Everything that is in this machine exists to study the water and underwater world of the lake.
Lake Exploration Machine
City Helpers – Asphalt Roller
Made from EDTOY blocks by Willy (6 years).
Tegu Future – Magnetron
No way we can live without guns and tanks… Actually, after seeing this particular picture on the Internet, my son and I became interested in the Tegu – Future series.
Snapz Building Set
There are many building sets that mimic Clics. This Snapz building set by the Play Build is one of the better-quality Clics clones. Its pieces are nearly identical to the original Clics, sturdy and easy to connect. The only set available in Play Build store right now has 400 pieces and a storage box. The main problem with Snapz is it unimpressive wheels and the lack of decorative pieces the original Clics have.
ClicsToys, a Belgian company established in 2001, operates its very own factory located in Kempen, where they craft the popular Clics building blocks. These building sets mostly have square pieces, all sharing identical form and shape. What sets Clics apart is their ability to connect smoothly at the edges, allowing flexible joint movements.
Using these plastic squares, the creative possibilities are endless, even though Clics sets usually offer relatively few extra pieces and accessories. Some sets may include wheels and decorative panels, but few extra items. The true strength of Clics lies in the generous number of pieces in their sets, allowing you to make even biggest creations with ease. The pieces of Clics are too big to swallow and easy to hold, so they are safe, but some connections can be too tricky to younger kids. So the most sets are recommended for children who are 3 years old or older. However, these sets will be interesting even for the 10-years-olds.
The fundamental building blocks in Clics are square, which naturally leads to the cubic or brick-like structures. However, the great advantage of these blocks is the ability to connect them at various angles, making diverse shapes. Careful assembly can even give you triangular or sloping figures. Nevertheless, the most robust and tough structures in Clics are cube-shaped. Additionally, you can create flat mosaics by combining pieces of different colors.
Geomag Supercolor Blister
This is probably the smallest Geomag set – it has only 15 pieces. It is a part of Supercolor series, so there are rods of different colos and insert panels. This set has little potential of its own, but it can enhance some other sets you already have.
Flying Dutchman
The ship turned out to be big and bright, and it’s pity is that it can’t sail. But there are wheels – so it can ride. But Alesya launched the ship anyway.
Feast In The Throne Room
This is the royal family at breakfast. Made from foam magnetic tiles.
A Very Fat Fox
After 20 takes of the fable, our fox got absolutely fat – no wonder, he gobbled up the cheese 20 times in a row …
Pieces Of Magformers Transform Set
The set pleased the children very much. Square inserts themselves have magnets, and you can use them on their own or as a base for installing guns, antennas, propellers. And they can rotate. All additions like hinges, antenna, guns, and propeller have magnets and can be used with any other magnetic construction sets. The new wheels on a square are good – the wheels are arranged one at a time, not in pairs, and now you can even build a two- or three-wheeled vehicle. I liked the new details – arches, sectors, small rectangles, they are very good and stimulate the emergence of new ideas in construction.
Zoob Piece Variety
In the summer, my son and I sorted through Zoob construction set, looked for broken parts for exchange, and at the same time decided to create our own catalog of parts. Zoob is an old building sets brand, it has been around for more than 20 years, and we play with it for 6 years now. So our family has collected both parts from older and newer sets, both the common ones and with sparkles. Children call the parts by their forms: ball, claws, center, notch. Here’s Zoob piece variety got:
GREEN (LIME)
First of all, it is, of course, more lime than real green. 99% of the green pieces are 2-claw pieces, like in the top row. The glitter set also has a 2-claw piece. In the middle row is a piece from a Chinese Zoob clone set, in emerald color. In the bottom row on the left are 2 parts with balls. This shape rarely comes in green, and on the right are parts of a rich emerald color from a vintage set of the late 90s.
BLUE (PURPLE)
In the top row, on the left there is a purple part with sparkles. In the center is a blue part with sparkles. And the right is the most common form of part in blue – with 2 claws and a notch in the center. In the middle row on the right is a blue piece from the Chinese Zoob. On the left are parts of a rare color, found mostly in the old sets of 1997-2001 – purple. In the bottom row – on the left – there are 2 dark blue pieces, they are common in the older sets.
GRAY
Parts of this color come in all kinds of shapes, usually with a metallic tint. In the top row there are the most common pieces of gray color. In the middle row on the left is a part from the Chinese Zoob clone set.
BLACK
Black is rare now, which is a pity – it was common in Zoob sets in 1997-2001.
YELLOW
99% of the yellow parts are the parts with 2 balls and a notch in the center, so all the cute crosses are yellow. In the middle row is a part from the Chinese – big thanks to them, because we constantly need these pieces. In the bottom row are rarer parts.
ORANGE
We have only one type of pieces – with glitter.
RED
In the top row there are 2 version, the most common one, on the right – a pieces with glitter. In the middle row we have a scarlet-colored piece from the Chinese Zoob clone. And on the right there is a burgundy piece from Zoob clone by ZZToys. In the bottom row are rare versions in red. Our most fragile parts are red, they break most often, and green with glitter, breakability is almost 100%.
This “catalogue” does not contain another wonderful type of ZOOB – glow-in-the-dark parts. We remembered the luminous set after we had laid out the parts; we couldn’t repeat the layout a second time. So I plan to show the glowing set in another post.
