Features:

  • Make a tow truck, a jeep, a well and a crane or use your imagination to build something all your own
  • This set features winches and comes with essential engineering parts including a tow-hook, a spool, connectors, gears, wheels, rods, and hub caps
  • 10 Engineering challenges encourage exploration and problem solving
  • Supports skills in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) and stimulates imagination and creativity
  • Ages 7 to adult
  • For people of all ages who want to challenge their mind and sharpen their skills, ThinkFun is the world’s leader in addictively fun games that build reasoning and creative thinking skills through play.
girls in engineering

My daughter (7yrs) loves it! She loves to stylize her engineering solutions. The kits really help her understand how things work.

Maker Studio Allows You to Use Your Creation to Solve Strategy & Logic Challenges, It is More Than Just a Building Toy.

This new addition to the ThinkFun line is great for your little builders. The Maker Studio comes with an array of building pieces, and instruction book, and challenge cards. You use recycled boxes and tubes to create different machines. Then you use those machines along with the challenge cards to solve problems. The Winches Set focuses on designs that use winches and pulleys. Pros: -There is a variety of different style machines that can be built with their instructions. -The challenge cards move this from just being a building toy, to being a strategy & logic toy. (Would you expect anything less from ThinkFun?) -There are three different building kits, and the pieces can be used together to create new machines, -It invites self exploration and creativity beyond the instructions. -They include a tool to punch holes into your boxes and tubes for axels. Cons: -When using the instructions, you must have the right size box. A box just an inch larger can cause a machine not to build correctly. -Knowing exactly where they would like a cut to be made can be tricky at times. We have used this game to take the love of building and expand it into problem solving. We have even used this as a lesson in measurement. My kids have been put in charge of measuring boxes while we are grocery shopping. They bring the instructions and find the right box or tube for the project. (It keeps little people busy during a grocery shopping trip. They always need their own "job".) I think it would be great if there were some additional plans you could print out off the ThinkFun website for machines that used pieces from combining all three kits. I love the fact that all of the sets can integrate together so children can create whatever they like. There are many different building kits on the market. This is the first one I have seen that challenges your child with problem solving activities where they use their creations to solve. I received the Maker Studio for review. The review is my own.

Delightfully Challenging

My five year old always wants me to play Legos with him. However, even at five Legos aren't all that challenging. When I sat down to use the Winches set with him even my brain was challenged. We worked together to follow the directions. I can tell it will be easier next time, however ThinkFun provides directions for several other items to build as well as challenges that allow for the child to use their brain to solve a problem without simply following the directions. I saw that another reviewer disliked how the kit requires you to use items from the recycling bin to complete the creation, complaining that recyclables fall apart with rough play. I will say that the tow truck definitely withstood a couple afternoons of play, and now that the cracker box we used to create the truck is wearing, we are encouraged to try another pattern or challenge. I was pleased to receive this Maker Studio Set for free in exchange for a blog post and review.

Great Set for Building STEM Skills

We bought this set for our 6yo son who is constantly making things. He will often pick up anything he can find, work it into some shape, add some details, and presto! something new is born. :) This was a perfect set for him. The pieces are sturdy (which are needed for his not-so-gentle hands), they can be manipulated in many different forms, and the only limit is his imagination! I was pleasantly surprised to find the little booklet of challenges for the child to complete once they master the building of the individual items. The questions and problems are definitely made to make a child think without being so challenging as to make them lose interest. I can already see it building the STEM skills in my son as he sits back, contemplates the build, and suddenly says, "OH! I see what's wrong!" This set is listed for 7yo and up. I think that is a fair representation. Our 6yo son, who does a lot of manipulation and engineering already on his own, does well with this set, although he is strongly challenged by it. My 9yo son will also enjoy this set as soon as his brother gives him a chance to play with it. :) Thank you, ThinkFun for producing such an excellent product! I look forward to adding more of the MakerStudio Construction sets to our home!

Hands On Building Fun For Kids

I have a 10 year old daughter who loves to build things and to take things apart and put them back together. This little kit was perfect for her, because it employs simple concepts to teach basic engineering. I thought it was really cool that we could use this set, along with a few things we would have otherwise thrown in the trash anyway, to make working contraptions. I also liked that each kit could build several different creations and that there were "engineering challenges" included that teach kids how to think outside the box to solve problems. We could work as a team to figure out and solve these challenges as well, making it into great, educational family time. I received this item free of charge from the company, in order to facilitate a review. My opinions are my own and have not been influenced in any way. No further compensation was received.

This is Awesome!

This is a fantastic toy that I received free for review. I have two young daughters and because of some articles I have read realize the importance of STEM activities particularly for young girls. This kind of toy improves logical and critical thinking skills and has all necessary parts to build one of four different projects. All you will need is either a popcorn box or a tin can. The pieces are totally reusuable so that when you are done you can build another one. The kit is for 7+ which makes sense since my five year old lost interest pretty quickly. My seven year old though was captivated and used the flipbook included that has special challenges for each project immediately. I saw her playing with our build throughout the day and was really impressed at how interested she was in the detailed aspect of this toy. I highly recommend this, and think that these sorts of toys sneak in learning and make it fun. So much fun they don't even know they are learning!

He loved working on cars for years and building things so ...

I Actually bought both Gears and Winches sets....not for a child but for an year old Alzheimer's patient. He LOVES them!!! IT keeps both hands and mind busy without being too stressful or complicated. He loved working on cars for years and building things so these were EXACTLY what I have been looking to find for quite awhile. Kim Bradley

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