BRIO Reviews

This product did not have a very clear description. I was disappointed when I received it as the blocks are very small and not at all what I expected. I am confident that Brio makes a quality product, but the product description should include measurements and describe the size of the blocks better.

We bought these blocks for our two year old son because he liked stacking his legos so much. The legos and megablocks have been put in the closet since he opened these at Christmas. Anyone with a toddler knows how hard it is to keep them focused on any one thing for very long. Our son will play with these blocks for 20 minutes straight without stopping! He loves to build all of his fisher-price alphabet animals a house and then knock it down to build a house for the next lucky animial. These blocks are the first thing he goes for in his playroom everyday. I love to sit and watch him as he analyzes each piece and decides which would be the best to build his house with. It's great for hand/eye coordination and its got to be good for self-esteem and imagination.

My daughter loves stacking these blocks on top of each other. She has learnt to stack them when she was a little over a year. This is a versatile toy which can be fun for many years. I saw people complaining that the blocks were small, but this is just the size such small kids can easily manipulate, I think. I highly recommend!

I bought this toy for my friend's 14 month old daughter. While visiting them, my 11 month old son was playing with this toy and when he hit the key on the box, a small piece of the key broke off and the key came off the toy. The piece was small enough to be swallowed.

I bought this for my daughter's 1 year birthday and she really likes it and has a lot of fun sorting the shapes and dumping them out the door. It's really nice to be able to leave the door unlocked so she doesn't get frustrated and need help every time she wants to get the shapes out. HOWEVER, after only one month a chunk of the key broke off when the toy was dropped on the floor. The piece that broke off was very sharp and small enough to choke on. The key is still functional, but we cut the cord to remove it from the toy so mom or dad need to help unless we leave it unlocked all the time.

One nice thing about this toy that I didn't see mentioned by any other reviewers is this: neither the keyhole nor the door are spring loaded. This means that for a young toddler like my 14-month-old, you can turn the keyhole to the unlocked position and it will stay that way; and you can leave the door propped open, although it may not stay that way. This allows young ones to put the blocks -- or whatever they grab -- in and out of the box without having to operate the lock. I had been concerned that I was going to be constantly called on to unlock the door for him, but now I see that's not the case. When he's ready, he can figure out how to use the key, but for now, he can enjoy the toy without using the locking function.

I think the bright colors of this toy, combined with the interesting shapes and perfect size of the blocks it comes with, make this toy very appealing to my son.

but this one stinks i got my nephew this thing for his birthday and he hated the thing it as so boring for him that he cried his whole bath time! don't get this thing

My 11 month old daughter loves this toy. She loves to put the animals in the basket and pull the basket out of the water. She has fun with it the whole bath time.

My son is almost three and loves this toy. He particularly likes scooping, and has played with it out of the tub, as well, making up stories about saving the animals. We have several bath toys, and he requests this one more than half the time.

I just purchased this toy based on the good reviews I read, but was a bit dissappointed when I received it. I got the Quack Along Ducks also for my twins, and that one is much better. The dog doesn't even bark as advertised, it only makes a clicking sound. I am returning it tomorrow.

My grandson loves the Ambi Max the Dog pull toy--it is so cute and durable and not too heavy to carry around. I wish the string were a little longer though, but we tied a small toy on the end for him to hold onto and that helped. It is a very cute toy for the price.

My two year old boy has never shown much interest in toys, but lately he has been dragging stuff around, so I thought a pull toy will be suitable. He just turned three and I got him the pull dog for his birthday. In anticipation to the short cord, I bought a pair of shoe laces and used one to extend the cord. It works fine. He absolutely loves it and plays with it all day long. The dog is smaller than I expected, but well designed to suit its purpose. It lands on its "feet" almost all the time no matter how many obstacles it has to pass; it rolls on any surface, including carpet. Its head shakes and its tails wags as promised, but its bark is less than desirable. It is so loud! It is a cracking sound that doesn't resemble barking and can definitely drive any adult crazy. All said, it is the first toy my boy has ever shown interest, and I certainly don't regret buying it. I am going to put tape on its belly to muffle the sound, though.

The imaginarium tracks are a good value over all, but this set is useless as a stand alone set. You cannot even make an oval with this set. Nothing like what is shown in the picture. It should be listed as an expansion option and the pieces should be clearly stated. Luckly we got an expansion pack for Christmas so we could at least make an oval

With a turntable, bumpers and a few new switches and bridge supports, this has helped us expand our wooden railway for my son's Thomas & Friends trains. In fact, Daddy has spent countless hours trying to make new and intricate layouts on the train table with these pieces. The turntable is a tad to short for wooden engines (like Gordon, Spencer, James and Edward) that have a tender, but my son doesn't seem to care.

While this item costs less than the Thomas wooden railway sets, I still think that the price is quite expensive for the pieces that are included. But I am a sucker for these kind of things, especially when my son gets so much use out of his train table.

My mother-in-law sent us this for our 2 year old for Christmas. We already have an Imaginarium figure 8 set, expansion track pack, and the straight and curved expansion track pack. I don't think this set has much going for it as a stand alone set, but it allows you to build some more up and down type things and multi-directional things if you already have a fair amount of track.

The only thing I don't like about this set is the bumpy, bendy track piece. I just don't get the point of this type of piece. The trains don't seem to run over it well. I understand a little up and down movement being interesting but it's like once it's been bent for the first time, this piece just never sits well and causes the trains to derail. The Thomas bendy track seems to be jointed with a soft wire or string between each piece and it works out much better than this one with the stiff wires.

What I really like about this set is the red plastic risers that hold the sloped track pieces. A bazillion times better than the wooden blocks that come with Thomas, Brio, and some other Imaginarium sets. It makes things so more stable, the tracks aren't constantly falling apart anymore.

The turn table is cool, too. I don't really understand the problem with certain engines not fitting on it. I don't think the Thomas cars with the tenders would fit - but we don't have any of those so it's not a problem. As far as engines go we have Percy, Thomas, Skarloey, a blue Imaginarium engine, and a large black Imaginarium engine, and they all fit but *just*. I suppose the only time you would use this *and* have only an engine on it any way would be if you had a roundhouse and were putting your engines to bed for the night? We don't have a roundhouse; all we use this for is an elaborate switch or connection piece or whatever you want to call it. You can make some cool track layouts using this piece. If we ever get a roundhouse, the size of this might be a problem. However, right now our son's favorite thing is to build the longest train possible using all the cars he has, so the need to turn a single engine around is highly unlikely to arise.

My favorite thing is to cover our living room floor with gigantic track layouts, and this set meets my needs just fine. No complaints. The set is well made, the price is good. The one piece I don't like does nothing to detract from the 30 pieces I do like.

We bought both because we were told they were "compatible" which they are not (with each other, but both fit the same tracks). Thomas keeps running off the track, can't go up hills without getting stuck on the track, won't fit through Brio tunnels, is made of cheap plastic and runs too fast for my taste (i like my son to be able to interact with his toys). In contrast, our Brio set is well made, has the best accessories, has batteries that are easier to change (& smaller & cheaper) and overall is much more fun to play with.

I am 3 years old (Grandma is helping me with this). As soon as I get to Grandma's home, I head to the toy area. I pull out Thomas and have a wonderful time constructing the track, problem solving and playing with Thomas.

I am 3 years old (Grandma is helping me with this). As soon as I get to Grandma's home, I head to the toy area. I pull out Thomas and have a wonderful time constructing the track, problem solving and playing with Thomas.