Klutz has published a new LEGO® books, many of which are focused on STEM-themed activities. The latest addition to the range is LEGO Gear Bots. Which is unlike any other LEGO book as it combines LEGO elements with papercraft sections to create weird and wonderful kinetic models. Combining the 64 LEGO elements with the 10 sheets of papercraft pieces will allow you to build up to 8 different models. But does this unique blend of materials result in a decent LEGO book? Here’s my review of the LEGO Gear Bots book.

But the most exciting part? Once they had built several gadgets together, my kids raced upstairs to grab their Lego set and started working on their own simple machines and inventions based on the skills they’d learned from this Klutz Lego kit. Build the classic catapult, ghost mobile, claw, spin-o-vision, rollin' rex, flywheel cruiser, fan club, mix master 3000, micro movie maker, robo boxer, gravity drop coasterhas been a challenging year, to say the least. Nevertheless, we hope to make your Christmas and Hanukkah shopping as stress-free as possible! Discover the power of the simple lever with the classic Catapult. Learn about propulsion with the Ghost Mobile, or experience the visual magic of motion with the Spin-O-Vision and the Micro Movie Maker. Once they had it fully constructed, they took turns launching rolled-up balls of paper, some of the leftover Lego pieces, and even their Star Wars action figures. Afterwards, they disassembled the catapult and we started working on building a car. My 4-year-old, in particular, loved that the photo instructions made it easy for him to know which pieces to find and where to put them, since he’s not reading on his own yet. His big sister read the instructions out loud, and he followed along by looking at the photos. Occasionally, they needed help snapping a small piece into place, but for the most part, they were able to build the catapult all by themselves.

Playful, vividly illustrated, step-by-step instructions guide young builders through the thrilling process of building 11 amazing and unique gadgets, all while learning about physics and mechanics.

The best part is that they’re designed to meet kids wherever they might be in their skill development. The instructions include simple sight words and bold headers to help kids easily follow along, and the gadgets are functional but not overly complex. I loved that the building process challenged my 7-year-old to think critically about how the pieces were working together to power the gadget, fine-tuning her early engineering skills and other STEM skills.