It this model, we actually put the K’Nex-like rods to good use.
MEGASAURUS
Category: Plastic Building Kits
Plastic building kits are construction sets designed for children that primarily utilize plastic components. These kits consist of various interlocking pieces, connectors, panels, and accessories that allow children to build and create a wide range of structures, vehicles, and other imaginative designs.
Plastic building kits are known for their versatility, durability, and ease of use. The pieces are often designed to fit together securely, enabling children to construct stable and sturdy creations. These kits usually come with a variety of shapes, sizes, and colors, allowing for endless possibilities and encouraging children to think creatively and problem-solve while constructing their designs.
Many plastic building kits also incorporate specialized parts such as wheels, hinges, and gears, adding an extra level of functionality and enabling children to create movable and interactive models. Some kits may even include motorized components that bring the creations to life with spinning gears or moving parts.
These kits are popular among children of various age groups and provide numerous educational benefits. They promote fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, spatial awareness, and logical thinking. Additionally, plastic building kits foster creativity, imagination, and cognitive development as children design and build their own unique structures and scenarios.
Overall, plastic building kits offer a stimulating and engaging way for children to explore construction, design, and engineering concepts while having fun and unleashing their creativity.
K’NEX Kid Zoomin’ Buddies Set – Some More Buddies
Another selection of possible crafts the manufacturer proposes for the Zoomin’ Buddies set.
Clics Spring
Clics spring close-up. It’s a very simple, but very interesting thing, and it acts like a real spring.
ClicsToys is a Belgian company that was founded in 2001. They operate their own factory located in Kempen, where they manufacture the well-known Clics building blocks. These building sets consist of square pieces, all of which share the same form and shape. They easily connect at their edges, forming joints that can be moved.
Since the fundamental components of Clics are square, the basic forms you can build are typically cubic or brick-like. Nevertheless, thanks to the movable joints, you can connect them at various angles, resulting in diverse shapes. With careful assembly, it’s even possible to create triangular or sloping figures. However, the cubes remain the most robust and dependable structures this set can offer. Additionally, you can explore the option of crafting flat mosaics by combining pieces of different colors.
Using these plastic squares, you can construct flat surfaces and transform them into 3D shapes. Despite having relatively few extra pieces and accessories, Clics offer limitless creative possibilities. Some sets may include wheels and decorative panels, but these are the primary add-ons. On the plus side, Clics sets generally contain numerous pieces, enabling you to create complex structures with a single set.
K’Nex Weirdo 8
A K’Nex weirdo with a viking helmet and gloves.
DIPLODOCUS 2
Another long-neck dinosaur from the same Loz sets.
Playmobil Horse Riding Tournament
This set, unlike many others Playmobil sets of its size, don’t have a vehicle or a building in it. There are only small objects like fences or trees, and many figurines.
Clics Man And Spring
The man sculpture is a typical one for Clics, the spring is a less common. It has lot of pieces connected side-to-side. Each joint moves slightly, and the whole spring extends.
ClicsToys is a Belgian company that was founded in 2001. They operate their own factory located in Kempen, where they manufacture the well-known Clics building blocks. These building sets consist of square pieces, all of which share the same form and shape. They easily connect at their edges, forming joints that can be moved.
Since the fundamental components of Clics are square, the basic forms you can build are typically cubic or brick-like. Nevertheless, thanks to the movable joints, you can connect them at various angles, resulting in diverse shapes. With careful assembly, it’s even possible to create triangular or sloping figures. However, the cubes remain the most robust and dependable structures this set can offer. Additionally, you can explore the option of crafting flat mosaics by combining pieces of different colors.
Using these plastic squares, you can construct flat surfaces and transform them into 3D shapes. Despite having relatively few extra pieces and accessories, Clics offer limitless creative possibilities. Some sets may include wheels and decorative panels, but these are the primary add-ons. On the plus side, Clics sets generally contain numerous pieces, enabling you to create complex structures with a single set.
Spaghetteez Building Set – Seahorse
Another Spaghetteez craft – a simple, almost abstract seahorse.
Spaghetteez is a unique brand of building sets with flexible tubes. Basic Spaghetteez pieces are plastic straws of different lengths, and they not only bend very well but also keep whatever shape you twist them into. They can bend again and again to form a flat surface, they can wrap around each other, form knots, and so on.
All the straws have special connectors on their ends, so you can connect any straws together, or loop a straw by connecting its own ends. The sets also have special connectors that will hold the straws together at certain angles or side by side. Or, if you need to connect two straws by their middles, you can just tie them together.
Just like any other straw, the Spagheettez set allows you to create lightweight and hollow shapes. However, these straws can hold together upright if your craft’s shape allows it. For example, you can create an animal, and it will actually stand on its legs. The Spaghetteez sets also include wheels, so you can create a vehicle and actually roll it around.
Unlike with many other sets with straws, you can’t cut Spaghetteez straws and continue to connect them. Spaghetteez straws have special connecting pieces on their ends, so they won’t be able to connect if you cut the end off. Because of this, the sets have many straws of different lengths.
Gakken Watering Can
Gakken are probably one of the most popular “waffle” blocks. The Gakken Blocks kits have many different forms and shapes of the blocks. There are arched blocks, blocks with different numbers of pegs on different sides, and figurines. There are also some pieces that can work like the rails for the Gakken trains. That same pieces are just as thick as any other Gakken blosk, and you can use them in many ways, not just for building rails.
Gakken are Japanese sets, and Japanese Amazon have bigger choise of them. But the shipping may be long and expensive. In countries that are far from Japan, finding these sets can be more tricky, but there are plenty of sets that have pieces of the same shapes.
Original Gakken Blocks kits were invented in Japan in 1960s. They original purpose was education and helping children develop imagination and fine motorics. Gakken quickly became popelar in Japan, and they are one of the oldest “waffle” blocks that are still around. There are many sets that try to repeat Gakken concept, but not all of them have this high quality. Another similar set brand is Danish Plus Plus, but in Plus Plus all the pieces have the same shape.
K’NEX 35 Model Building Set – Airlane
Another proposed craft of the 35-model K’Nex kit. This 480-piece K’Nex 35 model set has big and small flake-like pieces. There are also mathing thick and thin rods, as well as some rods that can connect big and small flakes together. Not all K’Nex sets have these special pieces.
Another good thing about this kit is that comes with a storage box that is big enough to hold many proposed crafts inside. With this box, you can place the half-made toy inside and later continue to work on it.
Just like with any other K’Nex sets, this one has pieces that hold together securely. However, you can easily dismatle your crafts and create something else using the pieces. The regular K’Nex pieces have more robust connections, and crafts can survive even the most active play. Mini K’Nex crafts are slightly more fragile. K’NEX 35 model kit has pieces of the both sizes
While the crafts themselves can be very big, the pieces, especially mini pieces, are very small. Because of this, K’Nex can be dangerous for small babies who can accidentaly swallow the pieces. These pieces can also be too tricky for smaller kids to assemble properly. Because of this, the recommended age for K’Nex sets is 7+ years.
