LEGO Chain Reactions Craft Kit

Product Description

Features

• Nappa silver award winner
• Design and build 10 amazing moving machines - teach your bricks new tricks
• Comes with 80 page instructions, 33 LEGO pieces, Instructions for 10 modules, 6 plastic balls, string, paper ramps and other components
• Includes a 80 page instructional book with Klutz Certified crystal clear instructions
• Includes more than 30 essential LEGO elements
• Recommended for children ages 8+

Top Reviews

Well executed by the authors. Think about these things before purchase.
by tenor1 (5 out of 5 stars)
February 27, 2015

This was not an easy concept for the authors and product planners to execute. It's radically different than just assembling Legos from an instruction booklet. A lot of thought and effort went into the chain reaction concepts and resulting projects. The book layout, the security so that the parts actually arrive at the consumer, the durability of the non Lego paper components, the directions on how to fold the paper components etc, etc, etc. are thoughtfully done. I think they struck a very good balance so this would not cost an arm and a leg. Some might call it cheap (a few Lego pieces, a beautiful well laid out instruction book with nicely printed paper components) but I call it cost effective. A lot of what you're paying for here is in my opinion is the wow factor of the book and the well thought out concepts.

I supported my 7 year old grandson's effort to build the first project. My 5 year old grandson looked at what was involved and walked away I think because it looks complicated and the projects contain very few pieces. Both of them are very skilled Lego builders who pride themselves on their ability to throw lots of pieces together quickly. Does that sound familiar to you?

So... I think what motivates most young Lego builders is assembling lots of pieces quickly and having a relatively static object to play with when done. The chain reaction projects aren't that at all. They don't look like much -to an adult - when complete. They are challenging in my view mostly because of the need for precision alignment between the paper parts and the Lego motion actuators the kids assemble to create the Chain the Reaction. Once assembled and aligned, making it function can require trial and error, motivation to succeed, precision hand and eye coordination and patience. I think that doing the first project successfully might be a make or break point for this product. Failure would surely be a deterrent towards doing subsequent projects in the book so initial success seems very important at least for younger children. The greatest joy my grandson experienced (and it was great joy) was the moment the first project functioned properly for the first time after several complete and partial failures (just as his patience was wearing thin) and then joy again once the chain reaction was rehearsed and easily repeatable so as to show his parents without failure. Having achieved this first success he was excited about doing more projects. It remains to be seen what his long term interest level will be.

Yes.. This is radically different than just sticking prices together and success is not easy considering that the projects are minimalist in the total number of pieces. However I think the lessons and skills this product teaches are very important, worthwhile and noteworthy. Aside from the skills mentioned above this is also elementary physics of motion, weight, angle, momentum, etc. In summary, it appears that, assuming success along the way, the complicated chain reactions are fun for children to assemble, challenging to make fully, reliably functional and thrilling once they work for that first time. It's all good stuff!
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167 additional pieces required!!
by NikNak (3 out of 5 stars)
December 18, 2015

Firstly - I bought this for a nephew for Christmas, so it hasn't yet been tested, but after reading some of the negative reviews, I thought I'd look through the book in detail to see exactly what you get (and don't get!). The premise is a good one, and I feel that it teaches some basic engineering ideas (levers, pulleys etc). The book seems well made, on quality paper. The Lego pieces supplied are mainly specialty pieces, to complete the machines. The real issue is the quantity of 'regular' blocks required from your own collection - 167 to be exact. Each machine lists what parts you need from the box, and then just states"plus some from your own collection". Well I took the liberty of listing out what "some" means. The list below is the minimum requirements to build each machine once - not all together, so you will need to disassemble one to build the next. The machines get increasingly larger, and more complicated. You can substitute more smaller pieces for the larger ones if you have them, so the list is not rigid.

Bricks:
2x8 24of
2x6 5of
2x4 62of
2x3 2of
2x2 12of
1x6 6of
1x4 1of
1x2 21of
1x1 2of

Plates:
2x8 1of
2x6 4of
2x4 7of
2x3 2of
2x2 2of
1x12 2of
1x6 6of
1x4 4of
1x2 2of

Specialty pieces:

Sloping brick 2x4 1of

Tile 1x4 1of

In addition - just out of curiosity, I priced up the total of purchasing these bricks through the Lego web store and it came out a little under $48. so your choices are - (a) buy the book, if you know the recipient has an extensive supply of excess Lego (b) buy the book, and the additional Lego you need (c) buy the book and get creative around what you can substitute for the additional required pieces - (book stacks are suggested in place of the towers, but I think would be unstable and difficult to get the components to align sufficiently for the machine to work).

I give this 3 stars overall because I new this was a risky purchase, but I think it will still provide some educational value.
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Fun and educational!
by A. M. Thomas (5 out of 5 stars)
January 23, 2016

Wow! Not sure who is having more fun, my husband or the kids (5 and 7 years.) They love engineering, building, projects, etc. If you are like-minded this shouldn't disappoint.
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Does not come with required pieces
by K. M. (3 out of 5 stars)
February 1, 2015

The first project can be completed with included parts. The second project requires 4 2x1 bricks, 10 3x1 bricks, 6 4x1 bricks "from your collection". They say not to worry about matching colors or the fancy designs they show and yet I bet there's a good portion of kids used to following Lego instructions verbatim who will have a meltdown if they don't match.

