
As much as we dig LEGO gear in the crazedparent house, Nol has become a big fan of Kid K'NEX construction sets. I jumped at the chance to review two new products: Kid K'NEX Undersea Pals and K'NEX Fun Rides 10 Model Building Set.
K'NEX Undersea Pals is for the 3-5 year-old age range. Nol, 5, quickly assembled new creations. The pieces are bright and large, easy for a preschooler to make the little fish models shown in the product handout. And surprisingly, Q., who is almost 2, loved playing with the final products. Q. also enjoyed taking the pieces out of the carrying case and replacing them. I think the K'NEX Undersea Pals make for a fun gift for the under 5 crowd, particularly those kids that are new to building and are unfamiliar with LEGO gear. The set is easy enough for them to complete sets without much parental assistance. After spending one session with mom or dad, your kid should quickly get the hang of it and be on his or her way to make the various different characters in the handout.
The downside of Undersea Pals? The handout is a double-sided page...easily damaged after a few uses. And if your child has had experience with LEGO kits, he or she could get bored after he completes the first few model ideas.
But the K'NEX Fun Rides 10 Model Building Set rocks. It's for kids ages 5-7 and for Nol, who is pretty advanced on the LEGO front, the K'NEX model set was a complete challenge. In a good way. The kit theme is amusement park rides, so Nol was very excited to make a Ferris Wheel, a Swing and a Merry-Go-Round. The pieces include what they call micro K'NEX, and K'NEX Bricks, which are similar to LEGO bricks. And the pieces are tiny and easy to loose if you're not paying attention to all 172 parts.
The kit comes with an actual handbook, which Nol flipped through and made each and every single model. For a week. Every day after school, he would come home, ask for the kit and be on his building way. Child engrossed in independent play = happy mama.
What I love about these two kits is that they both come in small carrying cases. Meaning when you're done, you pack it all up and put the kits away. Unlike LEGO kids, which come in cardboard boxes and plastic baggies that get tossed the moment after they are ripped open. That's my biggest peeve with LEGO -- they offer no practical storage for their products. So these K'NEX kids rank high on the mommy clean-up scale with their packaging. I also like that the kits are small, making them easy to pack or take with you on the road.
The other perk? These Kid K'NEX kits are inexpensive. The Underwater Pals set and the Fun Rides set both sell for $US9.99.
Now, if they could only make the handout for the Undersea Pals more durable.