Action Products is a smaller toy company that specializes in learning/educational toys for children. All of the toys produced by Action Products are considered to be interactive and make for great “arts and crafts” time with children. Being that the toys are all crafts type toys and require adult supervision most of the time they are not, however, recommended for younger children although there are some kits such as the woodkits that can be contructed by 6 yr olds instead of the recommended age of 7 yrs. The woodkits come in a variety of dinosaurs including: triceratops, apatosaurus, mammoth. brachiosaurus, pteranodon, tyrannosaurus and stegosaurus. A variety of wildlife including: mountain gorilla, mountain lion, spider monkey, red fox, alligator, grizzly bear, gray wolf, bison, and bald eagle. A variety of insects including: butterfly, mosquito, scorpion, praying mantis, and tarantula. A single sealife model of a sea turtle. And finally a variety of vehicles including: space shuttle, locomotive, F-15 Eagle and a WWII submarine. Action Products also produces other toys such as Curiousity Kits, I Dig Kits, Space Voyagers, JayJay the Jet Plane Adventure Kits, Play and Store Kits, Kidz Workshop Kits, and Action Classics toys which can be found at museums, aquariums, theme parks and zoos.

The woodkits are wooden kits that come with precut pieces that when put together form a skeletal figure of whichever animal or dinosaur that you purchased. The wooden pieces are flat packed and held in to thin wooden boards but are easily punched out. Once the pieces are all laid out they are pieced together easily and come together to create a rather large 3-D scale model of the animal you picked. The models not only teach kids about skeletal features but also about the animal they chose since they are able to observe how the animal is structured as well as the random factoids that come printed on the packaging.

The woodkits are easily put together but are recommended for supervised play, at least for younger children because pieces can have splintered edges at times and also snap when forced too hard (as young children are apt to do.) The assembled size of the final Tyrannosaurus product is 13 inches high and the final product can also be painted as desired which makes the models more personalizable. These models retail for approximately $3.99 and can be found at various toy stores. I purchased mine from KBToys however being that most KB Toys are currently going out of business you can also find them at Amazon or directly through Action Products website.

I will begin this weeks review by saying that I absolutely adore educational toys, specifically ones that prompt learning and discovery even once the initial project is finished which is exactly what the Action Products Woodkits do. Give a child a toy and they will play and be imaginative and creative, but give a child a hands on product and they will do all of those things but they will also ask questions and search for more outside discovery. What I mean by this is, when we look at the woodkit toys, we see that children are encouraged to build and be crafty but they are also forced to look at the anatomy of the Tyrannosaurus Rex which prompts questions such as “how big was he really?” which consequently leads to research. These are my favorite types of toys.

Although the woodkit itself looks to be a little flimsy when it’s opened the pieces are actually more sturdy than you would think. While the pieces do have the potential for being snapped by rough play and frustrated fingers they are not as likely to snap and break as they seem just from looking at them. The pieces pop out from the wooden sheet easily and fit together with the numbered diagram just as easily. While I don’t recommend the toy for younger age groups than it is actually recommended for, I do notice that this is something that could be completed by a younger child with parental help.

Something else I found to be surprising about the woodkits is that besides being durable they are also pretty large. I didn’t particularly pay attention to the “size when finished” factor when I bought the kit because honestly it just intrigued me. The Tyrannosaurus kit turns out to be 13 inches tall when complete which is considerably larger than I would have estimated when looking at the pieces and packaging. Another huge plus with this product is that it is totally customizable, if you have a daughter whose favorite color is pink she is free to paint her tyrannosaurus pink! Or if your son loves zebra stripes he can paint his with zebra stripes!

There are really no drawbacks to this toy, it is educational, crafty, creative, customizable and it creates time to bond with your child. While some people may find the need to supervise play “irritating”, I do not. I find supervised arts and crafts time to be particularly important when it comes to bonding and having fun together. I say go for the Action Products woodkits, for under $5 you really couldn’t ask for more.