When we received a toy ironing board and iron from Toys R Us I had to laugh! My poor youngest kids have never even seen an iron in our house! Since our son left home taking with him the need to iron his work shirts, the iron has been made quite redundant. (Unless we do fabric painting and have to iron the design to fix it!)
The Casdon Ironing Board is a scaled down, realistic looking board with padded cover and iron storage tray. The iron is a miniature Morphy Richards and very much like its full sized counterpart. It also includes a folding clothes airer and four hangers. This set is a authentic replica of the full size versions, perfect for role play and for copying adult activities (although this is not a common activity in our house!)
The board folds down flat and features finger-trap-safe hinges. However you can't lock it into the folded position.
The recommended age is for 3-8 year olds. So I thought we might be a little bit stuck with this toy as Kizzy has really outgrown this stage and Freddy is a bit young and doesn't have dolls' clothes that need make believe ironing. However, in the name of gender neutral parenting and Toyology my Tiny Testers set to work testing it out. Kizzy's dressed teddy was stripped down to his fur to provide clothes to iron.
The board has three height settings and was sturdy enough to withstand Freddy's playing techniques. The iron had a clicking dial and a switch (my 15 year old was disappointed that it wasn't electronic with sounds!!) The airing rack was a nice addition and the little hangers were perfect for the tiny toy clothes.
I really like how Casdon have created a range of toys that are exactly like the adult products. Pre-schoolers are not patronised with baby-ish versions. Little ones always want real things (remote controls, mobile phones etc) and are often not duped by garishly coloured, kiddy friendly alternatives. Casdon have created toys based on this premise. Children can emulate their parents in a realistic way and be real little mini-me's!
My only real problem with it was in the assembly. A rivet and a retaining cap are needed to secure the legs on. The retaining cap is almost impossible to press onto to the rivet although the instructions simply say "push on". Ian had to resort to using a pair of grips to get it on.
Both children actually had a lot of fun with this set. For Kizzy, it was a real novelty as an iron is a seldom seen item giving it a glamorous appeal!! Freddy likes to copy his big sister. Maybe I should have slipped my laundry pile into their game! They are definitely better ironers than I am!
The set RRP is £20.
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