Mini Worlds or Story Boxes
May 7, 2007 1:27:43 GMT -5
Post by Keri on May 7, 2007 1:27:43 GMT -5
Original Price: $15
Grade: B
From the outside, the miniworlds are absolutely darling. They look just like a cute, delicate book! Even the sides of the box are painted to look like pages.
The cover is a creamy color with a striped border along the top and bottom. The color of the border depends on the character - Kaya's is pale blue. Also dependent on the character are the floral decorations that show up next to the name/year on the spine and front. Kaya's are a black-eyed susan, or some other similar wildflower.
The back of the box has a picture that shows what comes inside, I think it might peel off?, and the open edge ties shut with ivory ribbons.
When you untie the ribbon and open the cover, the first page is a beautiful miniature painting of Kaya's family teepee. It's just like the larger one that comes with her paper doll set. The second page is the salmon river country. The third page tells you what each painting is of plus a small description. This third page faces an open compartment with the figures and stickers that allow for play.
Each page has a small circle of velcro on the far edge at about the same level as the ribbons on the cover. These help keep the box shut and the play pieces from falling out.
The play pieces are:
7 thick cardboard figures of Kaya, a teepee, a doll, a doll in a carrying basket, a basket of water, and two dogs.
There is a small plastic stand for each cardboard piece. These are small circles with two upright and parallel semi-circles to support the cardboard bits.
There are also two sheets of stickers. These stickers can be removed from the scenery and reattached in different spots without losing their effectiveness.
The stickers are things like toys, animals, food, tools, &c.
I rather like that one sticker is a magpie!
Overall, I think these boxes are more enjoyable as display pieces than play pieces. If you remove the stickers from the sheets, you don't really have any place to store them again, except on the scenes, and it looks messy.
Also, though the velcro circles are a nice idea, they're difficult. I've had problems getting the scenes to stay open enough for actual play, and the velcro tends to stick funny so that whenever I try to open the box, only the last velcro pair detach, so all the pieces in the storage part fall out on me.
But I love the display value, and they look so beautiful lined up together. I have them displayed with the story collections and bookends on my desk, and they're a nice, kind of upscale look compared to my regular book collection.
I wouldn't pay more than $6 for a used one on eBay or $13 for a brand-new one, simply because of the lack of play-value, but they're so pretty!
Oh, and dimensions - they're about seven inches tall and five inches wide when shut. The thickness is 2.5 inches. When open, the scenes can span just under 10 inches, if you open them completely.
--- KERI
Grade: B
From the outside, the miniworlds are absolutely darling. They look just like a cute, delicate book! Even the sides of the box are painted to look like pages.
The cover is a creamy color with a striped border along the top and bottom. The color of the border depends on the character - Kaya's is pale blue. Also dependent on the character are the floral decorations that show up next to the name/year on the spine and front. Kaya's are a black-eyed susan, or some other similar wildflower.
The back of the box has a picture that shows what comes inside, I think it might peel off?, and the open edge ties shut with ivory ribbons.
When you untie the ribbon and open the cover, the first page is a beautiful miniature painting of Kaya's family teepee. It's just like the larger one that comes with her paper doll set. The second page is the salmon river country. The third page tells you what each painting is of plus a small description. This third page faces an open compartment with the figures and stickers that allow for play.
Each page has a small circle of velcro on the far edge at about the same level as the ribbons on the cover. These help keep the box shut and the play pieces from falling out.
The play pieces are:
7 thick cardboard figures of Kaya, a teepee, a doll, a doll in a carrying basket, a basket of water, and two dogs.
There is a small plastic stand for each cardboard piece. These are small circles with two upright and parallel semi-circles to support the cardboard bits.
There are also two sheets of stickers. These stickers can be removed from the scenery and reattached in different spots without losing their effectiveness.
The stickers are things like toys, animals, food, tools, &c.
I rather like that one sticker is a magpie!
Overall, I think these boxes are more enjoyable as display pieces than play pieces. If you remove the stickers from the sheets, you don't really have any place to store them again, except on the scenes, and it looks messy.
Also, though the velcro circles are a nice idea, they're difficult. I've had problems getting the scenes to stay open enough for actual play, and the velcro tends to stick funny so that whenever I try to open the box, only the last velcro pair detach, so all the pieces in the storage part fall out on me.
But I love the display value, and they look so beautiful lined up together. I have them displayed with the story collections and bookends on my desk, and they're a nice, kind of upscale look compared to my regular book collection.
I wouldn't pay more than $6 for a used one on eBay or $13 for a brand-new one, simply because of the lack of play-value, but they're so pretty!
Oh, and dimensions - they're about seven inches tall and five inches wide when shut. The thickness is 2.5 inches. When open, the scenes can span just under 10 inches, if you open them completely.
--- KERI