K'NEX Education - Intro to Simple Machines: Gears Set – 198 Pieces – Grades 3-5 – Engineering Education Toy

I bought this for my granddaughter who will be 7 next month. I was not home when she opened it but my wife said she worked with it for an hour without stopping. She was not able to complete the first project she tried, but came close. With a little help she finished the project and was happy. The instructions are good. She was just old enough to connect the pieces together although she had to strain. The use of gears in the design was interesting to her and to me. I believe that the set is worth the money I spent and I expect that it will last a long time. one month update: My granddaughter and I have made three of the machines: a fan, a car window, and a staionary bike. In each case she worked alone and in each case she made a small mistake that kept the project from working. It was not so easy to find the proper solution, but working together we did. I think this is a great set, but it will be a challenge for the younger ages. It is now eight months since I wrote this review and we have completed the seven projects. My seven year old grand daughter needed help on some but not all of them. You might need to explain what a phonograph is!! We have now bought the levers and pulleys set and look forward to doing those projects.

We bought these kits for our daughter a few years ago for homeschooling. We constructed the swing ride kit and loved it, but it was a bit complicated for her at the time (I think she was around 7 at the time). This week we broke out the Gears set and also the Wheels and Axles set and gave it to our daughter and her best friend (who is schooled and hates having to do more schooling when she is visiting though we homeschool constantly). They had a BLAST! Both girls had such a great time, especially with the Gears set, that they insisted on doing more today! They haven't even realized that they are learning so much about how things work. What a great product, and it's brilliantly designed. Great job, guys at K'nex! We have just ordered the Bridge set and are enviously checking out the rollercoasters. . .

I got this set for my homeschooled 10 year old daughter who was learning physics this year for science. The designs included were very relevant to her lessons and are regular objects which made it more interesting for her. At first she had some issues with getting the pieces to fit together, but once she figured it out there were no issues. Each design took about 30-45 minutes to put together and directions were easy to follow. She got a kick out of the fact all the cranks really work. This turned out to be much better than I anticipated which makes me very happy. It's a product that can last since she'll happily rebuild the 7 suggested designs and she's working on coming up with some of her own. I'm happy the quality if good and the case it comes in will help keep all the pieces together so my younger daughter can use them when she's ready.

Great gift

These do for a modern youngster what Tinker Toys did for my generation. They provide entertainment and a feel for physics and design and an opportunity to exercise both imagination and patience to see a project through. They provide opportunity to develop manual dexterity. Pride of accomplishment and confidence also comes with a box of K'nex parts. Instructions actually work. Everyone ought to know when to follow them and that lesson is inside the box too When enough of these little plastic parts lie in a pile, the young imagination is set loose among the resources that can make the imagined thing become real. Get your children some of these and throw out the video games.

This kit has a fun variety of projects, all with satisfyingly realistic results. And for once an "educational" toy actually had clear educational value, prompting the kids to make a change in the project and then observe the difference and draw a conclusion. (I really should get out the CD-ROM that came with this and see what additional gems it has!) My 5yo was able to complete the projects with minimal help (just in figuring out how to join completed portions together), while my 7yo could follow the directions completely independently. The two-speed fan is a definite favorite in this house!

The high reviews were right. My 11 YO grandson thanked me a dozen times, and says he likes it much more than Legos. This is his first K'nex set. Wish I had discovered it sooner! He was able to figure out all the instructions himself. I think the fact that he was working from illustrations rather than a lot of written directions helped. The 13 YO got interested so I bought two more sets. I think it's a fun, challenging toy for the 8 - 13.

Decent quality. I imagine there are tons of things that could be built out of these. I bought this for my son, when he was 8 or 9. He never opened it. Because it lacks the need for electricity. It doesn’t have an app. It’s not ‘fun’ for today’s youth. UNLESS..... you also have a 2 or 3 year old! These kids thought outside the box of societies norms and built a no mans land in the hallway. They put Rambo to shame in booby traps. The hallway, wee hours of the am, strategically placed pieces of this engineering toy turned into products of utter destruction that made lego’s a walk in the park. They maximized the effect by also placing a piece in their mouth for a full on choking effect which had me waking up out of a dead sleep, springing from bed at a dark and cold 7am to sprint through the house in my boxers. Only to open my bedroom door and meet my maker as the first pieces ripped through the bottoms of my feet. This was a war plan formulated by the best war general as my screams of pain and asking Jesus ‘why’ drew my wife and older kids out of bed into no mans land before I could yell to leave me and save themselves. A simple broom is all it took to ruin the no mans land they formed, but not before the blood of their own family was shed in the hallway, an obvious (yet unsuspecting) choke point. So. I won’t ever buy this product of torture again. And my two toddlers are enlisting in special forces asap.

Wer Spaß hat am bauen, für den ist das echt gut

Quando si pensa ai giochi educativi si pensa a cose noiose, questo non avviene quando il giocattolo è pensato per far divertire e incuriosire cosa che questo set è riuscito ad ottenere. Ho apprezzato il montaggio solido, i pezzi con coloritura differenti in base al tipo di pezzo e le istruzioni semplici ma non passo passo che hanno stimolato mio figlio a osservare e cercare di comprendere. Di tutti i montaggi il preferito resta il mulino dove grazie alla possibilità di variare gli ingranaggi abbiamo imparato praticamente come funzionano i rapporti della bicicletta.

Bought for my sons' christmas present - he hasnt looked at it once. However, Engineer husband has not left it alone for 5 minutes making every conceivable thing under the sun! There are so many different combinations, the set is really great and nice quality - suitable for all ages!!!

All good products 'K'nex, for young minds. The drawings/plans were good to follow - for the six year old.

This is an excellent educational building set that my children love to play with for hours. It comes with an educational guide as well. It was one of my son's favourite Christmas gifts and has helped him advance in his science and technology learning. It comes with all the parts you need to build seven different working machines. Included is a guide to building a fan, an egg beater, a chainsaw, an exercise bike, a car window, a blender, and a record player. In addition to this, children can use their imaginative skills to come up with their own building projects and make their own inventions. It helps kids get familiar with the different kinds of gears and how they work. This playful way of learning helps children gain much more insight than they would get from mere book learning or classroom learning, as they are self motivated to investigate, gain skills, and understand scientific and technological concepts. As a homeschool teacher, I am using this set to teach my children about simple machines, movement, force, and speed in a hands-on way.