How hard is it to find these bricks? I have an underbed storage container filled to the brim with the bricks from many, many Lego kits we've bought over the last 4 years. We don't have the bricks needed for the dominoes project.

Third project needs: 6 4x2 bricks; 6 8x2 bricks; 2 4x1 bricks, 4 2x1 bricks; 3 4x2 plates; 2 2x2 plates

Fourth project requires: 11 2x8 bricks; 1 2x8 plate; 3 2x4 bricks; 2 2x1 bricks; 3 2x3 bricks; 3 1x4 bricks; 3 2x4 plates; 1 2x3 plate; 5 1x4 plates; 3 1x6 plates
5th project requires: 1 1x4 tile (flat top); 1 slope brick that is 2x4 on bottom and slopes to 1x4 on top; 1 2x6 plate; 1 2x4 plate, 1 2x2 brick; 1 2x8 plate; 3 1x4 bricks, 4 2x8 bricks; random amount of other 1x? Bricks to build single stud wide walls to knock over

And many more!
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GREAT BOOK but my young kids needed help finding the ...
by Mark and Kimberly Petersen (4 out of 5 stars)
December 28, 2017

GREAT BOOK but my young kids needed help finding the extra parts needed. You can easily substitute parts (like a 2x4 and a 2x2 for a 2x6) but my young kids did better with the exact parts listed. You need All Essential Parts included with the book AND ones below:

PART #INCLUDED+#MORE NEEDED
32001 plate 2x6 with holes 2+0, 3700 brick 1x2 with hole 1+0
59426 cross axle 5,5 stud - stop 2+0, 92402 tire 1+0, 55981 hub 1+0, 3895 1x12 with holes 6+4, 4287 1x3 slope inverted 1+1, 30000 Bearing Element 2x2 5+6, 3708 Cross Axle 12 stud 2+1, 3706 Cross Axle 6 stud 1+1, 6590 bushing 4+1, 6562 axle peg 3+1, 32034 angle connector(180)1+1, 32013 angle connector(0) 1+1

EXTRA BRICKS NEEDED 1x1 +3, 1x2 +35, 1x3 +10, 1x4 +17, 1x6 +21,2x2 +27,2x3 +3, 2x4 +197, 2x6 +6, 2x8 +86,

EXTRA PLATES NEEDED 1x4 +8, 1x6 +4, 1x12 +2, 2x2 +2, 2x4 +15, 2x6 +3, 2x8 +4

EXTRA TILE NEEDED 1x4 +1

EXTRA SLOPE NEEDED 2x4 +15
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Great afternoon activity, but I really hate the Klutz packaging design
by J O (3 out of 5 stars)
August 14, 2018

Klutz has consistently produced great toys that are a fun way to spend an afternoon with your kid learning and doing fun stuff. The book is accessible, interesting, and comes with an assortment of Lego elements to create your own chain reaction. If I was rating the book and the Legos it comes with, I'd give it a solid 5 stars.

However, the book comes in this funky bookstore packaging that makes it impossible to store after the first use. Once you get the Legos out, the book becomes a bit of a "put your things away" nightmare. The Legos fall out too easily to return them to the book and there's no good way to detach all the extraneous packaging material from the book. From a design perspective, it's like it's designed to be disposable after the first use. So, yes, I knocked it down two stars because I've been continuously annoyed by having to continue storing the book horizontally on various surfaces in the household... that kind of real estate is prime in a house with four kids.
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The next level of Legos!
by E Family E (5 out of 5 stars)
May 9, 2017

If your child loves Legos, but has completed countless sets of them and you want to quit spending $50+ per set, this is for you! My 8-year-old child found this to be way more challenging than a Lego set and played with it for much longer. It includes several projects that build on each other to form a chain reaction. It does require some basic pieces, but most Legos enthusiasts would have them or you can buy a basic set of random pieces, I think. Highly recommend this product and we will be buying more.
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Fun way to introduce engineering concepts
by Brent V (5 out of 5 stars)
December 29, 2017

So far so good. My five year old got one for Christmas and has enjoyed building some of the simple machines. He needs my help for things that require finer motor skills like tieing knots or setting up a machine "just right" so that the Rube Goldberg chain reactions will work. But he does get excited seeing videos on how they work via QR codes on each model and then seeing it work as designed. I've started recording video of him explaining and setting off the machines just to make it seem that much more special. It also gives me a good opportunity to explain basic engineering concepts like attention to detail, that it's okay if it doesn't work the first time, and to retrace steps.

As others have pointed out, you have to use some other general Lego pieces to create these structures. And having basic "bricks" seems to be harder to come by since most Lego sets are so detailed and have smaller, more specialized pieces now. You will need to get some basic brick sets; I suggest getting cheaper, compatible, non-lego bricks.
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Students found this boring!
by Kelly (1 out of 5 stars)
May 20, 2018

I love brining in new STEAM activities for my students to explore and create during down time. This was by far the least favorite, only one (of ten) student was temporarily engaged, but that was short lived. Wish I could get my money back to buy something that they will actually use and learn from.
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but this book was an utter disappointment. The lego balls provided are too big to ...
by diasjj (1 out of 5 stars)
June 10, 2018

My kids are into legos and have other books thst rock, but this book was an utter disappointment. The lego balls provided are too big to fit it lego machines made on YouTube, and the contraptions in the book are not sturdy, or very cool. Book ended up in the trash along with all the flimsy cardboard the book provides for the contraptions.

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