Educational Insights Bright Basics Busy Barn

[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] Got this for my 1.5 year old who loves animals. It's the perfect size and so cute. #sweepstakes

[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] Great toy! Engaging

Very cute design and keeps kids engaged. With only 2 animals it makes it easier to find the pieces. There are some random removable clips on the bottoms that seem to be a choke hazard so we removed them.

Learning Resources are a company that are walking a tightrope between producing toys, but also educating a child. Fundamentally, a farm set is educational as you learn about animal husbandry, but is that really STEM based? It is more imaginative play and a little motor skill based. Therefore, for the 'Busy Barn' to hit their remit it needed to be more than just a barn with a couple of animals. It is this, but also a little bit more. For a farm it is not over populated with animals which is a shame; you get a cow and her calf and some chicks who are in the roof space. You will probably want to supplement the toy with more figures that you have; most children will have some suitable pigs or dinosaurs knocking around the place. The thing that separates 'Busy Barn' from other farmyard toys is that there are some more interactive elements that are aimed at developing motor skills. You can turn a wheel, flick a switch and open and close the doors. For a relatively small farm, there are lots of little things to try out. This is a good toy for someone who does not have a huge amount of space and does not want to be burdened with a massive farm. As this is a toy aimed at a toddler audience it works well; colourful with nice chunky things to grab onto. The build quality is also good, everything is kept simple so that it is easy to use, but also harder to break. If there was a few more animals to mess with this would be a great little kit in of itself, but you will probably want to add some more toys to it to make played with more.

This is the cutest barn ever! Both my 3 year old and 1.5 year old loves the farm and so they both loved playing with this barn(while singing the old Macdonald song)! They are not only imaginative playing but there are so many different buttons, switches, poppers, dials on the barn! Both of their favorite was the poppers! The barn includes a cute cow and calf that fit nicely in the barn. My only wish would be to have some more farm animals included in the set. My oldest kept asking where the horse is (her favorite animal). The activity guide includes some good ideas on other ways to play with this barn like going on a scavenger hunt and creating a new story! I really like how clean up is a breeze for this toy! Overall a cute barn that both of my girls enjoy playing with!