isn't a ton of floor-space in the house, especially when the furniture is in place, so my son often takes all of the furniture out so his characters have room to move around and "talk".
The only assembly required (other than needing a sledgehammer and blowtorch to get it out of its packaging) is attaching a set of pink steps that lead to the front door. Assembly certainly isn't difficult, but the steps do not stay on well at all. Any time we move the house the steps fall off immediately. They certainly aren't required for play, but my son hates it when things "break" so it upsets him a bit.
Quickie Summary:
Pros:
+) Wood and plastic construction
+) Includes 3 characters (Mom, Dad, and Baby)
+) Attic storage!
+) Play Town "sound book" included
+) Some built-in interactive features (doorbell, flower box)
+) It doesn't look too girly
+) Not too big & bulky
+) Fun with no batteries required
Cons:
-) The bed doesn't really look much like a bed
-) The stairs don't stay on
-) There's not a ton of floor space (especially when the furniture is in the house)
Final Thoughts:
I really don't have any major complaints about the Play Town Wood Family House. It is a nice, simple little house toy that does indeed inspire imaginative play in my son. That being said, my boy definitely gets more enjoyment out of the Play Town Pirate Ship, as it has more interactive features plus it rolls (and he's a vehicle-fanatic).
Disclaimer: I received the Play Town Wood Family House from Learning Curve in exchange for my unbiased review.
The Family house features wooden pillars and accents, a "growing"garden, attic storage area, working front door, balcony, and multiple areas of play i...More at Amazon Marketplace
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