building

Help Kids Develop Building and Programming Skills with Creation Crate Subscription Boxes-Giveaway

April 27, 2016 by Kathryn 105 Comments

If there’s one lesson I can teach my boys that I know will be valuable for their entire lives, it will be to find joy in learning new things. And since most kids are lagging behind in essential science, technology, engineering and math skills (often referred to as STEM skills), fostering a love of learning is more important than ever.

Now, Creation Crate, a new subscription box service in Alberta, Canada, has found a way to help kids play and learn at the same time with its new electronics subscription boxes! Every month, children receive a box that contains electronics parts and instructions for building a useful device. Designed for children around 12 years of age and older, each project helps develop essential STEM skills while also letting kids create a fun electronics project! Recently I was sent a Creation Crate to review and I couldn’t wait to see what it was like.

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Combine Fun and Learning with Magformers Building Sets-Giveaway

August 19, 2015 by Kathryn 164 Comments

When it comes to finding the best toys for my boys, I tend to favour those that encourage creativity. That’s why building blocks have been a favourite with Zackary and Benjamin for years now; the building possibilities are only limited by the imagination of my children. But recently I had the chance to review a toy that gave children a different way to create…Magformers! These clever geometric shapes contain magnets on each side so that they can snap together in all kinds of ways.

Recently I had the chance to review some of the newest Magformers sets and I knew my boys would be only too happy to help me out. I received the Unique 44pc set and the WOW 27pc set to review. I loved the idea of a set that included wheels since my boys love any kind of vehicle. But they had just as much fun seeing how many shapes they could build with the Unique set!

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Build and Race with Modarri Model Car Sets from Borgfeldt Canada-Giveaway

July 10, 2015 by Kathryn 86 Comments

My oldest son has always had a love of cars. And while he doesn’t quite invent as many fanciful racing stories as he once did, he still will often spend hours driving his favourite cars around the house. In fact, one of the few things that Zackary loves even more than cars is building sets. And that’s why I knew he would appreciate the Modarri model building sets offered by Borgfeldt Canada as soon as I saw them.

These sets come in a variety of fun colours and styles sure to please any future racer. We received the Modarri 3-Pack to review and my boys couldn’t wait to sit down and start building. While the sets are recommended for ages eight and up, I knew my nine-year-old would be happy to help his little brother build a car too, which made it a great activity for the two of them to do together. [Read more…]

Encourage STEM Learning with HEXBUG VEX Robotics Building Kits

November 3, 2014 by Kathryn Leave a Comment

My boys have been fans of the HEXBUG product line since the brand first released the adorable HEXBUG Nano micro robotic creatures, little critters powered by vibration technology that raced around elaborate tracks. Since then, we’ve discovered some of the other great HEXBUG products and now, just in time for the holidays, HEXBUG has a new line of toys that any child would love to see under the tree.

The HEXBUG VEX Robotics collection is a set of building kits designed to introduce kids to science, technology, engineering and mathematics principles in a fun and interactive way. The robotic creatures snap together without the use of tools and the interactive technology used in the robots let children experiment with various programming patterns to help encourage STEM learning.

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New Mega Bloks #AmericanBuilders Sets Are Full of Tough-Built Fun

March 31, 2014 by Kathryn Leave a Comment

Mega Bloks has so many great new sets for older children this year and as my oldest son is hugely obsessed with building sets, I couldn’t be happier about it. Recently, Mega Bloks released the brand new American Builders line, a collection of building sets featuring the Jeep and CAT and John Deere vehicles. We received the Mega Bloks American Builders Jeep Off-Road Adventure set to review and as my boys both have a huge love of vehicles, I knew this was a set that they would both enjoy.

Zackary is old enough now to tackle large, intricate building sets on his own, so he was happy to have the chance to put this set together. He worked on it from start to finish and it took him a full afternoon, but when he was done, I could see that this set would be providing a lot more fun in the coming days! [Read more…]

Teach Kids to Build with Video Projects from Lowe’s Canada and Mag Ruffman-Giveaway

March 20, 2014 by Kathryn 173 Comments

Last year I shared some of the fun and useful videos created by Mag Ruffman and Lowe’s Canada that let children create their own fun building projects. My boys had a great time using duct tape, PVC pipe and metal bolts to make their own PVC Camp Stools and both of them still have those chairs today! While the project needed a small amount of adult participation as far as cutting the pipes and drilling the holes, most of it was done by my kids and it gave them a great introduction to using tools and building on their own.

Now Mag is back again with a new series of Lowe’s kids DIY videos, this time aimed at tweens! From a Swinging Treehouse Lounger to a fancy Cat Condo, these projects will let older children get their hands dirty and use simple building supplies and techniques to create cool projects they can actually use! [Read more…]

Build and Battle with New Mega Bloks Skylanders SWAP Force Skyland Spinners

March 18, 2014 by Kathryn 64 Comments

My oldest son’s taste in toys have really changed a lot in the last year or so as his fine motor skills have developed and his imagination has expended. I have to admit that his favourite activity is playing video games, but to ensure that he’s not spending too much time in front of a screen, I also like to make sure we have lots of more interactive toy choices for him.

The new Mega Bloks Skylanders SWAP Force Skyland Spinners were the type of toy that I knew Zackary would love. Combining a building set with a spinning disc game was the perfect way to keep his interest. The collectible nature of the Skylanders SWAP Force sets was instantly appealing and even though Zackary doesn’t play the Skylanders video game, he does love battle spinning games! He had a great time building the characters and then launching them at each other to see which one would spin longest. [Read more…]

Let Kids Build and Race with New Mega Bloks Hot Wheels Turbo Tubes

March 14, 2014 by Kathryn 51 Comments

If there are two things that my boys absolutely love, it’s building sets and cars. My oldest son’s love of Hot Wheels is something that almost consumed our house at one point, and while he’s moved on and expanded his interests a bit since those early, car-obsessed years, we still have a huge collection of cars and tracks filling the house.

And as soon as Zackary got a little older, building sets became his next great passion. From complex multi-piece sets to simple collections of one or two miniature characters, he would happily spend hours either building the sets according to the instructions or reinventing them to create his own devices. [Read more…]