Saturday, September 30, 2006

The magic of K'nex

I went to a garage sale a few weeks ago, and picked up a box of K'nex for $5. K'nex is a type of building toy, made by the Lego company. It's basically a bunch of rods and connectors, with some wheels thrown in. I was fully prepared to put it away in the closet for a few years, because it's supposed to be for older kids. Luckily I still had it out on the counter when Eric and I went out for a date night, and the babysitter let him play with it. The next morning it was the first thing he wanted to play with.

Kenny will spend hours playing with it, building things (nothing that recognizable yet). Eric and I build him more complicated models (windmill, swingset, cars, windsurfer) that he'll play with and modify. It's an amazingly well-designed and constructed toy. Even the box to hold it is designed very cleverly, so that pieces don't fall out. It's just a pleasure to see him play with a toy that holds his interest so long.

We just bought him another set, and are holding onto it until his 3rd birthday (in about a month).

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

K'NEX is definitely a great creative toy.

Just FYI, it's not made by the Lego company. K'NEX Industries is a stand alone corporation with no affiliation to Lego.

Joel Glickman got the idea for K'NEX while absent-mindedly playing with straws at a wedding dinner, and now the company has been around for 15 years.

You might be interested to know that K'NEX actually makes sets designed specifically for younger kids - the pieces are big and chunky...but if Kenny has already mastered the 'big kid' sets, he should keep right on going! :)

Happy Building!