Pirate Island Play Centre

Pirate Island Play Centre from ELC

“Splashing good fun – whatever the weather”

First impressions: ‘The monkey’ was bought his Pirate Island Play Centre for his 1st birthday (in February) and as it was the first gift he opened we didn’t have the heart to make him wait for the summer so we put a big towel out in the living room and got down to some splashing good fun.

The centre consists of an inflatable ‘ocean’ play centre, 2 plastic boats – initially great for chewing on but now used more to ferry the pirates round – and three inflatable pirate characters. There is also a dark cave area to ‘explore’, shark invested waters to navigate and a pirate treasure chest to be discovered. The inflatable characters have, so far, remained un-punctured by my teething toddler – although he’s certainly had a good old gnaw on them – and, as only the sides of the play centre are inflatable, there is minimal risk of puncturing it when using it outside on the grass.

The cave and rainbow sections are moveable, with velcro attachments, encouraging interactive and imaginative play and the characters are bright and cheery enough to attract even a young child’s attention. The shark is a little difficult to inflate due to its position but as the monkey tends to concentrate on crashing into the shark with the boats its probably best not to have it too inflated anyway!

What’s good about it: The play centre is strong and sturdy and takes quite a battering without needing to be re-inflated. Once up, its small enough to be used indoors (once you’ve water-proofed your surroundings!) but big enough to be used in the garden when the summer is here – so you’re getting both indoor and outdoor fun with one toy. It even doubled-up as a paddling pool over the Easter break when ‘the monkey’ decided to sit down in it rather than playing with the pirates 🙂

The downside… The play centre itself does take quite a bit of blowing up – we needed Daddy’s puff for this one but that was really the only downside – and that small detail shouldn’t put anyone off.

To sum it up: A great water toy for the younger ones. The box says that the centre is suitable for ages 3-8 years but I think that maybe this is a little too old. ‘The monkey’ loves it and I could certainly see him playing with it till he’s about five or six but I think that after that it may get a little too basic. Having said that Daddy and I love playing with it with him so maybe they could even ‘up’ the age limit 🙂

Mybabycanplay rating: 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