Siblings, Toys, and Igniting the Imagination – #PlayskoolHeroes

by Daniel De Guia · Published October 18, 2015 · Updated October 28, 2015

My kids are spread out in age just enough that there are many times when they all struggle to find ways to play with each other. Our youngest finds it especially frustrating to have her older siblings play with her because the things she wants to play with are labeled as “little kid” toys.

When we received a box of Playskool Heroes by Hasbro toys, intended for children the same age as 5-year-old Thing 3, I expected to spend a lot of time on the floor of our living room playing with her and the new toys. What actually ended up happening, though, was pretty awesome! Our 10-year-old son, Thing 2, also loves to play with toys, but he’s at that age where he feels too big to play with “little kid” toys, even if the lights and sound effects do stop him in his tracks, but he’s also still young enough to enjoy playing with his little sister and her toys, when he doesn’t put too much thought into doing so.

“I only played because she wanted me to, Dad,” he often says.

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While Thing 3 has yet to see any of the Jurassic Park/World movies, she was immediately drawn to the Jurassic World toys, which reminded me of why I love the “Jurassic” movie franchise. When I was a kid and Jurassic Park was in theaters, my dad surprised me one afternoon by coming home from work and taking me to the theater. That, in and of itself, was a rare thing because my dad never really enjoyed going to the theaters. He kept me guessing when he called me early that day from work, to tell me that he had a surprise for me.

“Can you give me a hint?” I begged, to which he only replied, “It has ‘red’ in it.”

By the time my dad came home from work, I was almost positive that he was letting me get a pet snake. He didn’t, but the surprise was not only an afternoon out with my dad, but to see a dinosaur movie on the big screen. For that, the Jurassic Park franchise will always conjure fond memories.

Inspired by characters from the Jurassic World movie and sized right for her small hands, these figures kept her engaged while I opened the others. She made sure that I was serenaded by the roars of a Tyrannosaurus Rex, and her deep belly laughs when she made the T-Rex eat the accompanying human figure.

“Dada, wook! He ate the man!”

I love her to pieces, but she definitely has a twisted sense of humor.

My son must have heard the T-Rex roars from the other room, because once all of the remaining toys – The Super Hero Adventures Iron Man Armor Up Fortress and Transformers Rescue Bots High Tide playsets – were freed from their cardboard, plastic molding, and twist tie prisons, for a brief moment our coffee table was covered in Playskool Heroes toys, just before Things 2 and 3 dove into them and went crazy.

I sat with a smile on my face as I watched the two of them play together. My son tried to get the T-Rex to eat Tony Stark in his Iron Man suit, who was soaring around the room by Thing 3.

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What really stood out to me was that, while these playsets might be easily written off by parents of little girls as toys for boys, my youngest hasn’t stopped playing with them since we tore into the packaging. Her and her brother don’t seem to care that they are toys traditionally associated with boys. They get to use their imagination, play, and laugh together.

Earlier today they were pretending that the T-Rex was pulling the Transformers’ High Tide ship and Iron Man had to save the “helpless” Transformers from the T-Rex. In a time where we have to practically bribe our kids to put down their devices and peel their eyeballs away from a screen, this was a very welcome change.

Thank you, Playskool Heroes!

More About The Toys

PlayskoolHeroes-Hasbro-4 TRANSFORMERS RESCUE BOTS HIGH TIDE Playset
Inspired by the hit animated television series, Transformers Rescue Bots fans will recognize even more friendly faces as new characters and vehicles from the show are introduced into the 2015 product line. With all new rescue tools and vehicle modes, little heroes will enjoy playing out heroic adventures.
Ages 3-7 years – Available Fall 2015

SUPER HERO ADVENTURES IRON MAN ARMOR UP FORTRESS Playset
The Iron Man Armor Up Fortress playset includes a Tony Stark figure and 2 suits of IRON MAN armor – 1 classic red suit and 1 blue suit. This fun playset makes the world of Stark Industries the perfect setting for little heroes’ biggest adventures.
Ages 3-7 years – Available Fall 2015

JURASSIC WORLD TYRANNOSAURUS REX
Tyrannosaurus Rex is the ultimate dinosaur for preschool Jurassic World fans to track and capture! Features light-up eyes and a roaring action. Includes a human figure and a capture cuff to track the Tyrannosaurus Rex but watch out – the head-chomping Tyrannosaurus Rex might gobble the human figure up first! Includes a human figure and capture gear.
Ages 3 years & up – Available now

Connect With Hasbro

For more info on Hasbro & Playskool:

Disclosure: Thanks to Playskool Heroes, which compensated me for this post and sent a big ‘ol box of toys for my kids and I to play with together. My views and opinions are my own. For those curious about why Thing 1 isn’t mentioned in this post, she was too busy with her iPhone to play. Because. Teenagers.