I love it when I hear Burton and Jenson playing together – they put on high pitched voices (no idea why!) and role play little scenes, and I love to stand and watch them through the slit of the door by the hinges, when they cannot see me standing there! Therefore, when I was asked if they would like to review the Imaginext Lions Den Castle Review by Fisher Price, I knew that this would appeal to their imagination and that they would have a lot of fun from playing with it, both together and on their own.
The toy castle itself looks pretty impressive, and you can see that it replicates a lion by the overall design of it. I think the colours are neutral too so it is not gender specific, even though I suspect that the majority of them are sold to give to boys! The castle comes with some play figures and accessories: 2 knights (one of which can be a king it does not matter which one as they both look identical!), a lion, a throne, shields, helmets, axes, a king’s crown, a green lizard figure (not sure if he is a good or bad guy, i let the boys decide that!) and a disk-firing crossbow with six disks.
The boys LOVED this castle as soon as they saw it set up for them in their playroom. Seriously, their eyes lit up and they played with it on stop for the hour and a half before tea time, and Burton played with it after tea until bedtime, and thinking about it hasnt stopped since (we have had it for 4 days now). They both love pressing the coats of arms at the top, which activates the main door and opens and shuts it, aswell as making the lions eyes on the door light up and not only that it makes 3 different sounds too. I was impressed that the batteries WERE included! Nothing worse than having a new toy and you cannot play with it until you can lay your hands on some batteries!
They enjoyed being able to fire the disks at the castle (and one another *sighs* well boys will be boys and Mummy may even have been hit a few times too!).
There are so many fun features on this castle – you can move the center shield to open the lion’s jaw, and then release his mane.
and turn a dial to open one of the two lion’s claws
Or you can press the right shield to activate the prison cell trap door.
Plus you can touch the left shield to bring the tower tumbling down – and whatever is standing on it at the time.
The figurines seem durable and are easy to add their acessories to, such as the crown, the armour or the headress.
The Imaginext Lions Den Castle really is a great toy, so many opportunites for role play, adventure and fun and as well as playing with it indoors, would lend itself very easily to being played with outside in the garden or backyard. Burton, in particular has played it pretty much non stop and even took it to his grandma’s at the weekend when both boys went for a sleepover! He would have taken it to school on Monday if he had been allowed!
I have to be honest I am not sure if the Imaginext Lions Den Castle is a toy I would have chosen to buy for Burton (or Jenson for that matter), but I am now thinking that I got that completely wrong because it has been so well recieved here. It is aimed at 3-8 year olds and I can definately see it being a toy that will get a lot more use for years to come. Priced at around the £50 mark, I think this is good value actually because the castle has so many great features and you can add to the collection by purchasing more figures and modes of transport. I can see many children being thrilled to recieve this for Christmas or a birthday.
I was sent a Imaginext Lions Den Castle for the Burton and Jenson for a purpose of a review. My comments and opinions about it are honest and my own.
That looks great. My son has an Imaginext castle and still loves playing with it.