Review on STEM Building Kit For Kids Ages 5-12: Ultimate Forts Builder Gift Set For Boys & Girls! by Nate Eich

We got this for my son's 6th birthday because he LOVEs building forts and constructing things in general. Though the kids have taken it out and had fun with it, we've noticed several challenges with the set.One is that because all the sticks are the same length, you are limited in what you can assemble. Only particular shapes -- like squares and triangles of a specific size -- work well. My kids like to get creative and they've had trouble making the things they want.Another challenge has been that the sticks can be hard to pull out of the balls, and my son has gotten frustrated trying to undo a connection that he's made. This does improve with time as you get a feel for the toy, and adults shouldn't have too much of an issue. But there are still tricky moments, especially when the kids are trying to disassemble it, and my son even jabbed himself trying to pull a stick out of a ball because he had to pull so hard. (again -- I could pull it out, but it's hard for them)Finally -- the balls for this toy don't have holes uniformly distributed all over them. As a result, you might put a stick into one hole of a ball, but then when you try to connect another stick to the same ball, there's no convenient hole for the position you're trying to achieve. So you end up having to reorient the balls a bunch of times to make them work for the several sticks that may be connecting to them. This adds a level of complication to the play that could be fun if the holes were clearly designed to accommodate the most popular shapes. However, it often feels like the holes just don't work for designing even simple variations, like a triangular roof to a square structure, and you end up kind of bending the poles to fit.In short -- if you just plan to use this to make basic squares and extended square/rectangle based structures -- this toy works well except for the occasional difficulty pulling the poles out of the balls. If your kids are the type who will want to make rockets and boats and more diverse shapes, I would look around at other options.