building Archives - Rave & Review

Strictly Briks fosters creativity while taking your brick creations to new heights

My kids love LEGOs. They could play LEGO for hours and hours each day, building their own custom homes, businesses, cars, and even mini figures. I love how creative they are and how they can occupy themselves quietly for long periods of time designing, building, and then playing. Basically, it saves my sanity a few … Read more

Build, learn, and play with Modarri cars

My son has been obsessed with cars since he first learned to grasp. He’s gone through stages with every scale toy or model car at this point, but there are certain cars that stand the test of time and get played with year after year. On that short list are Modarri cars, the DIY toy … Read more

Limitless fun with Antsy Pants Build And Play kits

If I was describing the perfect toy, it would be something that was a project. Something that took a while to set up, provided customizing opportunities so the kids can get creative, and it would have an ambiguous design that allowed for almost limitless play. All of this adds up to something that the kids … Read more

Educational fun with the SmartMax Mega Ball Run

I can’t even tell you how many times I have refused or returned a self-contained pre-made ball run that has been given to my kids. It’s not that I’m against kids learning about gravity and momentum by way of a ball run, it’s just that I can’t justify the space that they require for the momentary fun of dropping a ball down a chute a few times before the kids get bored.But, when I was told about the SmartMax Mega Ball Run, I realized that someone finally got it. By adding in the fun of a construction toy and the power of magnets, SmartMax allows you to build your own ball run over and over again to enhance the play value and keep the kids busy for hours.

A whole new way to have fun while building with Geomag Toys

If I was describing the differences between my toys growing up and the toys my kids love, the biggest differences wouldn't be what you would probably expect. It isn’t technology, computers, or gadgets that set them apart. No, the biggest difference I see is the intelligence in the design of toys these days that takes learning toys to a whole new level.

Instead of basic blocks like I used to play with, now children's building tools are more advanced and so much cooler. Just look at Geomag, the maker of awesome magnetic construction toys that have been huge in Europe for years and are just now re-entering the US market. Using super strong magnets within magnetic rods and non-magnetic spheres as well as accessories, the Geomag sets allow you to build not just up, but also out, around, and within so you can build so much more than ever before. Because the magnets hold your design in place, you don’t have to worry about a strong gust of wind knocking everything down and can build in all directions until you have created your masterpiece.

Our love of GoldieBlox begins!

Anyone who knows my kids knows all about their deep desire to understand how things work. They are rarely content with a simple explanation of the facts and instead require an in-depth analysis of everything that perplexes them. It is likely this knowledge that led many close friends and family members to reach out via phone calls, my inbox, and various messaging systems with a suggestion of a brand they knew my kiddos would flip for: GoldieBlox One click to the GoldieBlox homepage and I was instantly smitten. This wasn’t just a toy my kids would love, this was a toy that I would have designed for them if only I knew how. It includes all of their absolute favorite things: building things, imaginative play, and figuring out how things work in a really fun way that the whole family can get involved in.

For those of you who have been emailing over the past year begging me to get the GoldieBlox toys for my kids, I say thank you. You will be very happy to know it was literally love upon first #unbloxing and even though they have only been playing with their own GoldieBlox toys for the past few weeks, they are just as enthralled with them as you probably guessed.

If you want to see how excited we are about GoldieBlox, you should go ahead and watch this video:

For those of you who haven’t heard about GoldieBlox or seen their adorable Super Bowl commercial, you are probably wondering what makes this building toy different, and the short answer is: a lot.

Build a fort as big as your imagination with Fort Magic

You may remember how much I adore Fort Magic fort building kits that make it easy to create amazing forts for the kiddos without an engineering degree, but now that the kids are older, I love it even more. Since our last post we’ve made huge forts in our living room, our family room, and even took the Fort Magic kit with us while on vacation so the kids could build an outdoor hideout for cousins only, complete with added satellite dish.

Haven’t heard of Fort Magic before? The Fort Magic fort building kit contains everything you need to create your own fort as big as your imagination. The 382 piece kit contains all different shapes and sizes of rods, connectors and accessories that allow you to build a fort – anywhere, anytime.

Eitech 50th Anniversary Space Needle Building Kit {Review}

Remember last year when we raved about the Eitech Classic Construction Vehicles Set? Not only do we still love it and look forward to building with it every chance we get, now we’ve added to our Eitech love with the addition of the newly released Space Needle model. To commemorate the building’s 50th anniversary, Eitech … Read more

Zometool Building Sets: where science and art meet

It’s a rare activity that keeps a 4-year-old, 12-year-old and 30-{something}-year-old entertained for hours, but I think I’ve finally hit on the holy grail of all ageless activities – building stuff. I figured this out this Thanksgiving with the help of Zometool and our holiday gatherings will now never be the same again. Thanksgiving up … Read more

Tegu Launches New Explorer and Endeavor Sets

If you’ve been reading around here a bit, you probably already know that we love Tegu blocks. But, while some loves fade after the initial honeymoon stage, our love for Tegu only grows deeper every day and with each new release to their line. After watching Tegu grow and evolve over the past year, I … Read more