Five Fantastic Construction Toys

Construction toys should be part of every* child’s toy experience.   You’ll find that kids develop preferences to building materials–go with it.  Our advice is always to start with smaller sets –building your child’s confidence about what they can do rather than frustrating them with a bigger set.

Here are five of our favorites. Click on the toy name to read our full review from    www.toyportfolio.com

Lego Star Wars Collection Lego Systems

Plan Toys Build n Spin (Plan Toys)

Wedgits Pink & Purple Activity Tote (ImagAbility)

Lego Racers (Lego Systems)

Citiblocs (Citiblocs)

*Here’s my daily plug about bringing home building sets to girls…it’s important for their math skills down the road.  We want them to excel in math and engineering…it starts with building with construction toys.

Pick of the Day: LEGO Star Wars Collection

starwarsbackThe Lego Star Wars collection was hot with our builders this year.  What’s nice about the line is that there is something for everyone in terms of building level and budget.  Remember if you have a new builder, resist the temptation to buy the BIG set. Start small.   LEGO has gotten really much better about making the big kits  more manageable — each “build” comes in its own bag..pre-sorted.  Now for many of us, that may seem pretty wimpy –but it does make things much easier!

Read our reviews.We gave the whole collection an Oppenheim Toy Portfolio  Platinum Award.

One of our advanced builders just put together the more elaborate (and very cool) Tantive IV.  Comes with 1408 pieces. At $149.99, this is a big ticket item for sure–and to their credit, the box is marked for ages 14 & up.

LEGO Tantive IV

LEGO Tantive IV

I’m waiting for one of our LEGO builders to ask for the Death Star ($399.99)…with 3803 pieces. May the force be with you when you try building this one!

Lego Death Star

Lego Death Star