Skip to main content

Little Engineer : DIY Mechanix Mini Set

'Play is the brain's favourite way of learning' - Diane Ackeman

Games and playing is a natural process for children and it is the best method for children to learn and acquire skills that would help them survive as an adult. However, it is important to note that the right kind of games will not only help our children survive, but also thrive as an adult. 

This is when the Mechanix set of DIY toys caught my attention online. From the online description and pictures, I understood that this toy had nuts, bolts and screws and metal pieces that we had to assemble to form either a car or bike or such things. It looked interesting and I immediately ordered three sets as the cost of a single set didn't burn a hole in my pocket. I decided to give it a try and see if my Zavi liked it. 

Finally after almost a week's wait, the set was delivered. I had already told Zavi that I had a surprise for him. So when the package was delivered, he was jumping up and down and wanted to open it immediately. After a quick sanitization, we eagerly opened the pack. But I was in for disappointment, the Mechanix set pack itself was very small, just around 15 cm x 15 cm x 5cm and weighed hardly around 250gms. I immediately reviewed my order and I realized I had ordered the Mechanix Mini. My mistake, since the pieces were too small for my 4 year old Zavi. 

















But nonetheless, Zavi was extremely excited. So I decided to help him fix the set. He was eagerly waiting to open the pack. We had ordered three sets, a mini bike, a mini car and a mini plane. Zavi wanted to start with the 30 piece mini bike set. Zavi opened the pack and inside there was a pack with screws, nuts and bolts, steel pieces, a mini screwdriver and an instruction sheet. I first showed Zavi the instructions sheet, where the assembly of the bike was shown in 4 simple steps. Then we opened the pack and segregated the screws, nuts and bolts and the steel pieces. It was pretty difficult for Zavi as the pieces were really small. But his excitement knew no bounds. We slowly started assembling the pieces. Zavi found the pieces as in the instruction and also inserted the screws. He tried his best to tighten the screws with the mini screwdriver. He even patiently bolted the nuts and tada, our first Mechanix Mini bike was ready. 

We had two more sets left and Zavi was adamant that we fix the car and plane also then and there itself. He was enjoying this hands on toy very much. We went forward to complete the mini car and mini plane.

Reasons and benefits of DIY toys : 
  • This keeps him occupied and keeps him away from gadgets. 
  • Improves Creativity. 
  • DIY-Do it yourself kit helps to introduce theme based knowledge and construction skills.
  • It strengthens cognitive skills, social skills, improves developmental and academic skills.
  • Once completed, it gives a sense of accomplishment.
  • It boosts their confidence once they complete the project. 
  • It improves responsibility and productivity.
In short, this mini toy totally kept Zavi occupied and he loved the outcome and is looking forward to his next set, probably a bigger set and not the mini version.

Comments

  1. Nice read.. this is totally depended on the interest of the children

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Battleship : Get on the grid or go home

Battleship is a typical strategy game for two players. It is more of a head to head naval combat game that keeps you at the edge. With each passing turn the player attacks the ships of the opponent and the one who loses all his ships in the battle will be the defeated.  The game was basically a paper and pencil game that was developed during World War One (WW1). It was during the 60’s that the game started appearing as a board game. The game basically has four sets of 10*10 grids, two each for a player. Each grid is marked horizontally and vertically with letters and numbers so that each individual square in the grid can be identified by the letter and the number. Each player is also given five types of ships, which we have to arrange on our primary grid. It is in this primary grid that we mark the attacks by our opponent. We also have a secondary grid, where we can mark our own attack on the opponent. Apart from this, we also have two sets of pegs for marking the attacks, one set of r

Guess Who : The Mystery Begins Here

Who doesn't love to play around with a little investigation, to pin down on that one person who we have in mind. Yes Guess Who ? is just the right game for playing our own question - answer investigation game.  Guess Who? is essentially a two player character guessing game. The contents include 48 plastic frames ( 24 characters each for each player), 2 playing boards in red and blue, 3 sets of pre cut cards in red, blue and yellow and 14 scoring pegs. Initially the assembly of the game requires adult help as the red and the blue cards have to be loaded to the frame and fixed to the board.  Contents of the box 48 Plastic Frames 2 Playing boards 3 Sets of cards  14 scoring pegs Objective of the game is to find out who is on your opponent's card before he / she guesses the character on yours. To start with the game, each player chooses either the red or the blue board. Then the yellow set of cards are shuffled and each player picks a yellow card and fixes it on the card holder i

Monopoly Junior : Financial Affairs

Monopoly is a traditional and much loved board game. The traditional game is more or less a real estate game where we can buy and trade properties, develop them with houses or hotels. The wealthiest player would turn out to be the winner and the players collect rent from the opponents with the intention to drive them to bankruptcy. There are other methods to gain or lose money, i.e. via chances, or players can end up in jail or they cannot move until a particular condition is met and the like. The game has numerous other house rules too depending on the version you buy.  I was wondering how we could introduce the original Monopoly to our little one. Meanwhile Santa arrived during Christmas with this Monopoly Junior as a gift for our little Zavi. I kept wondering whether this game would help him understand and learn a little about money and basic mathematics. He was really pulled in just because of spider man and the electro on the cover although the game has nothing to do with spide