Hands-on building instead of screen time

By Peter Pernsteiner 

Smartphones and games consoles now come with ever more sophisticated features designed to keep children and grown-ups engaged for hours. This takes a real toll on our awareness of the physics and geometry of objects. Many manufacturers are therefore deliberately offering hands-on challenges by developing new sets and construction toys with traditional appeal – for almost any age and using a whole range of materials. 

Laser-cut wooden building sets

Wood, for example, is a very versatile material. Ugears from Ukraine offers an astonishing variety of wooden model kits. For the past ten years and more, the company has been producing laser-cut 3D puzzles that can generally be assembled without any adhesive. Its smallest offerings are the usual pocket-sized models with ten or fewer parts that make for great little gifts or souvenirs. Themes include motor vehicles, trains, ships and famous buildings and there are many sets centred around the world of Harry Potter. Models for Star Wars fans were also showcased for the first time at the Spielwarenmesse 2025. The X-Wing Starfighter and the gigantic Millennium Falcon are particularly impressive. The most complex laser-cut model kits for grown-ups and for children aged 14 and older have 1,000 or more parts and make great decorative yet functional additions to the home. This year, fans of clocks can look forward to a new addition to the collection that already includes the Sky Watcher Tourbillon Table Clock, the Aero Clock and the Engine Clock – in the decorative Goldmine wall clock with pendulum, sandbags are used as weights for the pendulum drive and striking mechanism. In keeping with the goldmine theme, Ugears is also bringing out a gigantic new marble run with a motorised transport mechanism for the marbles.

Indian company Smartivity has also come up with numerous laser-cut wooden model kits since 2015. These are mainly designed to get children aged up to 14 playing and experimenting. The 172-piece Pinball Machine kit is not only quick to build but even has small counters that use balls to display how often each target is hit. The mini golf course has 44 parts to assemble. The golfer catapult is then used to try and get the ball as accurately as possible around the obstacles and into one of the nine holes. Other new additions include a little Speedster racing car with an elastic-powered launcher as well as model kits for a hydraulic plane launcher and a hydraulic forklift (whose forks are raised and lowered using water in a large syringe). The Mechanical Hand is a model kit for a type of cyberglove that actually demonstrates the movement of all five of the user’s fingers, but on a larger scale. This set consists of 191 parts and realistically replicates the finger movements with the help of numerous rubber bands. Report on Smartivity’s laser-cut model kits

Woodworking already in nursery

While model kits with precision laser-cut panels are practical, it’s also good for preschool children to get hands-on experience of using wood as a material. The cool tool from Austria has designed the PLAYmake 4in1 workshop tool set with just that intention in mind. Among other things, it comes with a drilling, sanding and sawing workbench, a small lathe and a mini jigsaw. Children can switch between the various tools, attaching the one they wish to use at any time to an easy-to-operate motor and gearbox unit. To get the unit up and running, it can be screwed on to a wooden board or very simply inserted onto a standard LEGO DUPLO baseplate. The set includes various tools, a pair of safety glasses and manuals with plans as well as wood for turning and sawing. At the Spielwarenmesse, the company showcased a new addition to its range based on the PLAYmake 4in1: a large nursery set containing three assembled tools, including motor and gearbox units, as well as numerous additional accessories and comprehensive construction manuals. All of these come in a plastic stacking box measuring 42 x 31 x 16 cm.

Stone on stone

Besides wood, other materials can also be used for a variety of model-making options. For example, building sets made from real building materials have been around for some 150 years. Domus Kits from Spain has been using a sophisticated construction system for its model sets of complete buildings for the past 30 years. The company again showcased models in standard scales ranging from 1:50 to 1:100 at this year’s Spielwarenmesse. In addition to kits with Romanesque and medieval castles and churches, it also exhibited rustic and timeless houses, right up to the modern, flat-roofed Vilomara villa in the popular 1:87 model railway scale. This set uses hundreds of small clay bricks that have been fired to around 1000 degrees Celsius. Included in the kit are the plywood parts for a 30 x 20 cm baseplate, the cardboard structural frame for sticking on the bricks, and grass flock, sand and more to add to the visual impact.

