We purchased this construction set several years ago. The kides played sluggishly until we cut the straws into several pieces. Tubes have a diameter of 0.2 in, 6 colors, the connectors are blue and yellow. There also are large wheels-stands (diameter 4 inches). When this set appeared at our house, I regretted purchasing it a little. The tubes, on the one hand, are rigid and confidently hold the structure, on the other hand, due to this rigidity, they bend poorly. And after the structure has stood for some time, the tubes remain deformed forever, like the yellow tube on the left. But the kids play Connect-a-straws with interest, connecting them into chains and flowers. The tubes are easy to put on and you can insert the tube into the hole in the connector. The Chinese have a similar set by the 4M brand.
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.
