I’ve blogged before about Schleich toys and how much my kids love them. They’re always amazing quality and really encourage children to engage in role play which is excellent for their development.
I therefore jumped at the chance of being able to review the Schleich Horse Riding Arena. We’ve only previously bought individual animals so I was intrigued to see what one of their larger sets is like.
Firstly – what is included?
As well as the arena itself, you also get a horse and rider, a couple of jumps and a few accessories like straw, carrots, horse blanket and reins.
The area is flat packed in the box, but all you need to do to assemble it is push the four upright pieces into the roof. Nice and simple and they have a quality enough feel to them that you don’t feel as if it’s going to break or flex when you do so.
Now, Little Miss C is into horses, but I have to admit that she’s not completely horse mad like some little girls are – possibly because she’s not actually been horse riding or anything like that. As soon as she saw the horse riding arena though there was a little squeal of delight before she ran over and started playing with it. Before long the horse was being led around and being made to jump over the jumps and eat some straw. Master C has also enjoyed playing with it whilst she’s been at school.
One thing I particularly like about this set is the fact that there is more for children to do with it than just lead the horse around over the jumps. When you’ve taken the rider off the horse you can take the saddle off, put a blanket on and also change the riding reins for an other set (which probably has a proper name, but I don’t know it!) and lead the horse around. These little things are great for slightly older children like Little Miss C (she’s very nearly five) as she really enjoys these finer actions and they’re also great for her fine motor skills.
Little Miss C has now supplemented the arena with some of her other Schleich horses and has spent hours playing with it. The only (small) drawback is that she would quite like another human figure to go with it that isn’t made in a stance to fit on a horse! As she says “it’s very hard for someone to walk when they look like that”. A very fair point!
I’m delighted to see that once again Schleich’s quality is fantastic and the Horse Riding Arena is definitely a brilliant toy for any horse loving child.
The Schleich Horse Riding Arena is available in good toy shops and online from stores like Amazon here. The RRP is £24.99 but as ever prices fluctuate and you may find it cheaper if you shop around.
Disclaimer: We were sent the Schleich Horse Riding Arena for the purposes of this review. All opinions are my own. This post contains affiliate links.
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