Author: TatianaZh

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Unika Gear Beads

Alesya made these beads from the Unika gear set, and they hold up very well. She changed the yellow parts to orange and red ones from time to time.

These gears are a version of a popular type of building set. The gears in this one are not rotating on top of some structure – they are the basic building blocks of the set. The gears connect if you interlock the pins, or if you stack them. With these simple connections, you can build different shapes and mosaics.

All the gears have the same shape and size, the only difference is the color. However, there are still many possibilities to build, especially if you have many pieces. The gears can also interlock if you connect them at an angle. Sadly, the possibilities to build a moving toy are very limited, because the gears can’t really move once they connect. There are also no extra pieces or decorations, so the gears are the only things you have to work with.

The gears themselves are rather big, they are safe for the small children to play with. They also can hold together even in a very big craft without falling apart.

Unika Gear Beads
Buy on Amazon
Posted on by — Leave a comment

Panda Pals

Another very cute set of baby Knex. There are 21 items in total. It has these wonderful white face with a pink nose, small round ears and expressive eyes. Arishka collected the panda and didn’t let go of it for 2 weeks. As soon as we are allowed to disassemble her new friend, which I still doubt, we will definitely present you some crafts from this set.

Panda Pals
Buy on Amazon
Posted on by — Leave a comment

Unika Gear Fortress

A fortress made from Ukrainian Unika gear set. A tree that looks more like a cactus grows in the courtyard of the fortress. And Alesya installed a traffic light on the big blue fortress.

These gears are a version of a popular type of building set. The gears in this one are not rotating on top of some structure – they are the basic building blocks of the set. The gears connect if you interlock the pins, or if you stack them. With these simple connections, you can build different shapes and mosaics.

All the gears have the same shape and size, the only difference is the color. However, there are still many possibilities to build, especially if you have many pieces. The gears can also interlock if you connect them at an angle. Sadly, the possibilities to build a moving toy are very limited, because the gears can’t really move once they connect. There are also no extra pieces or decorations, so the gears are the only things you have to work with.

The gears themselves are rather big, they are safe for the small children to play with. They also can hold together even in a very big craft without falling apart.

Unika Gear Fortress
Buy on Amazon
Posted on by — Leave a comment

Magformers Arcs And Arches

Magformers disappointed us a little… Disappointed not with the new details, of course, we liked big details, supersectors and superarches. The cones made a good impression, and the smallest arches and sectors also turned out to be useful. But the manufacturer miscalculated with the magnets in large details. Greedy thing… They are no magnets in places where they are very needed!!! Crosses on the photo indicate places where there are NO magnets …

Magformers Arcs And Arches
Buy on Amazon
Posted on by — Leave a comment

Zoob 125 Piece Set Box

Zoob 125 piece set is a classic Zoob set in all possible ways. It has those typical Zoob pieces with balls and sockets, but no extra pieces. The set comes in a simple plastic box, which, sadly, has no handles. The photo shows Zoob 125 Piece Set box.

Back in 1997, inventor Michael Grey introduced Zoob, a toy inspired by the science of motion and organism development. Zoob represents an acronym for Zoology, Ontology, Ontogeny, and Botany. Each set has rod-like pieces with joint balls and sockets on their ends. Each of these balls has small bumps on its surface, so the joints can both move and stay in a certain position if you need them to.

This innovative toy features a ball and socket connection system, mimicking the natural movement and design found in people, animals, and machines. With just five basic shapes, Zoob offers 20 different ways to connect them together.

Zoob building sets have won awards because they’re different from regular building blocks. They use plastic pieces that snap together, like gears and joints, to build all kinds of objects, limited only by your imagination. After you build something with Zoob, you can actually play with it – the pieces were designed to move after being assembled, so you can have fun with the toys you create.

Zoobs are great for helping children improve their fine motor skills. The pieces are small enough to easily manipulate and put them together. But they’re not too tiny like some other toys, so it’s easier for kids who find small objects tricky.

Zoob 125 Piece Set Box
Buy on Amazon
Posted on by — 1 Comment

Taikon Suspension Bridge

This is a building option with plates from Quercetti gears, proposed by Natalie. THANK her for this! Children’s favorite version is the one with 2 towers and a bridge. The suspension bridge is made from Taikon. We fixed it in place pretty well. We also made a field from these plates, planted flowers and stretched wires, ropes, and webs in different directions – an interesting activity for children 3-4 years old.

Building straws, also known as building tubes, are a popular type of construction set with unique possibilities. They allow you to create silhouettes and contours of different objects and animals. All crafts from these sets can bend and move, so kids can actually play with their creations.

Instead of blocks, these sets have flexible plastic tubes, that look and act like soft cocktail straws. They can bend in any way and hold any position you want. The tubes usually attach to each other with special plastic connectors. The connectors can look and work differently in the different sets, but there are always many ways the straws can connect. The most common version is hard pins that go inside the straw’s hollow end, fixing it in place. Some connectors of this type have only one or two pins, some may have eight or ten. They also can have different forms, like sharp corners or straight rods. However, this connection type usually means that you can connect the straws only with their ends, and never with their middles.

These straws have great building potential, but, sadly, they can’t hold their shape under pressure (unlike, say, block towers that can hold something on their top). The straws’ building possibilities also depend on how long they are.

Taikon Suspension Bridge
Buy on Amazon
Posted on by — Leave a comment

Zoob Tiny Robot

A very tiny robot, but he’s Alesya big friend. A very small Zoob construction set craft.

Back in 1997, inventor Michael Grey introduced Zoob, a toy inspired by the science of motion and organism development. Zoob represents an acronym for Zoology, Ontology, Ontogeny, and Botany. Each set has rod-like pieces with joint balls and sockets on their ends. Each of these balls has small bumps on its surface, so the joints can both move and stay in a certain position if you need them to.

This innovative toy features a ball and socket connection system, mimicking the natural movement and design found in people, animals, and machines. With just five basic shapes, Zoob offers 20 different ways to connect them together.

Zoob building sets have won awards because they’re different from regular building blocks. They use plastic pieces that snap together, like gears and joints, to build all kinds of objects, limited only by your imagination. After you build something with Zoob construction set, you can actually play with it – the pieces were designed to move after being assembled, so you can have fun with the toys you create.

Zoobs are great for helping children improve their fine motor skills. The pieces are small enough to easily manipulate and put them together, but they’re not too tiny like some other toys, so it’s easier for kids who find small objects tricky.

Zoob Tiny Robot
Buy on Amazon