Tag Archives: Construction

Build and Destroy… Because that’s what kids do, right?

Posted by Lauren on April 4, 2013 None comments

Living in Michigan does not guarantee Mother Nature will send us spring when the calendar tells her to do so. Related: My oldest son has asked me nightly if tomorrow will be the day he can go without socks and a coat and run around barefoot in the grass. I feel ya buddy, I do.

So it’s April and my thermometer currently tells me it’s below 40 degrees. This means playing outside is still at a minimum and requires a lot of warm layers.

Needless to say, we are still inside a lot even though we don’t want to be. So what do we do when we want to be outside exploring and running but are instead confined to the tiny space of our living room? We build stuff.

As a family of two parents, a three-and-a-half-year-old, and a 12-month old, we have somewhere around a gazillion toys just for building stuff. In fact, even toys that are not in any way or form meant for building get used for building stuff.

You need a road for your cars? Line up books. Or pile them up and watch your baby brother Godzilla them down.

Need a place to hide for a minute? Create a fort with every single blanket and pillow in a 2-mile radius of the living room.

What’s that? Intruders (aka your baby brother) might break in while you are taking your bath? Build a Booby Trap with ALL THE THINGS in the hallway. That’ll teach ‘em!

Of course we do spend time with actual building toys too. The youngest works on his fine and gross motor skills by stacking, putting things in other things, and smacking towers down.

Blocks are your classic “stack and smack” toy and we have quite a few varieties of them. We have the classic wooden blocks (seen below), we have plastic blocks, and we have Drip Drop Blocks (seen above).

We have SmartMax toys and we have, of course Legos. My boys are too little yet for regular Legos (although I think for the eldest’s 4^th birthday, he may just ask for them), but we have a million of the Duplo kind. The way it goes around here is that my 3yo builds a magnificent creation and the little one destroys it. Then there are tears. It’s fun!

We also have a couple Mic-O-Mic helicopter sets. My oldest LOVES these because they are JUST for him. The baby is too small to be around such tiny parts. And even though the sets are to build helicopters, he gets creative and makes whatever his heart desires.

I am so hoping our days of sitting inside building things are numbered. I can tell that both of my boys are itching to run and play and build things out of dirt just to destroy them. Because that is what kids do, right?

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Katie Sluiter is a freelance writer and teacher who should probably be grading papers or changing diapers but is more likely blogging, tweeting, or just overusing social media in general. She chronicles all this on her blog, Sluiter Nation.

Cars and Trucks and Things That Go

Posted by Lauren on December 3, 2012 2 comments

Ever since my first son was born three and a half years ago, I swore I would not push “boy” toys on him. That I would let his interests guide his play.

This is why he likes to watch princesses and has a baby doll. It’s also why he asked for a tea set for Christmas.

But I believe there is an element of “boy” that is just engrained in his DNA.

He carries his baby doll around and declares that he will shoot bad guys with her bottle.

He bakes birthday cakes and makes us “lunch” and begs for Nerf guns.

He gets mesmerized by Minnie’s Bow-tique, but wants to be Batman.

And the thing he loves most? CARS AND TRUCKS!

Every single time a commercial comes on for cars or tracks or trucks he yells, “I WANT THAT!” or “PUT THAT IN MY LETTER TO SANTA!!!”

Because we clearly do not have enough.

Eddie has had this obsession with things with wheels from his first truck—a fire truck that made a ton of racket.

Some of his first words were “truck” and “bus” and “car”. Daddy drove a “cuck” and mommy drove a “caw” and on his way to daycare he saw “coo busses”.

He would grunt and point out everything that moved when we drove down the street. Every semi-truck got a “YOOK, MOM! Dat cuck is HUGE!”

When a child gets a fascination with a certain subject, family and friends are quick to cling to that for gift ideas. And so our home became over-run with all the things that go—much to Eddie’s glee.

In fact, Eddie’s favorite thing to do with his cars and trucks was to make a “parking lot,” which really just meant lining them all up.

There was no daily task to which he couldn’t incorporate the need of a truck or car. Taking a nap? There’s a car for that. Playing outside? There’s a truck for that. Getting his diaper changed? There’s a car for that.

Eating a snack?

You got it. There’s a truck for that.

Now, at the ripe old age of three, he is more into racing them. He wants fast cars and cool trucks.

He loves to be able to build and take apart and change things out. It’s probably why he loves his new Smart Max Power Vehicles Set and Legos and trains so much (other posts completely).

He’s into doing things by himself and showing us his new creations.

And wouldn’t you know it? His baby brother, Charlie has recently taken an interest to things that go too.

I have a feeling that living in this house of boys means cars and trucks underfoot for a few years yet.

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Favorite Building Toy For Lego Fans = Laser Pegs

Posted by melissa.t on April 12, 2012 None comments

Twins, Max and Duncan, who own a million Legos, LOVE these light-up construction Laser Pegs. I’m talking over the top squeals, laughing, “this is cool” LOVE. You know that kind, right?

They’re obsessed with the World of Bugs building set which has 84 Laser Pegs. Above they’re checking out the 18-pages of bug model directions. One boy decided to follow the directions while the other made his own inventions. Either approach works and has it’s own learning and design benefits.

Of course we know that building with blocks has lots of brain boosting benefits beyond just the improved hand-eye coordination. Remember this research about block play?

Create and Decorate

What can you create with these Laser Pegs? Well, bugs and bug-like creatures, of course, as well as robot-like figures, and action-figures.

Max’s grasshopper actually became the center piece at the family’s Easter table –all lit up. (Now there’s a new decoration tip Martha might not have thought of!)

Science!

The entire set reminded the twins of a science unit in school on electricity. And, they loved the choice between batteries and a docking station. Lots of science lessons.

The boys mom says, “I LOVED it because it made them think, follow directions, stretch in ways they hadn’t in awhile. It excited me that they were following directions with an added dimension (light/sound). I had to hide them in order for homework to get done. I would definitely recommend this. It was a HIT!”