Classic Tinker Toys: Just As Much Fun Then, As They Are Now!

After the great Moon Sand explosion in Alex's room yesterday, I decided to redirect him and let him play with his Tinker Toys he got for Christmas.

He unpackaged the wheels, sticks and tubes, and found the directions on how to make a monorail, and his eyes lit up like lanterns! (Alexzander is obsessed with Roller Coaster Tycoon and will seriously play for hours if we let him.) "Mommy, I can make a monorail, just like at my theme park!"

Another few minutes later, it's extremely quiet, and because of the last fiasco an hour earlier, I decided to go in and peek on him. I crack open the door, half expecting to see some sort of gadget rigged to the ceiling fan, or him asleep- (a mother can wish, right?).. and instead, I see Alex sitting studiously examining the picture of the monorail, lining every stick up exactly.

We bought K'nex last year for Christmas, but it was a little too mature for him, and within days, I was vacuuming up itty bitty connectors. This is his first time playing with Tinker Toys, and I have to admit, I was a little skeptical. I thought because they were chunkier pieces that he would brush it off as being a "baby" toy, as most of his sisters toys are thicker, sturdier, and chunky. I never thought that he'd be making a monorail on his train table so that "the cars could drive under it, and the people could travel quicker on the monorail." LOL! He cracks me up!

I don't know if you can see it in the pictures, but at first he hooked up the ...um.. orange hook tube connector things upside down, and once he started connecting the tubes, he couldn't get the monorail to glide. Tinker Toys actually allowed for him to use his problem solving skills to figure out why it kept crashing at every connector, and before I knew it, he was flipping them "up side up".

This morning, not even an hour after he woke up, he started building again. I know we're only on day 2 with Tinker Toys, but I have to say I am definitely impressed. He made a microphone and stand today! The possibilities are endless with Tinker Toys!