hmm. I guess everyone is different and life style too) Mine are very active boys and attending so many different sport activities + play outside, so when they are at home they like to play quiet games and read the books. And when they are building you cant see them and cant hear. Definitely no one running around, even our shih tzu, who is on the naughty side, usually very quiet at this time) About falling apart i wrote earlier too. There are special connectors, which are holding the construction very well together. We have a few of them, but my kids are not using them often. And of course, the wooden one has more options, 'cause you could build any extraordinary contractions trough a whole living room, for example, but the plastic one is usually more primitive one, with a few different options and quiet small. I don't know, maybe i am not aware of them, but when we were choosing we did not see anything that was really special. I am not taking about the advance runs, like Fischertechnik, etc. Those are for more mature kids, of course, and would be dangerous to have it with a toddler. With ours I do not see any problem or it could be built somewhere up, where toddler can not reach it, on the table? when our youngest was a baby, the oldest played with all the stuff like lego, board games, puzzles at the table and we had no problems too. so, well, there could be lots of different solutions...I am not sure why you are trying to persuade me with something and I am trying to prove it otherwise. lol can only says that it's shame it did not work for you, but for us this toy is working great!)

now, at 7.

more of everything: maths, logic, coding, chess, etc. new: lego robotic, arts, poetry, songwriting and composing

Agreed! Citiblocs are great choice too.

Well, that's why I wrote to buy a few sets of Haba :) They have sets for all ages, even for toddlers and which one you could add to a standard set too. Please see the pictures below. Regarding that the plastic one is better - I do not agree either. Everyones taste is different too. Personally I do no like plastic toys. Wooden are much preferred. Plus we do not have any problem with stability and there are much more variations to build a maze than in a plastic version. Anyway if you still wish to make your structure sturdier, you could just purchase extra connectors(see again the picture for the reference) to lock them and they won't fall apart. But as I said we do not have any problems at all. Anyway before go to bed we are always collecting them all in a storage box and the next time we build something else, completely new. We have been having this toy for the last two years and so far it was the best toy ever! We spend hours with this toy and kids are asking for an extra set for every holiday so far. Great toy!

Thank you, everyone! So many nice poems. Definitely I'll safe them for future events. For the time being my son has decided to read "My Doggy Ate My Homework" by Dave Crawley. It' s so funny :) Thanks again for your help! :)

Still hoping for my luck over here ))

Ds7 wants snap circuit 750 or hot wires and a set of citiblocs Ds5 wants lego bike shop & cafe + lego car carrier and an additional set of rumps for his marble run

I've spent a whole evening and I've found the only one I really like. It's a poem "my dog ate my homework". Maybe someone else could suggest anything valuable that will promote public speech, etc. or maybe even a very nice story. Anything you know. it just should not exceed more then 10min. Thanks in advance!

Ds7 - a ballet dancer, a tennis player, a super pop star or a doctor. It's hard to decide for him yet :) Ds5 - a smart man :)

A few sets of wooden marble run haba for everyone.

I've just applied for master's in finance and banking or economics + German Also will start Chinese with my son, as I have to attend the lessons with him. and hoping to find a crash course of music theory for parents.

We have mainly local kids, but I will keep my fingers crossed:) if not there is a possibility to take private lessons with the same teacher. Another thing which is bothering me. My son has also started Japanese martial arts classes. Could it conflict somehow? I am worrying as I think that at the Chinese centre might not like the fact that the kid is learning martial arts from their competitors. At the Center they promote their culture and Chinese martial arts heavily. Or it so silly and I shouldn't even think about it?

Thank you for all of you! It was very helpful! In the end we have signed in for Chinese kids lessons at our local Chinese centre. Hope my son likes it and won't drop. German will be very useful language for my kids, but they could take it directly at school as a part of their school program. Is it true thought that kids with musical ear will crack the Chinese quicker than others? Mine has a perfect ear and he is also learning to play piano, singing and taking ballet classes.

Thank you for your link. My son would really love it:)

Oh, I see! Thank you, Laura! :thumbup1:

Thank you for your answer. I understand that Chineses pronunciation is very difficult and pronunciation should be thought by a professional teacher, but I though we could start with listening simple songs, learning letters, numbers, simple symbols, etc. Basically, we've seen this video https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=T5FNvW19GbAand thought that we could continue something the same for a couple of months until we start the real lessons. I do not see how things like that or learning common words can jeopardize future learning. Or I am wrong?

Hmm, non one is learning Chinese over here?

We are looking for a decent course of Chinese language for an independent learning. Later on we are planning to take the individual lessons, but for the time being we would like to start something in our own. if you have any thoughts and ideas you are welcome! :) Thanks in advance:)

no one doing songwriting over here? i'm still hopping to find some info:) pls share if you have any ideas. i would even consider online classes or private lessons through skype...

we are in too! :hurray: thanks

i have a bright young boy, who is very interesting in the above classes but there are absolutely nothing in the area we live. many thanks:)

We do english, maths and science junior book 1 and love them all. Very interesting even for my 5 -years old boy. I'm planning to order junior history as well.

I ' m buying them on Bookdepository . Free delivery worldwide. they send each book individually but pretty fast

Thanks everyone , especially for this one:)