'It adds a great sense of realism to pretend play' - we put the Casdon Dyson cordless vacuum toy through its paces with a four-year-old

We put the Casdon Dyson Cordless Vacuum to the test, and get the verdict of a four year old to see if this toy is worth the money.

The Dyson Cordless Vacuum toy from Casdon, is a working replica of the grown up version you may have at home (albeit, with less powerful suction), and is designed for little hands who love to role play with cleaning toys as they mimic what they see you do. It even made the cut for our round up of the best toys for three year olds.

To put it through its paces, I roped in the help of my four year old nephew, Max, who very much enjoys the fact that I write about and test toys for a living - he recently helped me test out the Beast Labs Shark Beast Creator playset, which was a resounding success. Cute anecdote alert: I hadn't told him what toy we were going to be playing with, and when he saw the box, he came running over, pointing at the box, asking 'What is that on earth?' - good start!

Packaging and set up

I love a toy that is just super easy to get out of the box - no scissors (or screwdriver!) required (although you might need a little screwdriver later on). The packaging is all cardboard so it can go straight into the recycling bin, and there is no excess packaging that feels unnecessary.

The toy arrives in four separate bits - you have the main unit and three attachments, including a brush head, crevice tool, and the extension tube which takes it from handheld to an upright vacuum. You will need a little screwdriver to open the cover to add three AA batteries if you want the sounds and suction to work.

Design

What's so brilliant about the design of the this Dyson toy, is just how good a replica it is. It looks just like the real thing, which was super exciting to my nephew. His parents have a cordless Dyson, so does my mother and so do I, so Max is used to seeing grown ups whizzing round the house with the vacuum so he was thrilled to have his own.

Attachments are connected and disconnected in the same way as a real Dyson - the parts, once aligned, can be simply pushed together, and then press the button and pull to detach. While this was really easy for me to do, it was a little bit trickier for a four year old. It's designed for age three and over, so kiddies might need a helping hand with the attachments until their fine motor skills can tackle the task.

When you press the red button located underneath the handle (it's like a trigger action) there's a cool whirring vacuum sound, that sounds realistic, there's very light suction, and there are loads of tiny coloured balls in the main chamber that whizz around when it's in use, which is a really cute feature. The main chamber does open by pressing the red button on the top of the main unit, but the colourful balls remain contained. The suction is very light - I tried vacuuming over some pieces of shredded paper, and they remained on the floor - so you don't have to worry about anything getting caught up in the vacuum.

When it's fully assembled, including the extension tube, it stands at about 68cm tall, ans while it's robust it's not heavy so it's the perfect size for little ones to manoeuvre.

What's it like to play with?

When I handed the Dyson toy vacuum to my energetic nephew, the extension tube was attached with the brush head, and he immediately started to zoom from one end of the room to the other pushing it on the floor, mimicking what he'd seen grown ups doing (although the running was likely Max's own flair). He was even more excited when my mother emerged with her own Dyson so they could vacuum together (although he did soon tire of hers making noise and asked her to go and put it away).

When he'd deemed the floor clean enough, he got to work on chairs, cushions, feet and whatever else he could find, which he thought was hilarious. We did have to intervene when he started waving it about like a light saber, but a quick switch to the crevice tool was all that was needed to protect the surrounding items and nearby eyeballs.

Max really loves to be helpful, so you could literally see him glowing with pride as he helped his Grammy clean her house. He was also quick to tell his mum and dad how he'd helped when he got back home. While he might need a little help changing the attachments right now, he can definitely operate the toy himself and enjoys playing with it independently.

How loud is it?

Some kids can be quite sensitive to toys that make a noise, especially if they are not expecting it, and while this toy does make a noise when the button is pressed, it's not as loud as a real Dyson, and the whirring sound means it's a bit quieter when the button is first pressed, so it's not too startling.

For those who might be particularly sensitive to sound, you could take the batteries out, and it's still really enjoyable to play with.

Value for money

The Dyson vacuum toy has an RRP of £25 which feels like a fair price. It's suitable from the age of three, but I know my goddaughters who are age six and nine would both love role-playing with it, and so I think that makes it great value for money. While you might need to occasionally replace the batteries, all of the parts are robust enough to stand firm against the most enthusiastic of role-players.

I also think how good a replica it is boosts the value you're getting. It's really detailed, even down to the ball sockets and logos that appear on the main unit and the brush head - these details are an exact match of the real thing, which adds a lovely sense of realism to pretend play, and it will really spark a little one's imagination.

Read more of our toy reviews, including our Toniebox review, Cookeez Makery Oven review and Magic Mixies Pixlings review.