Build a Rolling Tank

Quotes
"Let's stand the soldiers all up and shoot them down." - Boy aged 6

"You are under attack!" - Boy aged 8

Skills Developed
Promotes creativity and imaginative play
Encourages children to follow instructions and problem solve
Develops perseverance and concentration

Description
Once assembled, the moving tank proved very popular with our testers; they enjoyed playing with it alongside the soldiers and there was lots of battle reenactment with sound effects to match. The children liked the fact that the turrets moved and this added another dimension to their imaginative play.

We did find that the instructions for building the tank were too complicated for the children to follow without a lot of adult intervention; this means children can’t complete the set by themselves, but it could be a good activity for parents to support their child with. Smaller pieces are fiddly to attach which develops children’s patience, perseverance and dexterity. Once the tank was built the children enjoyed painting it and used the box as a guide; there was some good discussion about the use of camouflage. They also enjoyed colouring in the cardboard figures which inspired imaginative play (they were quite flimsy, but other toys can be used with the tank instead).

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