Our boys have always loved bath time. They will spend an hour just playing in the bathtub if we let them. That has kept me on my toes in search of good bath toys. However, the best bath toy we currently have is a Matchbox Marine Rescue Shark Ship – and it was actually my oldest son that picked it out as a birthday gift for my youngest son!
We have always had a tradition where our sons will buy a birthday present and a Christmas present for each other that they get to pick out – and normally they do a great job of buying something their sibling will want instead of just something that they wanted!
I’m glad we had that tradition in place – otherwise we wouldn’t have purchase this Matchbox Shark Ship. And we wouldn’t have known just how great of a toy it is! So, here is our Best Bath Toys: Matchbox Marine Rescue Shark Ship review! We hope you enjoy.
Table of Contents
Matchbox Marine Shark Rescue Ship Review
Let’s start with the basics: what is included with the Matchbox Shark Ship? You get a large boat, a giant shark, smaller orange helicopter, a couple of matchbox cars, a yellow squeezable water cannon, and a floating raft. There are a lot of cool pieces that are included in the Matchbox Shark Ship Vehicle!
The boat is the centerpiece of this toy collection. It is about 18-inches in length from the very front to the ramp in the back. If you include the helicopter landing pad – you are looking at a boat that is about 8-inches tall and about 8 or 9-inches wide. Overall, you are looking at a pretty big boat. And YES, the boat does float in the water!
The boat being able to float was a pretty big deal for my youngest son and a big reason why he likes the toy so much. The boat is pretty stable – it can be a little wobbly depending on how much water gets inside the compartments – but overall, it actually exceeded my expectations in this department.
The boat does have some small wheels on the bottom of it. Technically, this makes it able to drive on land – but they are really small wheels. So, it is only going to drive well on flat surface flooring – laminate, tile, that sort of thing. It doesn’t work great on carpet – and won’t work at all on shaggy carpet.
The boat also has a really cool yellow crane. This would be what you could use to rescue the shark toy that it comes with. Or it can be what you use to trap the shark terrorizing the bathtub community. I guess the use of the crane really depends on your child’s imagination and the adventures they like to get into! Either way, the crane swings, opens up, and can hold the shark!
The small orange helicopter it comes with can be filled up with water and squeezed to shoot that water out. It also comes with a yellow water cannon that attached to the front of the boat. This piece is also soft and plastic, can be filled with water, and can be used to blast sharks, or boats, or cars, or anything else that is present in the bathtub.
Besides those cool features, the Matchbox Shark Rescue Boat has a couple of ramps in the back that you can use to drive the Matchbox cars off of and into the water. The is also a ramp by the yellow crane that you can lift up and send a Matchbox car around the front of the boat and down to where the lifeboat is. The lifeboat sits in a “ramp” that can be released from the boat and drops the lifeboat into the water. When the lifeboat isn’t in use, the lifeboat ramp locks into the side of the ship. There is also a door on the very front of the boat that can be opened. This would allow a car to drive into the boat when on land, but would sink the ship if opened while in the bathtub. Overall, it is a really cool design!
Besides the ship, the other major piece of this Matchbox Shark Vehicle collection is the shark. The shark is surprisingly large – about 8-inches long and over 2-inches wide. It has a large mouth that shows all of its sharp teeth. The mouth opens wide – wide enough to fit a Matchbox Car – and when you press down on the caudal fin/tailfin the mouth opens wide. That makes this shark a big hit in our household – and I couldn’t see how your child wouldn’t love to play with this large shark!
Between how it floats, how the ship is well-designed, the helicopter/canon that shoots water, the functional crane, and the cool shark – most children are going to love the Matchbox Shark Boat. I know our children love to play with it – mostly in the bathtub or inflatable pool outside.
And the games they play with it are awesome – whether or not they choose to rescue the shark or have the shark wreak havoc on everybody else! And in my house, the shark is normally creating the chaos!
Final Grade for the Matchbox Shark Rescue Vehicle
The best part about the Matchbox Shark Ship is there aren’t a lot of negative features to it. I guess there are times it doesn’t float the best, but my child has never gotten frustrated by it – and they love actually having a large ship that will float in the water!
The design is great, the shark is great, the games you can play with it are great, and this can be used as more than just a bath toy! All of those features make this a Gold Star Toy in our book – and I know our youngest son is very happy that this is the toy his older brother picked out for him!
And I’m glad as a parent he didn’t just pick a toy he liked! That is a parenting win.
Other Toy Review Links of Interest
If you are looking for something a little different than a shark boat toy – we have done some other fantastic reviews in the past! Check some of these out:
Hot Wheels Themed Reviews:
- A Complete List of the Hot Wheels City Tracks
- Hot Wheels Mario Kart Track Reviewed
- A Complete List of the Best Hot Wheels Color Shifters
- The Biggest Hot Wheels Track Reviewed
- Hot Wheels Inflatable Car Wash Reviewed (With Video Review)
Other Fun Toy Reviews
- The Best Little People Collector Sets
- The Best Lion Guard Toys
- A Complete List of the best Disney Cars Color Changers
- The Best Mario Brothers Toys
- The Best Pirate Toys
Hopefully between all of these great toy reviews, you are going to find something fun to play with!