*Gifted Product Review*
We were sent the Thames & Kosmos Master Detective Toolkit to review recently. With a suggested age of 8+ this seemed ideal for our 10yo, and maybe our 13yo too. What we didn’t realise was just how much our 5yo got into the spirit of it, even dressing up as James Bond to play Detective/Spy!
The spy kit comes in a cool case, which I have no doubt will outlive the contents for some time to come as a role play accessory!
The premise of the kit is that you join the trio of detectives in the book (included), and follow their detective adventures, completing forensic tasks as you go along. I will say at this point that if you’re giving this to an 8yo be sure their reading skills, comprehension and patience are there, and they will almost certainly need adult supervision if you wish to follow the book.
True to form Daisy got stuck in straight away without reading the (rather comprehensive) instructions, deciding to fingerprint Teddy. She intuitively worked it out, which goes to show that it can be played with quite fine in an ‘experimental’ way! It’s sometimes good to allow children to have a go with things without being too prescriptive.
Teddy soon followed suit and in no time was dusting for prints*, with only a little guidance from me.
*Parental note – not hard to clean up either!
That both really enjoyed the invisible ink pen and UV light part of the kit, and were messaging all sorts of things for days afterwards! This bit of the kit has real play longevity.
They both had fun collecting forensic samples with the tweezers and little pots, very good for little people’s fine motor skills, and at various point there was even ‘Police Line – Do Not Cross’ tape blocking doors in the house!
Our 13yo has it now, and is probably the right age to use the kit properly (as intended by the manufacturer). That said, there is plenty there to occupy and entertain younger children. As parents we are quite happy that our children apply their imagination to this kind of play, they all certainly had a lot of fun being detectives and spies for a few days!
Thames and Kosmos Three detective Kits start from £9.99 and are available from Smyths and Thames toy shops.
This review was written in exchange for an open and honest review of this gifted product.
Leave a Reply