Archive for 'Construction & Blocks & Models'

My 9 year old son likes this!
Review from my 9 year old son: It was a good experience. I built the helicopter first. It doesn't fly, but the solar panel makes the blades turn. Don't be confused by the picture - the helicopter is too heavy to fly. The instructions have no words, but I go by the pictures anyway. I did not have much trouble following the instructions, although some parts were confusing. Sometimes it's hard to get into the small spaces to tighten bolts, but I was finally able to do it. Learning about the solar panel was neat because you could see how it made the motor work and you could experiment with the different amount of sunlight. Maybe it's the California sun, but as soon as I took it outside the blades started turning! Building the helicopter was a little bit easy, but still worth it. (It's rated age 8+). We bought it on sale for . Not sure I would pay full price for it. I'm looking forward to building the windmill, oil driller, the bike, and the car.

Fun, but does not live up to potential.
First off : Unless your child is a mechanical genius, do not buy this for them if they are under 13. Even being 13+, patience is needed. These models are very intricate, require good coordination and some mechanical know-how.

Germans, they make the best stuff, right? Or so Mr. Sham-wow told me. Well, for the price I bought this at (eighty dollars) I feel I paid a little too much. So unless the price is below eight - zero, I would not reccomend it.

With that being said...

Complaints : The instructions look like Ikea building instructions for hades. No words, just arrows and pictures. And boy, are some of these pictures loaded. Very intricate stuff.

The solar panel is tiny and requires a lot of sun to work. I had to put mine directly underneath an incandescent bulb for it to spin. I haven't been able to get it to work outside. Most likely will not be able to until summer.

You can build only one model at a time. Not five.

Pieces are easy to lose and will most likely be mixed up in the box

Positives :

If you and your child have the patience to build this, you and they will have the satisfaction of a job well done once this is built. For whichever model you may choose. And for me, that is all that matters.

Components are high quality.

Instructions, while being dense, are clear.

K'nex are awesome
okay, so im 21 and got bored so i bought this. its pretty fun to put together and play with. I havn't played with K'nex in years and i put this together in a few hours. The only problem i have is that im colorblind and some of the parts are blue and some are purple and they look the same to me, that messed me up a few times. but ive had it together for a day or two and i havn't had any problems with it. It doesn't come with any extra peices so i suggest not loseing any peices.

Best Knex roller coaster...EVER!!
By Mom of 3's 10 year old son:
When I bought this toy and waited for it to come, I was jummping out of my pants!! It took me about 5 hours to build, but it looked awsome half way through. By the end it looked even better. I love knex, but this made me love knex even more. Its toataly worth the money. If you're looking for a good knex toy, this is the toy to get.

Long assembly time but very cool
This thing took over a month to put together (working on it for an hour at a time off and on). Once we got it put together it was very cool and the kids loved it. Certain minor parts of the assembly did not hold together well but this could be user error. The instructions are a bit tough to manage.

Amazing gizmo
We purchased this for our 11 year old grandson and he had it assembled in about a week. He loves it. It's amazing how sturdy it is. It was quite doable and still a challenge to put together. He's always been fascinated with roller coasters. Watching the cars coast up and down is a delight for us all especially seeing it through his eyes. Amazon seemed to have the best price on or offline.

K'Nex are great learning toys, good value
My son (Age 8) has built both of the roller coasters included in the instructions. This is a great learning toy to encourage exploration of basic physics and engineering: why does it work?, will it still work if I change this?, how can I make it better?. I am a big fan of K'Nex and the open learning possibilites of their toys.

best castle set
we looked at all the different castle sets out there and this one was by far the best for the money. the added bonus is that when the kids get bored of one setup, they can add on new sets and change the castle up. it really looks like a castle also, even though it has block pieces. really well made and stays together when they play with it. it also has really neat accessories like the dragonpult.

Best toys ever
My boys literally play with trio blocks all day. The castle is very cool and they love to create new castles from their imagination. We also have the regular box of blocks and the construction crane. All great toys that keep my kids busy for hours. Will buy more.

Fun and creative toy
My 4 year old son loves the castle. He has some more trio blocks, and he really enjoys playing with them as well. The only problem that this particular castle has is that the panels unsnap easy. Besides that it is a great toy. Not to mention that the price cannot be better. All the stores that I checked have it for .99.

A can't miss kind of toy. This is nice!
My five year old would heartily recommend this game based on how many times I have watched him go back and play it over and over again. It's been almost a year, and it's still his favorite toy. It reminds me of my days with my LEGO castle that I played with for years. The toy is rugged and well made. It's easy for small hands to pull apart and snap together. Sheesh, you should see the neat things my son has created out of this one toy. You would be hard-pressed to do wrong by getting this toy for your children unless they just hate building!

Trio King Castle
This is a great product for little hands. Toddlers can easily snap and unsnap pieces. The best thing is the pieces stay together unlike other building products you may buy. When these accidently fall over they stay linked which makes happy little builders able to stand their design right back up. This castle spurs the imagination and allows kids to play without adult interaction. Great time for Mom to clean house or cook dinner! Perfect Birthday present. On the down side I wish it had a case to keep the castle pieces together so they would not get mixed with other building pieces.