I don’t know about you, but I get really frustrated with kids toys these days. Not that there are so many of them in my house (there are), or that they’re so loud (they are), or that it makes my kids want to keep their eyes plastered to a screen all day (they totally would if I let them), but that I feel like so many of the toys my kids have don’t let them think outside the box. There’s one way to do things and kids don’t have the freedom to play and explore, which often means they quickly get bored with their toys and are begging to run to Target for more.
New research indicates that the simpler the toy, the more complex the play. Dana Friedman of the Early Years Institute advises this: “You want to find toys where children have options for what they do with it. If it’s a toy that can only be used in one way, don’t get it.” Everything at Play from Scratch is built around this idea. In fact, I don’t think we have a clue what to do with our toys. It’s only when I watch kids playing with them that I realize what is possible. — Jeff Freeland Nelson, founder of Play from Scratch, from an interview with Whole Parenting Family
When YOXO (“yock-so”) reached out to me to see if I’d be interested in checking out their award-winning building sets, I immediately said yes! Here’s a bit about YOXO, from their site:
YOXO’s award-winning building sets inspire kids to design and build their own toys using recyclable Y, O, and X-shaped links that connect in numerous ways with everyday household materials like paper towel rolls and cereal boxes. The result: endless hours of play that foster creativity and fuel imagination.
There are no limits with YOXO – you can make anything. We’ve even repurposed items around the house to help build new creations – our favorites are toilet paper rolls, paper towel rolls, old shoe boxes or cereal boxes.. the list is endless!
These are just a few of my favorite things about YOXO:
- Big and chunky enough that little hands can easily manipulate them.
- When the kids leave YOXO out, it doesn’t hurt when I step on them!
- YOXO products are made from sustainable, recycled, and recyclable materials.
- Freedom to be creative and think outside the box.
The YOXO kits retail between $14.99 and $24.99, making them great birthday and holiday gifts for friends. They’ve definitely become my go-to birthday gift for the kids friends.
There is also a YOXO MegaBuilder, which includes 101 YOXO links and 20 tubes, three sets of reusable YOXO eye stickers and instructions to make a YOXO space cruiser, tower, rover, rocket and scorpion. This set has more pieces and it’s on Braden’s birthday list so he can make “an awesome YOXO tower.. and a space ship.. and a dragon that breathes fire!!”.
Want to see more? Follow YOXO on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook. You can find YOXO at Target, on Amazon, and at specialty toy retailers.
Disclosure: YOXO provided me with a $50 gift card to Target, which I used to purchase two YOXO sets. Also, big thanks to Braden for his help with this post. No worries about child labor laws, he was very well compensated with all the Sweet Frog he could eat 😉
I have never heard of these before, but they seem pretty cool.