Our Generation Awesome Academy School Room | A Review

When I was young I wanted to be a teacher. I loved roleplaying at home, pretending to sit at the front of my class and reading to them and emulating my favourite teachers who I admired and wanted to be. I had one particular teacher, Miss French, who I absolutely loved; I thought she was so lovely and pretty and such a great teacher and I wanted to be her when I grew up.

Now Ava has told me that she plays teachers with her friends at school, and they draw on a whiteboard (why is this so exciting as a child?! Wait, who am I kidding – it’s fun as an adult too) and boss each other about. So I knew she would love the ‘Our Generation Awesome Academy School Room‘ that we were very kindly sent from Smyths.

Our generation make a range of dolls and playsets with loads of different scenes that kids will love. The Awesome Academy School Room is very cool and Ava hasn’t stopped playing with it. There is so much to it and the attention to detail is brilliant. I hadn’t realised how big the whole thing was once it is put together, but it means that a child can play with it all properly, and it has a nice sturdy base for it all to sit on.

It’s really interactive, but not in an electronic way which I love; the door and the windows open and the blinds can be closed too and work like a proper blind, and the clock even works and ticks! There is a light and you can write on the whiteboard and chalkboard which is lots of fun. You get so many bits in the set (92 to be precise!), with stationary, a teachers mug, books, real paper notepads, teachers stickers, a lunchbox with food in, and loads more!

It’s a really lovely set, and is really encouraging Ava to play happily on her own and without an iPad. I love hearing her use her imagination during roleplay, it’s so fascinating to listen to, and the Awesome Academy School Room is really encouraging that out of her again. I hadn’t realised until now that she had been playing less in this way more recently, so it’s lovely to hear it again.

We also have one of the dolls from the range, which are sold separately (and we bought ourselves) – Ava chose the “Isa” doll which has really lovely hair and is a really nice doll. Ava loves sitting her at one of the desks alongside another of her dolls and playing teacher to her pupils.

I do have to mention the packaging. There is A LOT of packaging for this product. I get it, it’s a big product with many tiny parts, but it just seems quite wasteful. There isn’t loads that can be recycled either, due to sellotape and glue everywhere (and ironically there are recycling bins in the set!). I really don’t know how this could be resolved, but at a time when we are really trying to get the use of unnecessary plastics down, it seems like a shame to have so much on a children’s toy.

Not only that but it was a pain in the bum to get it out, with a lot of tight tie wraps around everything that were very painful to get off. I even scratched one of the chairs cutting one off, which couldn’t be avoided. Ava said to me “Is that your stress face?”. Yes, yes it was. However, I do understand that it needs to be well-packaged and protected, and displayed properly so that you can see what’s in it in the shop.

Once it was all out of the packaging though, it was really easy to put together even for me. I very nearly left it for another time, until I realised it was just 4 main pieces and screwdrivers were not required. The three walls just click into place in the floor piece, and then a couple of other bits then just click in too. Ava was very impressed (misguidedly so) with my building skills. The playset requires batteries, but they come with it.

The Our Generation products are certainly expensive, but there is so much to them and everything is really well made. The attention to detail is impressive, and unusual to see in children’s toys – things like the windows actually opening and the blinds working – I love that. You also get a lot with it, and children can easily play with any dolls or other toys they already have, although the Our generation dolls are lovely as well.

Ava was so, so excited to get it out the box, and she absolutely loves it and plays with it so much. She really enjoys playing with it with us, as well as on her own which is nice, and it’s quickly become her favourite thing to play with.

Our Generation Awesome Academy School Room is available at Smyths.

We were sent the Our Generation Awesome Academy School Room to review and provided with a voucher from Smyths, but all words and opinions are my own, or Ava’s.