K*Nex Education - Giveaway!

K’Nex Education
http://www.knex.com/Educators/products.php

Who doesn’t know about K’Nex. Everyone hard heard of played with this toy. But did you know that the idea came from playing with straws during a wedding? You can discover the history of this great toy by clicking here.

Now you might wonder why I am writing about K’Nex today. Well, a while back I decided to contact various companies to see if they would have a mom blogger who would use their product and then write about it. I’ve contacted many companies and got some answers – sometimes positives, sometimes negatives, sometimes nothing. I wasn’t discourage as I was trying to get new opportunities to review on my blog.

About a month or so later, I received an email from K’Nex Education saying they would love it if I could review some products and write about it. Imagine my surprise (and immense joy) to get their answer. I told them that I would be more than willing (as well as my kids) to look into the K’Nex Education products. They also told me that they could send me some giveaways as well. (Keep reading for more details on this!)

So one day, the door bell rang and I found a big box from K’Nex. The kids were jumping up and down when they saw what was in there. Fun stuff indeed! I’ve received a box of K’Nex Education for Into to Structures – Bridges, Elementary Math and Geometry, and Intro to Simple Machines –Levers and Pulleys. Here’s a little description for each of the boxes I have received.

Intro to Structures: Bridges
In this particular K’Nex Education box, the student will build 13 different bridge models. The set includes building instructions with real-life photos and key facts on each of the bridges. The models that the student builds will demonstrate the 7 key bridge types: beam, truss, arch, cantilever, suspension, cable-stayed and movable/bascule. Geared for grades 3-6. http://www.knex.com/Educators/structures_bridges.php

Elementary Math and Geometry

The Elementary Math & Geometry set allows the student to construct squares, rectangles, trapezoids, rhombi, prisms, triangles, quadrilaterals, plus symmetry, and pattern and fraction models. For Grade 1-3 . http://www.knex.com/Educators/elementary_math_geometry.php

Intro to simple machines: Levers and Pulleys
Build 8 different replicas of real-world models. The set include building instructions with real-life photos and key facts for each model. Models demonstrate 1st, 2nd, and 3rd class levers along with fixed, movable and combination pulley systems. Geared Grade 3-6. http://www.knex.com/Educators/simple_machines_levers.php

Our Thoughts
My first observation is that the pieces seem to be made of a stronger plastic than the ones sold at regular store. But again I might be mistaken. Even though they seem stronger my oldest son was able to break two while putting one of the bridges apart. His solution was to replace the part with one from our regular sets. Oh well…

All three boxes are extremely popular with my two oldest sons and they keep asking to see if they can go build a new thing. *grin* My answer to them is that we need to do our regular schoolwork and then we can discover more about bridges, math and geometry or levers and pulleys.

When I opened the boxes I was impressed with the possibility of putting separators to keep the pieces in a proper order. Nothing gets more on my nerve than not finding a piece while you are trying to built something.
The first box we opened was the Introduction to Structures –Bridges. We learned interesting facts about the bridges we have build so far. For example, the arch type of bridges can have the arch under, over or through. I have never really thought about this before but it is true that these three types of arch bridges exist.

The second box we opened was more for Dominic as he was in the age range for this one. The Elementary Math and Geometry will bring the geometric forms to life for the kids and will certainly help them to remember their particularities. Dominic had a lot of fun to build the pyramid with some help as some pieces were difficult to put together. It is also a great teaching moment to explain to him that it is important to follow instructions and directions when building something because if you don’t you won’t have the same result.

Finally, we had to experiment with the Introduction to simple machines – levers and pulleys. So I asked my two eldest sons to work together to built me one of the models from the book. And they brought me a nice wheelbarrow as well as they hockey stick. Quite interesting.

One thing that I find sad is that the instruction book is only in English. However, they do provide the French instructions inside the box but a teacher would have to cut them and glue them themselves in the booklet to “translate” the information about the models. I think it would be better to have a booklet with both languages in it. It feels a little bit cheap not to do so.

Finally each set comes packaged in a strong plastic storage case with dividers and lockable lid. And the sets also include a teacher guide on CD.

GREAT NEWS!

K’Nex Education has sent me one box of each set for a giveaway. So I have three K’Nex Education to give away. Consequently, three of my readers will win one set.

This giveaway ends April 23rd, 2010 at 9 pm. The winners will be chosen using Random.org and will have 48 hours to respond to my e-mail before new names are drawn. One per household, Canada only. Don’t forget to include your e-mail so I can contact you. If it’s not there and I can’t give you the good news I will have to choose someone else!