I ordered this product for my 4 year old son for his birthday.  He played with it only under direct supervision by myself or my wife.  Within a week 12 of the connecting sticks had broken.  I broke 3 of them myself while using them very carefully.  The ends of the sticks have an end-cut to allow for the stick to squeeze into receiving holes of connector pieces, and to allow for the thin, hard plastic triangle shaped pieces to slide into.  This is a weak spot that breaks easily.  A few of the apparently solid connector pieces have even started to break.  I am amazed that this product is even on the market.  Now I know why this product is the least expensive among similar products.  We now have this 'birthday present' up on a shelf in hopes that I'll be able to return the remainder to amazon for credit toward a similar product that I can trust to last.

I will say that the premise behind this toy is a lot of fun, my son suprised me with how easily he 'invented' different items from the toy such as a vacuum sweeper, swingset, bridge, lawn mower, etc.
I ordered this product for my 4 year old son for his birthday. He played with it only under direct supervision by myself or my wife. Within a week 12 of the connecting sticks had broken. I broke 3 of them myself while using them very carefully. The ends of the sticks have an end-cut to allow for the stick to squeeze into receiving holes of connector pieces, and to allow for the thin, hard plastic triangle shaped pieces to slide into. This is a weak spot that breaks easily. A few of the apparently solid connector pieces have even started to break. I am amazed that this product is even on the market. Now I know why this product is the least expensive among similar products. We now have this 'birthday present' up on a shelf in hopes that I'll be able to return the remainder to amazon for credit toward a similar product that I can trust to last. I will say that the premise behind this toy is a lot of fun, my son suprised me with how easily he 'invented' different items from the toy such as a vacuum sweeper, swingset, bridge, lawn mower, etc.