any scalextrics buffs out there please ? question for you ....

[lunachic]

would a 3.5 year old be able to play a bigger set(5+ yearss) dp buying one for chrissi i have asked him to go for the 'my first scalextric set but of course he wants to buy something bigger and flashier(and twice the price) to please himself(yawn) but i think ds will be made up with my first scalextric but he thinks not?ill be totally shocked if anyone answers this but here goes !

ds is good at working remotes but will the handset be too big for him and is the first set false economy as the bigger one will last him longer ?

i know this is a long shot but...................

We bought the my first scalextric for ds when he was 2.5 It is not as good as it could be and we have since bought 'mini challenge' scalextric (when ds was 3.5) which is compatable so we can do different shapes and much bigger bits of track with them both together.

I'd say give the 'my first one' a miss for £30 you could buy something a bit better. The problem you will find with all of them is, that when the button is pressed in fully the cars go at such speed that they shoot off the track, they have to learn to squeeze it gentley and not depress it fully, which could cause frustration problems in the beginning.

Don't know about the full size scalextric though.

We have just bought the bigger one for ds, 5, christmas pressie. Of course dh and I had to try it out first to make sure it worked! I sent the car shooting off the track and straight into the wall so not sure how well a 3 yo would be able to control it.

thanks furball im looking at that one now on woolies web site.its same price as the first one im wondering about the batman one but its sold out on site

whats the difference between the full size and the micro .how much smaller is micro and are the hand controls smaller

thanks for answering i really appreciate it i didnt think any one would !!

we have a normal grown up scalextric (that I bought for dh a couple of years ago) and its bloody hard to do, my two definitely cant manage it (6 and 3) very well. I wouldnt recommend it for kids at all unless your ds can cope happily with frustration

so do the cars speed and fly off round the first set too.i thought they might have solved that old problem by now ! but i suppose that is the challenge !

eniddmw he cannot cope with frustration AT ALL ! (like most 3 y/os)seems like the micro set would be the best option
thanks all !

help this is getting confusing again !

have found batman micro saclextric online for 26.99
then i looked at argos and something similar (looks same) is only 9.99 but it doesnt say SCALEXTRICS just 'electronic racing' although i had a feeling it did in catalogue dont want to buy a cheap copy i does anyone know if the one in argos is an actual scalextric or is it a c&ap copy ? knowing argos its maybe the latter

the batman set would kill three birds with one stone (it could also cover requested batman hotwheels and batmobile !)

heeelp !

The Batman one is not a proper scalextric.

At only a tenner it wouldn't matter as much if it got broken.

ds was given the batman scaletrix (think this is the mini one) for his 4th birthday. His sister can do the cars (she's 5) but he finds it hard to depress the button properly - as others have said, he pushes the button too hard and the cars fly off the track. Dh, on the other hand, loves it!

Without meaning to put you off further, even though it is a mini one, we have to put it away after playing with it because we have no space to let it sit on the floor constantly and to be honest, this is a real pain and I find myself letting them get it out less because I have to put it all together, deal with the frustration when the cars don't go round nicely and then put it away afterwards!

having said all that, it is quite a nice set and the police car has a light on it that goes on when it races - I doubt a 3.5 yr old would get much out of it though (but your dh probably would!)

Hate to agree with a man but would tend to agree with your dp on this one. We went for a real one rather than a my first as will last longer and ds is now 6 and getting more into it so will be wanting to add to it soon. ds2 is 4 now but has been able to work it for ages, tends a little to send it shooting off the end but that's because it's funny to make mummy keeputting it back on. I'd say get a real one but make daddy do the playing with him and putting it back when it falls off

good thinking helen !