54 of 55 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Having a blast building this with little kids!, November 12, 2009
I enjoy building Lego with my kids and, frankly, we probably have all of the included parts already (if we were willing to take a few things apart). I was wary of the product because we aren't klutzes when it comes to things mechanical. But this has proved a great rainy-day toy that we can do together. We build a contraption, play with it for a week or two, and then take it apart and build the next one. Not all of the plans are terribly inspired, but it works for us. I should say that we are dealing with little kids (down to 4 years old) and that I'm not sure how well this set would work for older kids. A ten or twelve year old would probably tear through the designs in an hour and then want more parts to build something else. What I like best about the set is that it naturally encourages building and rebuilding different designs rather than one particular thing. So, it's a great toy if this sounds like something you'd enjoy sharing with your kids. Also, you should be able to find this toy on Amazon at below MSRP.
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40 of 40 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Jr FIRST Lego League, December 5, 2009
Wow, what a great set of Legos. We used these with our Jr. FIRST Lego League team (consisting of 3rd and 4th graders) to give the kids something hands-on to do at every meeting. 16 great projects, 14 of which have moving parts to teach the kids about Simple Machines with, and many of which allow some teamwork/competition with the final item. All the projects can be built between 10-40 minutes each with minimal help from parents. The most complex ones were challenging for the 4th graders to build. Great illustrations and step-by-step instructions. The parts are thoughtfully colored so, for example, when you are stacking bricks together you can tell where the 1x8 brick goes (which is red) compared to the 1x6 brick (which is black). The coloring also allows quick checking by parents to diagnose assembly problems when something doesn't work.
There is a lot of background/support information, such as how to pull small, sticky parts apart, how to thread the rubber bands easily, a Lego geometry tutorial, troubleshooting steps for each project, etc. While nice to have, I couldn't get the kids to read any of it -- all they wanted to do was build.
The "includes every brick, gear & axle" should be taken with a small grain of salt. While it is true that every Lego piece you need is included, the Tennessee Time-Killer requires a piece of dental floss (or similar thin string), and the Zipline Runners require a string to run on. Minor, but I think should be mentioned.
Complaints/improvements: 1) larger storage area to put the pieces back in when done would be nice as they were packed in pretty good; 2) extra rubber bands, as we broke a number when the kids wound things up too tight (e.g., racing the Supercharged Speedsters).
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15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Unusual pieces- excellent purchase, excellent price...great find!, January 16, 2010
My 7-yr-old son has been playing with the most intricate of lego pieces since he was 3-4. He loves this set because it has very unusual pieces allowing him to make new creations never seen before! Although we have tons of the specific lego sets, his favorites are by far those sets that allow for the imagination to go wild with endless building opportunities. While you can make many contraptions from the only the pieces and instructions included, this set also enhances building fun by adding them to your existing sets. Excellent value and well worth every penny!
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