K'Nex 12418 Imagine 35 Model Ultimate Building Set, Educational Toys for Kids, 480 Piece Stem Learning Kit, Engineering for Kids, Fun and Colourful Construction Toys for Children Aged 7 +

Good product and well received by a 4 year old

I purchased this set for my 7 year old son who is a big lover of lego. We wanted to get him something similar but a little more complicated that involved a little more thought to challenge him a bit and to make building models a little more interesting than the usual lego structures we often see him building. I was a fan of K'Nex as a kid because they are so versatile, where much of lego is bricks, k'nex is multifunctional and one piece could be used to be an edge of a structure, a base, a piece of something that is a moving part etc etc. I have always loved Lego as well, but personally feel that lego is great for intricate model building and K'nex is better for thinking of the "skeleton" of a structure. There are 35 models that this set is ideal for ranging from the outline of an icecream cone more complicated planes, cranes, dinosaurs etc. The one thing to note about K'nex if you've never used them is that in the instructions - where lego would be really detailed about how to put a model together, most K'nex models are a page or two at the most at this size and show a short of exploded view of a piece coming together. The box is a little big for what is inside of it, but I think if you have a lot of K'nex, it works well as a storage box for it as it is quite large (in my opinion, for this set alone I think it should be a quarter of the size it is, but it is a very robust box and works well for storage.The 480 pieces mean that although there are 35 models you can build, it also allows for some imagination and has a great variety of pieces to account for freestyle model building. I purchased this at around 13.00GBP and was very happy with it at that price. I would buy again and would recommend to someone looking for a gift for someone who is a lover of k'nex or even a lover of lego! Great quality - highly recommended

In my opinion these are much better than Lego as the variety of uses for each part is huge, my son (10) is always making things from his imagination and due to the versatility of the product he gets close to what he imagined. Great product, well made, I will be purchasing more sets I think.

Slightly baffled by the strong reviews for this product. Bought for my nearly 7 year old stepson and found the instructions to be almost unintelligible. All of the steps are mixed up, the pieces or perspectives of the components in the demo photos so bad you basically can’t really make out which piece you are meant to be using, and to make matters even more confusing the colour coding in the photos is not accurate compared to the pieces we have been sent, eg we will be looking for a small yellow bar as per the photo but we have none and have been sent small bars in a different colour instead making it unbelievably confusing, slow and frustrating for a seven year old’s patience levels. The fact that so many things can be built out of it is great but the instructions need a complete total overhaul. And this is coming from someone who has been building Ikea flat packs since I was about 8!

The rating is more for KNEX in general but this particular package at the price purchased also merits 5 stars. Some have commented on the size of box for the contents but again, for the price it is not an issue and it does provide space for partially completed constructions. The product in general is very flexible, well made and allows for a lot more experimental use than Lego because of the type of components and methods of construction. Packs can be combined to allow for bigger and more complex models. The packs contain instructions for usually 2 or 3 models with more available for download from the KNEX website.

This was a present for my nephew for Christmas. He has spent hours on his own and with friends building models. It's an excellent set and really brings out a child's imagination. It's great for group or solo play, wet weather play etc. Boys, girls and adults alike will love playing with his set and is much better value for money than the small sets. As a childminder in the past I have brought lots of sets of k'Nex after seeing children at school using them and like Lego they are timeless. Buy it you won't regret it.

We've had a few k'nex sets over the years but this one was very disappointing, no long bits and lots of skinny bits which didn't fit into the normal k'nex, my son was very disappointed with this box. Also, it is a big box with such a small amount in. Won't be buying again.

This is brilliant. So many things that you can make from it, and to me far more versatile than Lego. Often find with Lego sets that they are restricting in what you can build and need to get a new kit for each thing you want. With KNEX the types of connections mean you can build almost anything. Bought this for my 3 year old (although this product states suitable for 7+), but I supervise and build together with him. He loves it. Great selection of additional things to build on the KNEX website, enough to keep you busy for months! Excellent