We’ve been playing with a fun new STEM toy from Learning Resources, so here is our the Gears! Gears! Gears! Movin’ Monkeys Building Set Review.
These tactile gears will get your children monkeying around for hours!
Little monkeys won’t be able to keep their hands off this 136-piece jungle themed building set.
Crank-operated set features monkeys that twist and turn, palm trees and enough colourful gears to create a lively gears jungle.
Ages 4-8, RRP £41
Gears! Gears! Gears! Movin’ Monkeys Building Set Review
This set really appealed to me when I saw it because it’s quite unlike anything that the kids have and encourages problem solving and critical thinking.
On opening the box up, we found lots of brightly coloured pieces and, phew, an instruction booklet!
Little Man was a bit overawed by it all, so he was quite content playing with the six monkeys and a couple of trees whilst I set about putting it all together.
The booklet included suggests an initial build for you, with step by step instructions.
I’d say it took me around 10 to 15 minutes to do this, as it takes a bit of getting used to initially.
The pieces are a little stiff as they’re brand new, but they are now getting easier with use so are OK for the kids to now use on their own.
When it was all complete, Little Man was really excited by it and was amazed by how moving one cog, they all moved.
When Boo got home from school, they were both entranced with playing with it. Little Man loves play sets and figures, so he used this as a setting for acting out his stories, which though always lovely to hear, he has plenty of toys that he can do that with and I wanted this one to work a little differently.
After the initial interest, Boo wandered off as she’d discovered what it could do and that was enough for her.
So I took it all apart.
Then it became interesting for Boo. Initially she said she couldn’t build anything as it would be too difficult, but she decided to try it and then I couldn’t keep her away from it!
For her, the interest is definitely in the construction and seeing how it all comes together, and because she was building it, Little Man joined in, offering his opinions on what she was doing, what she could do differently and moving the monkeys all over the place.
This is what I like about this toy.
It gets my two working things out together, creating different layouts, chatting about what they were doing and fully engaging them whilst they play.
They are both utterly absorbed whilst they are building and are so proud and keen to show off their creations to me once they’re happy with them.
They are aged 4 and 7, and I’d say this set is great for that age range.
What do you think of this Gears! Gears! Gears! Movin’ Monkeys Building Set review? Something for your little ones?
You might also be interested in our Playmags review and Electronic Dictionary Bookmark review.
Disclosure: We received this set FOC for the purposes of this post
This looks like a fab toy to get kids thinking! #TriedTested
Yes, it really does get them thinking and trying different things.
This is such an appealing construction set. Bright and colourful and fun. #triedandtested
It’s a fun one to create with.
I would love to have a go at building this. It sounds like great fun 🙂
#TriedTested
It is! 🙂
These are such great toys, we have a similar kit with battery operated parts in the set too and it is brilliant for problem solving #triedtested
It is, it definitely gets them thinking.
A great one for creativity and imagination as as well as logical thinking. #TriedTested
Yes, it works on so many different levels.
What an interesting set – I’ve never seen anything quite like this before but I can imagine that it would be fascinating for children to see how turning one cog makes the others turn. Definitely a good way to help with problem solving and construction skills. #TriedTested
It amazes them how one cog moves all of the others!
This looks great to me. I like the fact that you can try and make different things from it and it gives you an initial build to create. #TriedTested
Yes, it’s versatile as well as giving you ideas, it is a fun one!
Ben is a really fan of all things construction so I’m sure he’d love spending some time figuring this out and putting it all together!
Thanks for sharing your review on #TriedTested this week x
It is fascinating to put together and see it all moving x
You can’t beat a good cog game – an oldie but a goodie! #TriedTested
Definitely!
This looks amazing, what a great toy to get them building! It’s great they both had lots of fun with it =)
It keeps them both entertained, it’s good to watch them building.
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