K’NEX Building Sets

One of my girls favorite kind of toys are those where they can use their imaginations and build things. That’s why we were thrilled for the opportunity to review a couple of building sets from K’NEX.

OUR REVIEW

We received two different sets that were targeted for different age groups:

• Sesame Street Best Friends on the Farm (2 – 5 years) $5.99
• Cosmic Twist Coaster (9 years +) $50.99

Kiana & Kaila loved the Sesame Street Best Friends on the Farm Collection. This basic set contained 7 over-sized pieces that were perfect for their tiny hands.

We liked that the blocks fit together easily and stayed together even when they were playing with their creations. We could mix and match the heads, shirts, and bottoms to create different looking characters. The only thing we would have liked is an extra hat so that both characters could have something to wear on their heads at the same time.

The Cosmic Twist Coaster was a little more advanced and would be great for older kids with active imaginations. It contained 637 pieces which were packed in individual plastic bags mostly by color. I really appreciated that since it would have taken me forever to separate them all.

To keep everything somewhat organized we opened up the packages and left the pieces in their groups on a bin cover. This way we could easily move everything whenever we needed break.

Now, out of all the K’NEX sets that we’ve built before I have to say that this one was the most challenging so far. It took us almost the entire day to build it because we made some mistakes along the way. We had a little trouble following the diagram since all the pieces are so colorful. However, if you took your time and really studied the pictures you could figure it out. When we were done we felt a real sense of accomplishment!

The tower stands 3’6″ tall and is very sturdy. Their is a motor (2 AA batteries, not included) on the top of the tower that moves the car up the structure. Once the car goes over the edge it moves on it’s own through the tracks. At first I wasn’t sure if the car could stay on the tracks but then realized that the tracks are threaded through the car’s wheels. Because of this we found that we could actually design the tracks pretty much any way we wanted it to be. Of course, the tower itself had to built exactly as directed since the set allows for exactly the right amount of pieces.

What we really liked about the Cosmic Twist Coaster is the way it made us think constructively. If the car got stuck in the same area every time then we needed to figure out how to make speed and momentum work to our advantage. In the end, our fingers were a little sore but we were thrilled when the little car was finally able to make complete laps. It was a great opportunity for some quality family time and it definitely taught the girls to be patient and read the directions carefully! A good lesson for all of us!

This post was written for K’NEX who provided the complimentary product in exchange for our honest review.