Plastic in a wide variety of forms

Plastic is used in most sets. Publisher Franckh-Kosmos Verlag has again this year produced a number of experiment kits with plastic elements that help children explore the world of physics through play. A weather station with only 17 parts and a wind turbine with 85 pieces, for example, have been designed with schools in mind. Dusty, the little robot vacuum, is a 111-piece unit that detects obstacles without any electronics and can move along the edge of a table without falling off. The coding chameleon has 133 parts, adjusts the colour of its body according to its surroundings with the help of a colour sensor, can carry out various automated movements using coloured cards and has a small catapult in its mouth that mimics how a chameleon’s long tongue shoots out. A building set with fascinating flying objects and the 180-piece water pistol with gripping arm bring action to the garden. A bionic robotic arm with 297 parts is a challenging construction project for children aged 12 and older. Interview with publisher Franckh-Kosmos Verlag

Although fischertechnik building sets have been around for 60 years, the subsidiary of Fischer, the famous plug manufacturer, continues to bring out new creative kits that make for a fun play experience. The basic element is still a 30 x 15 x 15 mm plastic block with channels on five sides and a peg at the top. Robust functional models can be built thanks to this combination and with the help of a whole host of other elements. The Junior Pro building set has a new, simpler baseplate and a small water gun with a tank, so that children can already get excited about this play world from five years of age. The Junior Max building set with 90 parts also comes with a motor and solar cell as an introduction to renewable energy. Gift sets with 52 to 125 parts for different construction vehicles have been designed for children from seven upwards. Older children (10+) can use the Universal Ultimate building set to construct kinematic models such as a claw machine. fischertechnik’s Liebherr R938 excavator is designed to appeal to children and grown-ups alike. The 690-part model has a flexible grapple arm with bucket that is moved by means of four pneumatic cylinders. Check out the video for an interview with fischertechnik Managing Director Martin Rogler, who offers a good insight into the company’s new products. Interview with fischertechnik

Themed worlds with flexible construction elements

Marioinex from Poland has intentionally gone for connectable elements that are a good bit softer and more flexible. Their “Waffles” are flat blocks of all different shapes with square holes and protrusions that let children connect them as they wish. Depending on the target age group, these have a square hole size and protrusion length of 7.5 mm (Midi Waffle blocks), 5 mm (Mini Waffle blocks) or 2.5 mm (Micro Waffle blocks). The most popular Mini Waffle blocks are mainly designed for children aged three to six. Themed safari and savannah sets with 50 or 100 parts, including animals in simple shapes, are just one of the new additions to the Mini Waffle collection. There are also 24 Pocket Pets, which usually have between 20 and 30 parts and make for great little gifts or collectibles. And there are Crazy Monsters in two sets with 60 or 148 connecting elements that combine to make three or five colourful creatures respectively.

Playmobil International’s entirely new fantasy world also uses flexible plastic to win over children. The main components of the Sky Trails system are moveable, three-dimensional track segments that are assembled with the help of plug-in floor supports and wall mounts to form a kind of monorail coaster with loops, bends and a serpentine track. Mounts with four tiny wheels function as hang gliders, and can hold any Playmobil figures and the new futuristic Sky Riders. To add to the fun, elements that reverse the direction of travel, a catapult canon with trigger, a lift for transporting the gliders to the top and much more can also be integrated into the track. The system is expected to be launched in autumn 2025 – check out the interview at the Spielwarenmesse to see how it works.
Interview on Playmobil’s new products 

About the author

Peter Pernsteiner (graduate engineer and freelance journalist) discovered his love of technical journalism during his electrical engineering studies and soon after found himself in the editorial department of a large ITC trade journal. Since 1994, he has been a freelance journalist, writing in particular on technology topics – including for magazines in the model railway sector. In 2016, he also launched a YouTube channel for technology reports, which has since attracted worldwide attention.