How to use this Page

Get ready for Hunger Games the, uh, game… (Lionsgate is teaming up with Funtactix to build a social game that takes place in the world of Panem. Debuting the same day as the movie, it will give us the first official map of the futuristic... Read the rest of this post

I'm a huge advocate of open-ended toys, the kind of toys that encourage imagination and allow children to make their own creations with no right or wrong solutions. When children think for themselves they gain valuable life skills and also feel a sense of accomplishment. Building blocks and construction toys are classic examples of open-ended toys. Building activities help develop motor skills, strengthen spacial awareness and encourage problem solving.

The K'NEX brand of construction toys foster open-ended play. Kids can play with the sets for hours on end and construct in endless ways. Thanks to Team Mom and K'NEX we recently had the chance to try out two different K'NEX products.

My children were very excited to receive the Police Station Building Set from the K'NEX Sesame Street Neighborhood Collection Line. The set gives children the opportunity to recreate and build their own version of a Sesame Street police station complete with a stop-light and stop sign and even includes two buildable characters, Elmo and policeman Ernie. The set is recommended for ages 2-5.

Directions are supplied for the police station depicted on the cover, but my kids prefer to free build and pretend play with the two characters. My toddler son especially enjoys the two windows that open and close. My toddler son can also put two blocks together and disassemble the station. He really enjoyed playing and pretending together with Mommy and his big sister. My preschool daughter really likes the characters and making up pretend situations and conversations. The chunky, larger sized blocks work with other brands like DUPLO and Mega Bloks so my kids often build larger creations and add to their police station using other block sets that we already own.

The complete Kid K'NEX Sesame Street Neighborhood Collection line includes 4 separate sets: Ice Cream Truck Building Set, Police Car Building Set, 1-2-3 Brownstone Building Set and Police Station Building Set.