Quay Peacock Woodcraft Construction Kit FSCThe Forest Stewardship Council

Quite flimsy wood but if careful it’s fine and looks good once made

My daughter got this kit for her 10th birthday. She has had a number of these before and loves them. For the novices out there, a dad's 'mend it bench' is an essential - as is a touch of patience and imagination when looking at the 'instructions'. Try to discourage your child from popping out all the wodden pieces before you've had a chance to have a good look - it's almost inevitable that they will look identical when spread all over the living room floor. There is usally at least one piece that gets broken but its a great shared activity and at 10 my daughter is getting pretty good at working on this on her own. When complete the peacock does look great; if you break all the tail feathers you'll still be left with a relatively attractive pigeon! If you have a 5-7 year old I hope you enjoy wooden puzzles 'cos it will all down to you!

My son loves these woodcraft kits and has a lot of them. However, we have found that the animal ones work much much better than the building or vehicle ones. The latter often need us to enlarge slots for tabs to fit into, or, conversely, need glue if a fit is too slack. Put another way, the bits just don't seem to "line up" properly in the buildings and vehicles. eg. windmill, watermill, and jeepAdded fun can be had painting them too. Our favourite was the orangutan, the peacock was complicated to paint!

Bought for my daughter after she'd seen the owl I had made. As a ten year old I expected her to be heavy handed and bored very quickly! How wrong could I be?! Much more fun than a puzzle. She spent a whole day making and painting it. Best £5 of peace and quiet I've spent in years! Only advice some bits need sanding to fit (which is part of the fun creating process) others need gluing as too loose (the only frustrating bit for her) Now pestering me for more kits!

This would only be suitable for older children (10+) as you have to sand the individual pieces so there is an obvious risk of splinters. Also it requires a gentle firm hand to put it together. Good fun on a rainy afternoon. I'd recommend decorating it once it's finished.

Fantastic lookingChallengeing to assembleBut quality could be bette and wood glue is a musGot him all painted up and sitting on a sunny window sill

I purchased several different woodcraft sets for my children and this one for my 11 year daughter. She really struggled, which is unlike her, to even get the different parts out let alone build. She was soo upset to find some of the parts broke very easily. Too easily in fact. Even my self and her dad broke a part of it. She was very upset as it was a present, that we had to take her out to get something new.

loved it thank you