Keeping kids entertained with K’nex

Posted on by Jupiter
K'Nex

*AD – the items in this review were gifted to our household for this post. All opinions, as always, are our own.

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

The first K’Nex kit Kai wanted to dive into, naturally, was the battle bow! This bow had a big main piece in it, that allows you to put in foam darts that can be shot out. Though Kai isn’t allowed gun toys, we felt that the battle bow was similar to bows in games like Minecraft, so it would probably be okay. The Battle Bow itself has 165 pieces within the set, allowing you to create four different blasters and target models. Your child can decide to build something themselves or follow the manual to build some of the pre-defined items. Kai, from playing with Lego, tends to stick right to the book and easily started following the instructions on his own. He actually only got stuck in a few places, towards the middle, and was able to build the entire battle bow within an hour. Then came the fun part, firing out the darts.

He took to our backyard, firing off at the wall and around his siblings, enjoying how fast and far these darts did go. They won’t hurt anyone if they are hit, as the darts are made of foam, and he had a great time pretending he was a Minecraft Skeleton.

K’Nex Beginner 40 Model Building Set

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Once Kai was settled into our new house, he actually dived right into his model building set, looking to create a plane that could sit on his new desk. This set, as you would probably have guessed from the title, is a set that has over 40 different models, from cars to plans to whatever your imagination can create. There are a few different, interesting connectors that really allow 3D shapes to be created easily, and this set is aimed at beginners, so Kai had no problem building up the plane on his own. The plane did take him more time to create than the bow, and he, obviously, had a lot of extra pieces that were easily integrated into his K’Nex collection. He found the plane to be really fun and though it didn’t look like a realistic plane (due to the K’nex themselves) he played around with it for quite some time, talking about how German planes would be built, compared to it.

When it coms to construction toys, K’Nex provides something a bit different, as there is just more that you can do with all of these little shapes and pieces. Though our family is more of a “follow the manual” type, it’s nice to see so many options in the manual for the same kit, which makes these kits feel like multipole toys all in one. Kai has quite enjoyed playing with his K’Next and creating items that are far bigger than the box they came in!

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86 thoughts on “Keeping kids entertained with K’nex”

  1. Sam says:

    K’nex has always been popular with my children. Although they all liked different types of things to build, at one point they collected their favourite things. It’s so versatile and think it helps them be more creative!

    Reply
  4. Rhian Westbury says:

    My brother used to love knex when he was a kid so it’s nice to see that it’s still around and popular. These look like great sets x

    Reply
  8. Melissa Cushing says:

    I love K’nex! My kids do too and loved and enjoyed your post. I am loving that battle bow and will have to grab that one! Thank you for sharing 😉

    Reply
  15. Charlotte isobelle says:

    Now that sounds like so much fun! I love knex when I was little. I always built the Ferris wheel.

    Reply
  16. Alana Walker says:

    My sons love playing with K’nex at home and school. They would love to add this set to their collection.

    Reply
  31. Richard Saunders says:

    Looks really good, I havent seen this before – but my son has a birthday coming up and he loves creative toys

    Reply
  33. Victoria Prince says:

    I think knex is fantastic. A great “easier” alternative to Meccano – I absolutely LOVED my K’Nex (and Meccano) when I was a child. Weetabix ran a promotion with them in…probably mid-90s? where you collected the tokens and then sent off for little kits. If memory serves correctly there were 4, each could be made into 4 different things and then you could combine all 4 sets to make a super jet!

    Reply
  47. lynn neal says:

    We don’t own any K’nex yet but it looks great fun and I am sure my five grandchildren would love playing with it!

    Reply
  48. Darren Bourne says:

    This looks awesome, the kids could have great fun with it. I know what you mean about the inbetween age. Kids grow up so fast these days, but it’s nice to try to find things to reduce their screen time.

    Reply
  50. Patricia Avery says:

    When I was teaching K’nex was very popular in the classroom on wet playtimes! I’d love a set for my grandchildren

    Reply

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