This post is a paid promotion by Fisher-Price and all opinions are my own. Looking for a great new building toy for the holidays? Blake loves Wonder Makers™ toys.
Having recently turned five, Blake is all about building. He loves to tinker, experiment and proudly show off his creations. Which is why I was happy to welcome Wonder Makers™ design systems from Fisher-Price into our home.
Wonder Makers toys have mixed-materials, a variety of textures, plenty of bright colors and kid-powered features. Blake instantly gravitated towards the rubber connectors which can be used to build a track for a car or help construct a building, noting how they were different from any other building toy he had previously played with.
As we opened up the Slide & Ride Schoolyard set and took out the people, he was so excited to see that our set included a character that resembled one of his friends because she had a wheelchair. In that moment I found myself grateful that someone on the Wonder Makers™ toys team thought to include diverse characters.
Blake’s small world includes a friend with Down’s Syndrome, a friend who was born without part of their arm and me, who he has watched go through varying stages of baldness and hair re-growth since he was two. It’s my hope that open dialogue and familiarity with differences earlier in life will mean that Blake grows up comfortable, welcoming and easily able to find commonalities.
It didn’t take long for us to build a school, playground and track with the interchangeable components from different Wonder Makers toy sets. While I helped here and there, it was nice to see that Blake was able to put quite a bit of it together himself and bask in the glory of that five-year-old independence.
One thing I try hard to practice as a parent (but don’t always get right) is to not just fix or do something for our kids and instead to encourage them to try to fix it or figure it out themselves. Sure, it takes longer and occasionally involves a bit of whining, but the sense of accomplishment when they master the skill is worth it.
Our Wonder Makers™ sets each had plenty of pieces and interesting components to use as a stand-alone toy but also integrated seamlessly with the other available sets. And while we could create some suggested builds from The Maker’s Guide to get us started, the pieces could be reworked to align with whatever Blake had in mind.
Blake and I combined the Build Around Town™ Starter Kit with the Slide & Ride Schoolyard and couldn’t get over how cute these individually potted fabric plants were. We used them as counters, cargo and decor. Blake also went on to turn some of the straight and curved wooden pieces into robot claws with the rubber connectors. Which of course, he thought was hilarious!
The attention to detail in the plants, farmhouse style lights and miniature pieces of mail throughout the sets caught my eye and were the perfect size for tiny fingers. Wonder Makers™ toys also held the attention of Kayla and her ten-year-old friend and spent a couple of hours building along with Blake. Anytime you can get a group of kids of varying ages working together with a toy for an extended period of time, you know you’ve struck parental gold!
With the holidays quickly approaching I’ve got my eye on a couple of other Wonder Makers™ sets for Blake. I think he’ll love playing with the Lift & Sort Recycling Center and the Special Delivery Depot™ over our holiday break from school.
You can find Wonder Makers™ toys exclusively on amazon.com which makes them the perfect item to add to a holiday Amazon wishlist or to bring to the next kiddie birthday party you’ll be attending.
