Fun Forts Glow Fort Building Kit for Kids - 81 Pack Glow in The Dark STEM Building Toys Indoor Outdoor Play Tent for Kids Construction Toys with 53 Rods and 28 Spheres

This has been a great gift for my boys! It's an awesome STEM toy. They are 6 and 4, and they love making forts. The parts are a little more difficult to assemble for my 4yo but my 6yo does really well with them. They require some strength at times when the poles are inserted into the balls. Not all of the holes are the same size, and some are impossibly small. However, there are so many pieces, and options for holes, that most the time the balls can be twisted to fit just right. I'm the type of parent that doesn't mind if my children are given a little hard work when they are playing. It helps them down the road with problem solving. The sturdiness is not an issue. According to some of the reviews, people claim that it can't hold up a blanket. I think these people are just incompetent when it comes to building a structure. I had no difficulty helping my 6yo build this large fort and many others, and it has held up a sheet perfectly every time.

…Assembly Not Intuitive… Good gift for my 5 yr old grandson…BUT—-he may have destroyed/lost assy instructions. However assembly for any suggested design should have a very observable “Top/Bottom” orientation -I found one that worked with slight indentions, so balls could be easily rotated to correct angle for each purpose of straw insertion. A 5 yr old just wants to jam them in anywhere. I suggest the indent for touch and a color or hex hole displaying “up” orientation for intuitive assembly to reduce any frustration, except for those that want to “solve” the puzzle—me… the erector set idea is great, size is great, all is great except my large grievance. If assembly isn’t “straightforward” the continuous enjoyment doesn’t happen and the toy will get poor ratings/sales.

We got this for my daughter for Christmas. She is constantly asking to build forts so in an effort to save my couch cushions we got her this. They are extremely difficult to put together and take apart. My daughter is 6yo and is unable to put the balls and rods together. I struggle with it myself. The rods don’t feel super strong so I worry about putting anything heavier than a bed sheet over top of it. Definitely not what we were hoping for. The kids do love it when it’s up but it’s not a hand to your kids and let them play kind of toy.

Its hard to connect the balls to the stick and it kept falling apart. I read how to put the stick in the ball and it still didn't work. I love the idea but it's not worth it if they cant use it. ***Update *** I want to thank the company for reading my review and they sent me another one in mail. The sticks stayed in the ball and my kids really enjoyed it. Thanks again for sending me us a card as well. Thank you for listening!

**Update Feb 2022** we returned the original item and the company reached out to us and offered to send us a replacement product for free (after receiving a refund). They said they had a new version, so we accepted. The new item felt like it was better quality materials and seemed to fit together and stay together better. We still struggled with getting the pieces together, my arms and wrists were sore after trying to build the igloo and I needed to have my husband help push some of the sticks in. It definitely held together better than the first one, so I added a star, but still feel this is a product that will fairly frustrating for a small child to use if they want to change designs frequently. ****** I rarely write reviews, but this product was so disappointing that I felt I should write one to stop others from making the same mistake. We will definitely be returning this item; -Holes are not sized properly for the sticks to fit into, material is cheap. -Holes don't line up properly. -Sticks bend and splinter trying to get them to stay in the holes, although an exceptional few do actually fit together correctly. -When you finally get one side put together, the other end pops apart, continuing the cycle to infinity like a Laurel & Hardy routine. Very disappointed in the quality for thr price. Our kids are too young to understand why we have to pack up their Christmas present **from Santa!** to send it back so we will need to order a different one prior to returning this.

Originally 3 stars: I love the concept of children being able to build a frame that can then become a blanket fort. I was looking forward to being able to keep my dining room chairs and sofa cushions where they belong. But…. But. The plastic rods are VERY hard to push into the balls. I read the reviews that warned of this so I knew it would require adult help to put the frames together. I was not expecting to be unable to do it at all. Even my husband, who works in construction and is very strong, had trouble getting those things in. Between us we broke several rods trying to get them in. And about half the holes we did finally get in stretched in the process to the point that the second time they were used they wouldn’t stay together. They have been sitting in a bag in my deck for two months now, completely forgotten by the child who was so excited to receive them but can’t play with them because of how difficult they are to use. All of this considered, as much as I wanted to love these, I cannot recommend them. Update: the company IMMEDIATELY reached out to me. Apparently some of the sets Amazon ships are older? Anyway, they sent me a new set and it was MUCH better! As in my husband was able to quickly erect a fort my daughter and son to play in. I still struggle with it, but I’ve got wrist and hand problems from an old over use injury. Still too difficult for little kids, but I can definitely see a strong 6-8 yo being able to manage it. I am very satisfied with the new set we were given.

My kids love forts. They love building forts. They usually build elaborate forts using dining chairs and every blanket in the house. I saw this item and thought, "the kids would love this; they'l can build anything they can imagine" and then I also thought "they'll stop dragging my dining chairs into the family room". Win. Win. "I'll buy two!" Unfortunately, this has been a lose lose. Upon opening the box, the kids immediately started complaining that they couldn't get the rods into the connector balls; it was too hard. And they were right, the rods really didn't want to go into the connector balls. So I harnessed my inner mom strength and forced a bunch of pegs into a bunch of holes and started to build a structure. As I did, you might think, "oh, well they make the rods difficult to force into the holes so they'll be secure once they're in" but as I also was, you'd be wrong. As I began crafting a frame that would surely be the fort of of all forts (mom to the rescue!), with each new connection, a prior one broke. I worked at it diligently with the kids for an hour and could barely make any progress. Every time I made a connection, an older one dislodged. We couldn't make enough progress on the form to even get close to consider draping a blanket over it; but I assure you, it would not be able to handle even the weight of a sheet. It crumbled under its own weight and poorly made pieces. Heck, it fell apart laying on the floor when it wasn't being touched. This product is a horribly made, waste of plastic, time and energy. Do not buy. It doesn't work. It's left all of us frustrated. The kids are once again dragging my dining chairs into the living room to build a fort, but at least that will stay up.

10/10 Lots of fun for my kids, it actually has kept them busy for hours… they stared playing just with the balls… and inventing new games out of it