Team Mom Review – K’NEX!

I was thrilled to receive the latest two review items from Team Mom, the K’Nex 400 Pieces Tub (for kids ages 7 and up) and the Sesame Street Neighborhood Collection (for kids ages 2-5) (a follow-on offering from last year’s Sesame Street characters introduced by K’Nex, which we’re still playing with).

400 Pieces Tub

The 400 Pieces Tub, obviously comes loaded with (wait for it . . .) 400 parts.  Seriously, tons of pieces, including bricks, for lots and lots of wide-ranging fun and endless opportunities for building! For the creatively challenged, like me, the set includes instructions and ideas for 20 models, which were surprisingly easy to recreate.  Moms will love the convenient storage tub, providing a handy place to put your pieces, and kids will love it, since it allows them or take the fun along wherever they go.

Suggested price is $20.99 for the 400 pieces tub, recommended age is 7+, and they are available at Target, Wal-Mart, and Toys “R” Us.  Oscar is way too young for these (2 1/2 is not quite the suggested age, but he’s definitely going to be using them much sooner than the stated age range).  Having said that, he loves them already, even though he can’t build anything on his own yet.  If you’re going to jump the gun like me and play with a set early, be mindful of the sizes of the pieces.

Our set is now being used by a perfectly aged 7 year old boy whose mom says he hasn’t put them down for two hours.  Enough said.

Sesame Street Neighborhood Collection Building Set

I think you’d be hard pressed to find a toddler who doesn’t love building with the SESAME STREET Neighborhood Collection Building Set.  You can select the 1-2-3 Brownstone, the Ice Cream Truck or the Police Car (which we scored).  They come with a new buildable Elmo or other character (smaller than last year’s, but just as cute).  The package includes a “Play & Learn” activity sheet and additional building ideas.

The set comes with a fair number of parts (around 40), that is manageable, but not overwhelming.  The pieces are perfectly sized for toddlers and are easily put together and pulled apart.  What I love about this set, compared with last year’s, is that you can create multiple objects with this.  We’ve made a car as shown on the box, but have made a number of different variations on the theme.  Great for a toddler with less than an ideal attention span.

The Developmental Benefits of Sesame Street Building Sets:

• Physical Development – Building supports the development of hand-eye coordination
• Social/Emotional Development – Encourages imaginative play
• Language Development – Talking about what they built and created can enhance your child’s language skills
• Cognitive Skills – Sorting and making patterns with the building parts encourages thinking and problem-solving skills.

Suggested retail value is between $9.99 and $19.99, for ages 2-5, and available at Target, Wal-Mart, & Toys “R” Us.

November 26, 2009 - Posted by Oscar and Etta's mom | Team Mom Review