When you think of Brio, you tend to immediately think of the wooden train tracks (which have been much loved by all of my boys!) but actually they have a wider range of toys too, and we’ve been trying out some of the Brio World range – with the Brio School Playset and an expansion module.
BRIO World is an open ended play system allowing kids to build their play sets and redesign them in many different combinations. It’s a very simple but effective concept and has been a big hit with my 5 year old.
We were sent the village school play set (RRP £29.99) and an expansion module (RRP £19.99). There are other complimenting village sets too, like the family house, ice cream parlour and more. You can see the full range here.
This is the village school once it has been set up (very quick to do) and as mentioned, kids can change and mix and match the layout if they prefer.
The school comes with enough parts to make two rooms, and a roof play area with slide. There are also benches and other accessories. It comes with two poseable Brio figures, and if you have any other Brio sets with figures they’re all compatible whether its from “Brio World” or not.
One of our favourite features with the school has to be the slide. The Brio people zoom down it really fast, and its a really fun addition to the set.
The expansion pack comes with enough bits to make around three more rooms, depending how you want to configure everything.
The rooms can be built up onto two stories, or you can make a long row of them and its very easy to pull them apart again and adjust them – but while playing they are very sturdy and don’t come apart at all. The system has been really well designed to allow this and is definitely one of the highest quality play set systems I’ve come across as it allows so much flexibility and creativity but doesn’t cause frustration for the little ones by coming apart during play.
This is one set up R made with the school set and expansion pack. The way each part joins is by the connections you can see at the edges of the base squares. R can manage this easily independently.
R really enjoyed these toys. Because its so open ended it kept his attention very well, incorporating creativity and design, and imagination role play.
I’m really impressed with this set and would definitely recommend the Brio World system. It would suit either boys or girls as it has quite a universal appeal, and it adds much more of an imaginary play element to the Brio tracks that we already have.
Most of the set is wooden, although there are some plastic elements, and it’s all very well made and seems like it will be very long lasting. The recommended age for these sets is 3-7 and I would say that’s about right. My middle boy, T, is 7 and has joined in with R in playing with this too.
Anna Marikar, mum of four and seasoned blogger, has spent over a decade sharing her parenting journey and passion for kid-friendly crafts and free printables.
Her easy-to-follow craft ideas and practical parenting advice have transformed In The Playroom into a cherished resource for parents.