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Dinosaurs have long been a popular topic of interest to young, and some not so young, children.  The bigger the better with regards to the animal, while the hungrier they are will add to the appeal to young minds.  As a result any recent collection of toys from various manufactures is almost guaranteed to include at least one example, if not a couple or so, of the prehistoric inhabitants in the mix.  A recent example of this is the inclusion of Kids@Play Stegosaurus product which forms the basis of this review.

The aptly named Kids@Play company is located in South Wales where it specialises in the manufacture of outdoor products – well you would not want to keep a Stegosaurus in doors would you, even one that was house-trained.  As a member of the British Toy and Hobby Manufactures Association, Kids@Play has built up a well-respected reputation for producing products for Lucas Films, MG Cars, Disney. ITV, Thunderbirds, Doctor Who, Shawn the Sheep, Dennis the Menace, Delivery Channel and Animal Planet to show the scope undertaken by the company.  Along with its expertise at producing products suitable for the outdoors, Kids@Play also puts its skill to work on battery powered vehicles and a range of inflatable  offerings that include the Stegosaurus currently trying to escape from the confines of its box packaging as it sits on my workspace.

The Stegosaurus is probably the most famous dinosaurs from the family of dinosaurs known as Stegosauria.  This particular family of dinosaurs are herbivores as they munched on the abundance of plant life that had taken over vaster stretches of the planet.  Physically they were easily identified by the rows of unique  bones that developed into plates and spines protruding along the creature’s back and tail. 

The Stegosaurus time in the sunlight was during the Jurassic Period which existed around 150 million years ago.  Growing to a size that measured 9 metres in length and 4 metres tall, these impressive creatures were free to roam in western North America and Portugal were fossilised remains have been found to help identify these large creatures.  Incidentally the 17 plates running along the back of the Stegosaurus, which were decorative rather than for being used as a protective purpose. arose from the skin of the dinosaur rather than its skeleton.  These plates could grow to a size of 60 cm tall and 60 cm wide.

In case you are apprehensive about storing the Stegosaurus with its 9 x 4 metres, this measurement relates to the actual dinosaur rather  than the toy version.  The version produced by Kids@Play is a more realistic size.  The inflatable toy Stegosaurus measures 110 cm from the head to the tip of the tail.  However, even at this reduced size, somebody is going to provide plenty of puff in order to inflate the Stegosaurus into a toy that could be played with in different way.  I really struggled with my reduced lung capacity to fully inflate the Stegosaurus.

Recommended for children from the age of three years and older, the Kids@Play Stegosaurus is constructed from high quality PVC multiprint for a high definition finish.  As yet I have been unable to find any pricing information for this product with even Amazon claiming it was out of stock for this particular item.