disclosure:  we were sent the items mentioned for the purpose of review

It’s no secret that my nearly eleven-year-old is a massive fan of construction-based toys.  He’s been having fin with K’Nex for years now and it’s a range of products that I always recommend to family and friends.  We were first introduced to the brand by my OH’s cousin when my son was quite small.  We were away on holiday with them and they got a box of K’Nex out that had belonged to their now grown-up boys.  My son was in his element from the start, though in those days he did need a little help with his builds.  These days, not so much! We were recently sent a few different sets for my son to try out and they’ve kept him quiet during these lockdown days we find ourselves in.

The Kid K’Nex Safari Mates sets are new and aimed at younger children who might be exploring the range for the first time.  The pieces are much larger and easier for little hands to work with. If you’re looking for ideas for younger constructors aged three years and over, then these sets are for you.

My son couldn’t wait to get started on the Battle Bow set which is aimed at children aged eight years and over. It comes with 165 pieces and there are four designs to build.  There is also a target board which you can cut out from the reverse of the box.

Priced at £10.00 the K’Nex Kids Safari Mates set is available from Argos.

My son couldn’t wait to build one of the blasters and see it in action firing the five soft foam darts that are included in the set.

He’s been building with K’Nex for years now, so understands the build instructions and how the pieces click together.  My only purpose these days is as a page-turner and piece finder!

The joy of K’Nex, in my opinion, is that children can either follow the build instructions to the letter or they can be really creative and add their own spin to a build, my son is always a fan of the latter.

Either way, it’s the kind of toy that has infinite possibilities and provides hours of entertainment.

This particular creation will undoubtedly be remodelled in the weeks ahead and my son’s target practice will improve too.  It’s a very clever mechanism; you feed a dart into the end of the blaster chamber, pull the plunger back until it clicks, aim the blaster and pull on the trigger – fire!  Be warned, the darts can travel over twenty-two metres.

Normally priced at £25.00, the K’Nex Battle Bow Building set is currently on offer at The Entertainer for £20.00.

If you are looking for something to keep you children entertained in the months ahead then we can thoroughly recommend the K’Nex 70 Model Builder set, which is aimed at children aged seven years and over.  As the name suggests, there are seventy models to build, as well as the many scratch build opportunities that the set provides with the 705 pieces that are included.

There are all sorts of build ideas supplied in the instruction leaflet, from an anchor to a turtle, a windsurfer to a jellyfish, even a hot air balloon.

My son was immediately taken with the idea of building the seaplane.

He’s been using K’Nex at school recently too, as the children have been learning about structures and forces, and my son loves seeing creations emerge from the instructions.

But being my son, it wasn’t long before he was modifying the design to add more wingspan, more propellers and even a machine to push the plane into the correct take-off position (he’d forgotten it was a seaplane by this point).

Why have one plane when you can have two, all pieces used from this set, with still loads left over.

The Anchor is one of the easiest builds in this set and shows of the flexi-rod pieces which are also included.  My son decides that the anchor needed a brace (just as they are when we see them on display Mummy)

Just for a little fun he also made a pair of glasses, so he could look more like me.  Nice.

Endless possibilities, hours of fun, what more can you ask for? The K’Nex 70 Model Builder set is available from Amazon for £40.76. I’m hoping he builds the hot air balloon next as that looks really cool.

What would you children build I wonder?