We gave this gift to our 8 year old grandson and he loved it. Kept him and his cousin busy for several hours.
Yes, I recommend this product.
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We are amazed at how quickly our 8 year old great grandson built some difficult projects. He loves these sets.
Yes, I recommend this product.
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Gifted this to my niece and nephew, 7 and 9 yrs old. They love it.
Yes, I recommend this product.
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I got this for a birthday gift for my 7-year old grandson. Apparently he had played with this at a children's museum and knew exactly what it was. He is very interested in construction and uses other toys in ways not specified by the manufacturer. This one is great because it leaves so much room for creativity.
ProsQuality, Age appropriateness, Child's Favorite
Yes, I recommend this product.
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We purchased the Contraptions Set-of-2 after our 7 year old daughter received the Structure set last year from Grandparents. She liked using the Structure set to create a domino effect, and making marble tracks with the planks.
My daughter would like to interject; "They are AWESOME!"
After viewing videos online of contraptions other people built, I thought she would really benefit from this kit.
She spent 3 days in a row during winter break (without exaggeration) for over eight hours a day building ramps, washouts, chutes, and tracks all over our home. It was difficult for us to pull her away from it to do her daily basic tasks, because she was so focused and having so much fun.
There is frustration for all of us in the family when our structure/contraption falls down, but we realize that is part of the learning process. We try to celebrate the big noise it makes when a project collapses unexpectedly, or the progress that we made prior to the implosion, and then start over with improvements.
The set did arrive with around 5 planks that were not uniform and/or showed signs that they might crack, split, or break in the future. This is about a 2% failure rate, so we didn't bother calling in our concerns. (It wouldn't be worth the cost of postage to return, and we were having fun with the remaining 245 planks while we contemplated on what we were going to do.)
The Pine planks are light weight, and I can see where contraptions and structures might hold up a little better with the Maple wood that is heavier.
The cost of the sets seemed high at first for buying a bunch of wood, but when we take into account the actual amount of quality time that we all play with her sets it is actually less expensive in the long run.
Thank you for providing a simple toy that fosters our family's imagination, turns us into engineers for a brief moment in time, and doesn't get thrown in the bottom of the toy bin after a few minutes.
ProsEducational, Age appropriateness, Child's Favorite, parent's favorite
Yes, I recommend this product.
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I gave this to my 9 yr. old grandson. He started playing with it immediately and his dad joined in and had fun as well! It is a very fun set and it can be designed in so many different ways that it retains his interest. The learning takes place as different designs work well or don't. This teaches engineering skills while just playing and having a great time.
ProsEducational, Quality, Age appropriateness, Child's Favorite
Yes, I recommend this product.
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2of2voted this as helpful.
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Tremendous fun for our 3 yr olds to watch, the 4 yr old to build himself with help, and the 13 yr old to enjoy for hours with her grandmom!
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my child is only 5 so he is a couple years behind the recommended age. However, he is wildly interested in toys like these. Contraptions is quite basic. the planks are all same size/shape and you have to do the building. It is pretty rudimentary. the builder needs to be precise and patient. I built a couple contraptions for my son and I equate them to the precision of dominos and the patients of card house building. It is rewarding once you complete a contraption and the ball does as expected. At this point I see me and my husband building all the contraptions and my son enjoying our work. However, I find him many times playing on the floor building his own things (basic block towers, etc) and having a great time with the planks and the included balls. Overall this ia great toy. I love simplicity and the toys that make you think and refine skills. However, if your child is not into building things (i.e.legos, blocks or tiles) this probably isn't the right toy.
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