Gizmos 82-piece Set (Gears! Gears! Gears! series)

I bought this as an expansion to the Learning Resources Gears! Gears! Gears! Super Set (150 Pieces) <link below> for my 4 year old son. He was 3 years old when I bought the Super Set. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00000JGWY/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s02?ie=UTF8&psc=1 I highly recommend both products. The parts are very well built and durable. The Super Set (link above) was perfect for a three year old. It gave him a lot of gears and was easy for him to learn how to use / build new set-ups. In the Super Set all of the gears are a single standard size. Therefore, it is very easy for a 3 year old to figure out and build things that will interact by default. I would recommend starting with the Super Set if it is your child’s first set. I would also consider buying the Super Set in combination with Gizmos and Gears so you have a lot of pieces to build things with. Now that my son is a year older and has experience with the base set (he has played with it a lot off-and-on over the past year), we decided to expand it with the Gizmos and Gears set. The Gizmos and Gears introduces two new sizes of gears (medium and large) and three new sizes of base plates. It also introduces several new “gizmo” pieces. For example, it comes with two connection springs which allows you to connect the center of two different gears on different planes or different orientations (e.g. orthogonal to eachother). As the driving gear turns, it builds up torque in the spring, and the second spring turns with a slight delay. Other gizmos include a propeller and several new creative structural pieces as well. The Gizmos and Gears set provides kids with good hands-on experience with machines. They will develop a natural intuition on the impact of Gear Ratios (small gear driving a large gear, or visa versa), begin understanding the concept of Gear Backlash (how much you can turn the driving gear before the tolerance stack-up results in movement / force throughout the gear chain), learn how to be creative and invent their own “machines”, etc.. all while having fun. It is fun to watch my son focus while he is building and experimenting with the various gears. With the different sized gears in the set he has to figure out which structural pieces he needs to use to ensure the teeth will adequately interact. When he wants to add a new gear, sometimes he has to remove existing ones so he can physically fit the new one in. Then he has to put the originals back in place. These are great experiences that will help him figure out how things work and build / repair things in the future. Nothing beats hands on learning. There are things you learn playing with physical objects that you will never learn on a tablet or smart phone app. This is also a great opportunity for parents to play with their kids. My son often wants us to play with him and help him build new “machines”, or to proudly show us his new machine and ask us to operate it. In summary, I highly recommend the Gizmos and Gears set, especially if it is an expansion to the Super Set I mentioned earlier in the review. The Gizmo’s and Gears set is also good as a standalone set. The first night my son used it was stand alone and not yet combined with his other gears. The number of parts in the set is a little limited, so if your child does enjoy playing with them, you may look to expand the set with a second Gizmo’s and Gears, the Super Set, or one of the other expansion sets you can find on Amazon. I can see this set being fun for kids of multiple ages. My son is 4, but I can see him playing with these , much like legos, for years to come.

This set of gears is very sturdy, and the pieces fit together as they should. They do not lock in place, but, for the most part, the gears stay put as they turn. They occasionally come loose at times when it's not part of the plan, but a locking feature would create its own issues, so I'm okay with the design. The gears can be arranged in many configurations, and extra "gizmos" are included to expand the possibilities. I had a smaller set from this same brand, so when I wanted to expand it, I looked for these again. Happy with my purchase!

My 5 year old son has advanced rapidly in just two days of playing with this. He is describing and building complicated gear layouts that incorporate gears of different sizes and gears at different angles to one another. Very nice! My main complaint is that the set should include more pieces. I cannot see more than two kids playing with the contents of this set, and even then I think there would be some fighting for scarce pieces. PROS * Durable pieces * Well-designed pieces connect well and allow for excellent spinning action of the gears * The type of toy that kids will play with for hours on end and go back to again and again CONS * Not enough pieces for the price; you can get hundreds of lego bricks for the same price * What do the gears *move*? There is only one propeller included and no wheels or other items that gears might control. Instead, we just tend to move more gears, which is fine for a 5 year old but not for an 8 year old PURCHASING RECOMMENDATION This is fun and very educational. I will buy the additional sets and give this one as a gift to other kids. I do wish they put more pieces in it, but it still is worth buying.

The gears were purchased for morning STEM bins in my classroom. My students have enjoyed them, but because of the number of pieces received and the ways they can be connected, design ideas are limited. The pieces have held up well and are well made. I do not recommend using the included stickers, they peel off and do not adhere well after repeated use, they are not necessary, so this is not a big issue.

My son has the original set, so I decided to get him this one in addition. This is a nice sized set and does all the features of the original, plus has the monkey elements, trees, and several other unique features. I did put it together (only 1 x) according to instructions and it was pretty impressive, one single movement makes the entire jungle move. However, my son quickly took it apart and we now pretty much use it like the original. He creases cars and towers using connector pieces and loves placing the wheels not eh board (he is 3). I also like that the set can be used with the other Gears sets. So while some of the comments mentioned that is difficult to put together using the instructions, I have to say I disagree. Yes a 3 year old may not do it himself, but this set still allows for creativity and using it in other ways than just according to the instructional model.

Our 3yo asks to play with this set every day. Even though he can't build the complicated structure pictured on the box, he can build his own less-complicated structures. When Daddy plays with him and puts the entire set together, they have a lot of fun watching the monkeys swing around. Our 2yo grandson was equally enthralled, even though he couldn't put any of the pieces together yet. He still liked the brightly colored pieces and carried them around the house. I love that there are several sets that can be used together. This is an engaging toy that can be put together many ways and since we gave it to him 2 months ago, this has been our son's favorite playset.

I bought this so my 4 year old son could sit and tinker with it. I really like the gears - they are well made and work awesomely with the cranks. The quality is great. The finished product here is also pretty cool to watch. But it requires a lot of parental assistance. The instructions are not like step by step LEGO instructions, they are very small for a child to follow properly. Unfortunately, the loop gear did not work at the end so we lost the full effect. Also, with our set, the cranking wasn't smooth. Some treetops fell apart because the pegs were not locking into the small pillar pieces. After we were done, I was wondering what my son could do with this set on his own. The monkeys and vines are great but I'm not sure if he'll be able to replicate the effect. It's a nice toy but not sure if I'd recommend it.

This is an amazing toy. It is definitely one of our favorites. We will be getting more. The centers for the flowers are definitely choking hazards. I think there is at least 5 or 6 of them. I have just put them in a baggie and put them up for now. But this is a fantastic toy. Highly recommend.