What more could a nine-year-old boy want other than something that fires paper aeroplanes across the room faster than he would be able to throw them?
Well that’s if your nine-year-old is anything like our ours. When this landed on our doorstep we knew we were onto a winner. Just the week before at Cubs he’d had a paper plane competition, that involved who could design, make and then fly their paper plane the furthest. “If only I had this last week at Cubs, I definitely would have won” came the exclamation and that was even before we’d built it.
So let’s see if the Build Your Own Paper Plane Launcher holds up to its promise.
If you have read our reviews of BYO Kits then you know we love the fact that these kits are made from sustainable cardboard and paper, keeping them environmental friendly. So not only do you get a lovely feeling after building your toy but you also know you are doing your bit for reducing plastic within your household.
The instructions are quite clear, but again I would love them to be in colour after doing the BYO marble run, kaleidoscope, Pteranodon, labyrinth and maze we have had enough experience to know plain side in design side on the outside. But people doing this for the first time might get easily confused.
So top tip… design side out, plain side in.
The build is meant to be around 45 minutes, for children aged eight plus. I’m not sure how they time this whether it’s based on a child completing the task on their own with adult supervision or whether an adult has completed this in 45 minutes. Nevertheless this took Dad, Dadda and Mason 30 minutes with some minor cursing especially on some quite fiddly bits.
Some of the bits are very fiddly and either require small fingers or delicate hands. This is mainly when you are attaching one part of the build to the other, but it’s not frustrating it’s just a “oh gosh this is fiddly” moment.
The great thing about the paper plane launcher is you get ten predesigned paper aeroplanes to fold and use in three different categories. Speed, acrobatics, distance and then there is the wild card!
Mason took the time to fold every single paper aeroplane and then he designed some of his own – if your child decides to do this we found very quickly A4 paper does not fit and you will need to use A5.
Overall the paper plane launcher is sturdy and will last quite a while even with our over excitable son. It is bright and colourful and lives up to its promise of launching the aeroplanes across the room.
Our son's thoughts are quite simply “I thought it looked cool and then we built it and it was even cooler”.
It’s definitely a winner in his eyes and it’s on equal footing with the kaleidoscope which he is still playing with now.
PWT rating: ♥♥♥♥♥
Available from buildyourown