Building and construction toys are a great buy for your child. Building and construction toys stimulate and develop necessary skills and imagination in young kids. Kids have a sense of achievement when they construct toys from scratch. Blocks, building sets, construction toys, model kits and more make up this top building and construction toys list for 2008. Find your favorite construction toys from K'Nex, Lego, Playmobil, Mega bloks and more
1. Playmobil Circus Tent
I am a big fan of Playmobil building sets. I really enjoyed looking at all the new Playmobil sets including the circus which is one of the main themes for this year. I loved the big and small details like the colorful circus tent, the ring master, the little band which plays music, the various animals, the trapeze artists and much more. One of the most authentic features of the big Circus Tent is the twinkling LED lights. Kids and collectors alike are going to love the Playmobil circus sets.
2. Kapla Wooden Planks Building Set
Kapla's unique wooden construction blocks are definitely one of the best building and construction and toys around, based on their sheer simplicity and ease of use. These eco-friendly wooden blocks have enormous potential for the use of your imagination to construct all sorts of structures. You can make buildings, bridges, towers, abstract structures.. you name it. Best of all, you don't need glue, nails or anything apart from these wooden blocks which use the principle of gravity for balancing on top of one another.3. Magnext 360 Case from Mega Brands
The Magnext 360 Case is a 100 piece building set which itself acts as a building platform on which you can construct awesome structures. You can open up the case which is almost like a briefcase and bend it to the angle of your choice. You can build off the sides, the top, the handle or the supporting frame - basically anywhere off the platform. There are a lot of convenient storage areas which are great to contain odds and ends. The designs you can build are pretty amazing - you can construct hanging, dangling designs as well. Along with the standard Tri, Quad and Dual Bars, special parts that come with the Magnext 360 case include Square and Triangle Panels, Chains and Spinners and more. Ideal for children 6 years and up.4. Kid K'nex Oscar Building Set
I loved this green building set from K'nex. Kids between the ages of 2-5 will enjoy constructing the popular character Oscar from Sesame Street. There are 14 kid-friendly pieces, including KID K'NEX rods, connectors and blocks. Also included are stickers, character hands, eyes and, as a bonus, Oscar's pet worm Slimey. A very affordable building toy for your young ones.5. Playmobil Large Camouflage Pirate Ship
The Playmobil Pirate Ship is an awesome building set. It's such a treat to build this large pirate ship primarily because of it's many movable and workable parts. There are shooting cannons, a flag which rolls out, a turning figurehead, a loading crane which can be moved and much more. Once you've built the ship, it actually floats in water. If you don't want to be bothered with the mess water can make, try to move the ship on rollers - it's equally fun.6. OWIKit's Robotic Arm Edge
Teachers and parents are always on the lookout for good science kits for their kids' science projects, or simply to encourage building skills. The Robotic Arm Edge is the newest science kit out on the market. As the name suggests, this kit is primarily a robotic arm which consists of a motorized gripper. To visualize this better, think of the automated robotic arms you see in manufacturing plants performing mechanical tasks. There are five gearboxes that you use to control the gripper to open, close and carry upto 100 g of weight. Budding young engineers will love fiddling around with the gearboxes and various associated motors and joints. There's a search light feature on the gripper. This kit should appeal to the techie in us all.7. Gears! Gears! Gears! Coggy Doggy Building Set
This lovely building set from Learning Resources immediately caught my eye mainly because of the colorful and kid-sized gears that snap together to form an adorable dog. Kids above the age of 5 years will love to experiment and put together the pieces while looking at the illustrated instruction manual. The end result is a puppy that looks kind of whacky, but is adorable, nonetheless. There's also a remote control that you can connect to move the pup back and forth. You can also create your own version of doggies if you so desire.