Make believe with Disney Planes Fire and Rescue Blade Hero toy

While N’s not fussed about cars when playing at home, and is only just getting into Disney films, he is partial to playing with aeroplanes; we were looking forward to receiving a Disney Planes Fire & Rescue Blade Hero toy to review.

When N spotted the box, he was straight in there, asking his dad to get the helicopter out.  This set features Disney Pixar’s Blade Ranger helicopter, from the Disney Planes: Fire and Rescue range. Joining him in the set are his 3 fellow smokejumpers Blackout, Avalanche and Drip for the helicopter to rescue.  The mission is to help this Air Attack team save Piston Peak from a blazing fire.

We’ve not seen the Disney Planes movie, so aren’t up on all the characters, but that didn’t stop N having fun and setting the helicopter to work.

The helicopter itself is a good size for 3 year olds and up.  It feels and looks a little flimsy on the underneath, but N’s taken it into nursery, and played with it over a few days, and so far no damage.  And he’s not yet lost the 3 vehicles that need rescuing.

The rescue hook drops down and can be retracted by pressing a button on the side of the helicopter, although N hasn’t worked out that it works both ways.  Instead he just pulls it out, and then hits the button to set the rotor blades going which draws the hook back up.  Hours of fun!  It works really well, it’s not too stiff to work, and the string’s not got knotted at all which I might have expected with a 4 year old.

N’s had great fun playing with the rescue Blade Hero.  He’s had crashes

and has also been examining all the different parts of the vehicle, as well as picking up lots of other toys that can be hooked up.

I think the Disney Planes Blade Hero has a lot of play left in it.  Even if you don’t know the film, children love aircraft, and a helicopter seems just that little bit more exciting and unique than a bog standard plane.  I’ve also found that having the hook seems to challenge N quite well – he’s been using it with two hands, and one, but it’s great training for ‘hook the duck’ at the fair!  All good practice for spatial awareness and steady hands.  Plus of course hooking up other items other than the 3 ‘vehicles’ included means problem solving skills in finding items that can be hoisted up with a hook.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oK8JJVf5wjE&feature=youtu.be

You can currently buy the Disney Planes Fire & Rescue Blade Hero from Amazon (affiliate link) or Argos.

Disclosure: We were sent the Disney Planes Fire & Rescue Blade Hero for the purpose of review. All words and opinions are my own.