Toys: Have you ever seen a LASY?

Boy was reading his Young Scientist magazines and was intrigued by the various LASY models shown.

The LASY system, invented by German engineer Peter Larws in 1971, is an educational construction system that uses just 10 different pieces that can be combined into hundreds of different geometrical outcomes. Read more here.

The original LASY factory in Germany has since been closed down, and the new Taiwan-based production is under the LOWE building and construction toy brand, which is fully compatible with LASY. It took a bit of online hunting but Mummy managed to find some secondhand "original" LASY toys.

Starting off with the designs in the magazine, Boy also moved on to experiment with his own designs.

For more fun and creative design ideas, check out this Lasy Toy FB page.

Toys: Transformation fun

Activity of the day: Reorganising the Transformers' display cabinet.

Boy used to have trouble transforming all his robots, so this was a challenge for him to convert all his troops into vehicles.

Because presentation is key ...

Selfie: Posing with his figurines

Toys: A Place for Everything Lego

Have been busy spring cleaning and finally found a place to store the kids' Lego sets — I figured since they cost so much, should keep them nicely for the cucu-cicit.

What I like most are the little drawer-like boxes — it's packaging for some health supplements, and I had a few lying around. It's very handy to sort the loose pieces and easy to move around.

Also I had an Ikea photo frame that had its glass broken. I removed the glass and used the reverse side as a Lego tray. That way, whether they are playing on the floor or table, any time we need to go out, they can move all the little pieces to a safe place immediately.

Toys: Lego Lego Lego

Since Lego is so expensive, Mummy likes to get sets that have multiple projects, such as the Lego Creator 3-in-1 sets.

Another series I particularly like is the Lego Brickmaster, as it triples up as a hardcover story book, with instructions and Lego bricks for up to 18 different models.

One of my best buys was this Lego Crazy Action Contraptions set from eBay. It was shipped from the UK and cost about RM50 in all! Pretty good value, I must say.

You can make 16 different projects with it that can spin, stretch and speed. There's a Speedster, a Squeezeclaw Grabber, a Wall Rocket Race, a Timewaster (!) and this cool Battle Top Spinner (check out vid below!), among others.

Toys: Learning through Play

Since we've had a no-TV rule during the weekdays, my favourite refrain is "Go and play!"

Play has so many benefits to a child. It exercises their creativity and problem-solving skills. One good piece of advice I've received was, "Don't buy toys with batteries."

Blocks are great fun for all ages. Here's Boy's robot. I like the way how everything is symmetrical, yet not identical.

Tractors: Baby see, Baby do

We restrict and monitor our kiddos' Youtube viewing. They are not allowed to watch videos without a parent or authorised adult present — the many different video links readily accessible means they could start with something "harmless" and land up in a very different place.

While the elder two like watching cartoons, selected music videos, toy unboxing and demonstrations, Baby only wants to watch videos of aeroplanes, rubbish trucks and, of course, his beloved tractors.

Usually he'll bring a toy tractor or two along for the viewing and get toy tractor to imitate whatever the Youtube super heroes are doing. 

Sometimes toy tractor gets to practice what it learnt with Baby's wooden blocks. Quite a lot of heavy lifting involved!

Toys: Traditional Spinning Tops

Kiddos got a cool souvenir from Jakarta — personalised traditional wooden tops. Made from bamboo, there's a cut-out slot on one side of the top that gives off a whistling sound when the top spins.

After the Beyblade craze, it's nice to get back to the original versions :-)

 

Tractors: A lil' obsession

At 2, Boy was obsessed with cars. But his little brother seems to prefer big, larger vehicles, specifically tractors.

On any car ride, he would point out every construction vehicle in sight. We would know exactly how many tractors there are on a 4-hour highway road trip, thanks to his non-stop commentary. 

This lil' obsession seemed to have rubbed off on Mummy, hence a separate blog category just for it :-)

Newest addition: a preloved ride-on Kobelco excavator