Category: Toys

[Ad- gifted product] Earlier this week I built a moving 4-Cylinder Engine, part of the Machine Works range with my eldest son. It’s a fascinating kit, perfect for those who are mechanically minded, or who really enjoy building models. There are a lot of different people out there, and as such there’s a lot of different hobbies out there. I’m not actually very mechanically minded; I struggle with instruction booklets and normally ‘process of elimination’ my way through troubleshooting things. However, I’m really like seeing how things work, from microchips through electronics to machines. The 4-Cylinder Engine kit is a safe, accessible way to learn the core of how an engine works, and comes complete with a manual full of extra information, as well as an AR-based App.

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[Ad- gifted product] There is a point when children get to a bit of an odd age – between not quite a kid and not quite a teenager, where it seems like their hobbies and interests are quite narrow. Kai, as an 11 year old, has hit this age – he mainly wants to play video games and… well, that’s about it. He doesn’t have much interest in toys and games, but there are a handful designed for his age range that really fill in the times when he needs a break from the screen. One of these toys are K’nex.

K’nex generally are a type of building toy that is slightly more complex then Lego and allows you to build more than just landscapes – you can build entire toys out of them, as parts bend and shape. Some K’nex kits come with bigger main pieces, that can really change and shape what you are creating. They provide for a lot of versatility, especially in their range for older children. We actually recently went to a fair after playing with our K’nex and one of the stands had created a bunch of moving models with motors in them, all out of K’nex. Clearly, they are a pretty fun toy. We got our hands on two different sets!

K’Nex K-Force Battle Bow

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[Ad- gifted product] Just the name – My Squishy Little Dumplings – sounds super fun, so we were all excited to get our hands onto a little dumpling of our own. Robin and Amelia kept saying this was an onion, at first, so we had to completely explain what dumplings are, despite them all trying dumplings before. These toys are little electronic dolls, which work like blind dolls, only showing their dumpling head at first.

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[Ad- gifted product] Much like Moon Shoes, I remember having a Lite Brite in my household. My sister and I would share it, often destroying each other’s perfectly crafted light art to make something new, plugging in the little pegs ourselves and watching it light up. In my head, they were bulkier, and much more of a challenge when it came to putting in the little pegs, but seems to be related to me being much smaller and having tiny fingers! I was pretty excited to introduce Amelia and Robin to Lite Brite as we felt they’d like it best. And, in the words of Robin, the Lite Brite has a baby!

Lite Brite Classic

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