Ello Aquaria People Places & Things Set - 168 Pieces

by Mattel

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 14.2 x 11.9 x 2.2 inches ; 2.6 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• ASIN: B000087R8D
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #98,542 in Toys & Games (See Bestsellers in Toys & Games)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)

Product Description

Editorial Review

The Aquaria Creation System combines craft, construction and design activities in one box, allowing kids to make any number of personal creations with their own hands. There are enough materials (168 pieces) of varying shapes and sizes for at least a dozen finished products, but it’s up to kids to be imaginative: There are no instructions or sample drawings. Instead of glue and staples, pieces are held secure by slotted, square, and spherical "bolts," so products can be easily taken apart and the pieces used to make something else. Kids can manufacture jewelry with a diversity of beads and buttons, or put together colorful storage bins and picture frames from the large supply of flat, plastic components. They can also think up unique dolls, toys, toy furniture, desk diversions, and gifts, using an assortment of accessories (including faces and body parts). Reusable vinyl stickers are included to help decorate the finished products. --Diane Beall

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

43 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fun for daughters... and parents too!, February 28, 2003

By	Alexmarie "Alexmarie" (Syracuse, New York United States) - See all my reviews

Durability:4.0 out of 5 stars Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars Educational:5.0 out of 5 stars 

When our daughter (the Lego-maniac) first asked for "Ello" for her birthday, we had no idea what she was talking about, but she was adamant that as a soon-to-be eight year old she NEEDED to own "Ello".

What is "Ello"? Well, it's part building system, part craft kit and almost all fun. My daughter was drawn to these boxes as soon as she saw them in our local store! These colorful geometric plastic shapes can be combined to make buildings, people, cars, critters, gardens, spaceships - almost anything your child can think of - using cubes and spheres with slots to connect them all. There are two themes available - Ello Aquaria, with a primarily blue and green and clear undersea color scheme and the Ello-opolis city set, which is mostly pink, dusty blue and green. We ended up buying all the available sets (both the Aquaria and the Ello-opolis), as many of the parts are unique to a theme or Character set. Our daughter has had a lot of fun this week mixing and matching the Aquaria set with the Ello-opolis set to make the most of all the pieces. Our kitchen island is now it's own "Ello" Island as I write this review, complete with townhouse, apartment building, garden, tons of people and vehicles.

Our daughter has really had a lot of fun building and rebuilding charcters, buildings and more with her Ello. She's created apartments with elevators, cable lines between buildings and undersea gardens with paths of flowers for characters to stroll along. "Mom" has also spent more than a little time late at night "testing" Ello to see how much fun it can be for "kids" outside of the recommended "5 to 10" age range. (Age range note: I think it would be difficult for children at the younger end of this range to successfully build with many of these parts. For younger girls, this will definitely be a toy that requires parental assistance.)

The colors of the Ello parts are bright and pleasing and it comes with a good variety of shapes to build with. There are a lot of teeny tiny parts, so clean up takes a keen eye but the boxes are made to be storage containers for the parts, which is helpful. Most of the parts seem durable, although some of the "stems" have bent (but not yet broken) while being inserted into some of the beads.

The "people, places and things" sets do have sufficient pieces to build a decent building and more, but we have found that the character sets (sold seperately) have many unique pieces that really add to your building options. Although each "people, places and things" set does come with some vinyl cling stickers, the Sticker packs (sold separately) do add a lot.

We'd definitely buy more if they were available. In future sets, we'd love to see bigger feet for characters, the addition of spheres and cubes with holes for the "stems" going in both directions, holes drilled into more of the unique shapes/circles so you can build more and cubes that have slots in perpendicular directions to allow for more building options.

All in all, the whole family is happy having Ello around.

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My 3.5 year old loves these, October 19, 2003

By A Customer

Durability:5.0 out of 5 stars Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars Educational:5.0 out of 5 stars 

My daughter has wanted these since she first saw them on t.v, well I never bought them for her because of the age recommendation, however she loves her brothers little tiny legos and does a great job building with them.
Yesterday our Toys R Us was having a grand reopening and all three of my kids recieved small sets of Ello, my little girl is having so much fun playing with these and I am shocked at some of the things she creates, my 7 year old son loves these also and wishes they were in boy colors.
I have to say though that these sets have very small pieces and young children may have a hard time with them, my little girl hasn't asked for much help at all, the pieces will not get lost because she has to play with them at the coffee table and as soon as she is finished playing the pieces go into a ziplock bag.
I might have to invest in more sets for Xmas and birthday.
A great fun toy !!

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars fun for all ages, really, August 22, 2003

By	pedantic bohemian (jersey shore) - See all my reviews

Durability:5.0 out of 5 stars Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars Educational:3.0 out of 5 stars 

i got this set and some supplementary ones for my daughter for christmas last year. she was just turning 11, and i was looking for something that fit her unique personality, and that wouldn't get old quickly. when i saw ello i was amazed. it seemed so perfect, and it was. the only hard part was choosing between aquaria and the people, places and things set. i chose aquaria because it seemed wildly fun, and suited her fantasy-oriented personality.

sometimes we set it up together, and even though she's past the recommended age, it's great because it's just like building your own little temporary world of art. who doesn't love getting to do that?

her friends thought it was odd until they saw it being advertised on TV a few months later, and now they have sets, too. eh, phooey on the idea that something is only cool after it's advertised! i'm glad i made the discovery when and how i did, and my daughter is too.