Thames & Kosmos Gumball Machine Maker Super Stunts and Tricks Science Stem Toy, Children 6-12+

My six year old son had so much fun with this Thames & Kosmos Machine Maker Gumball machine! Actually all he needed to hear was gumballs...but the fun delivery system was irresistble for him. I even used it as reinforcement for doing some chores like cleaning his bedroom and the playroom so win-win! I really liked that putting together the different gum ball runs was a fun activity for us to do together and i like any kind of activity that keeps him away from the tv and his ipad. There are lots of different ways to configure it to do stunts and tricks to get the gumball and hes learning patience and sequencing and folllowing directions while were constructing the different runs and learning about simple machines. He really loved this gumball machine and liked sharing it with his friends. It was a great activity and a fun toy at the same time!

We purchased malted milk balls (whoppers) to put in instead of gum. Kids do some chores for coins, then they can snack. The more chores, the more coins and the more snacks. The changing of shoots to roll out the candy helps keeping it different.

it was broken when i bought it didn't know till he opened for x-mas

pretty kool idea. not as big as i thought. kept my kid busy for a day. the peices arent the best to work with. he ate the gum from the machine without using it. not worth it for my kid.maybe will for yours

first of all when you set it up you have to make sure they click perfectly it is a stem product so I expected it to be easier for my grandchildren is extremely complicated definitely takes an adult supervision and about 4 to 6 hands and when you get it put together do not take it apart and try to redo it because the ends and the pigs break as they snap out really was not happy with it at all got about six uses out of it tried to change it to another one and a couple of the pieces broke so now it is useless waste the money never been disappointed with the stem product this is my first

kind of a pain to put together doesnt roll easy. but my kid likes the gum and having a gumball machine he built. not for little kids definitely want them to be a reasonable age that are ok with it not being exactly as imagined. lower your expectations but overall its kind of cool.

This is such a fun idea. The machine is smaller than expected and not very stable. The biggest disappointment is that the gumballs are smaller than "regular" so the refill gumball don't fit to be dispensed. Really disappointing.

The box came damaged, and the markers were missing. When I asked for an exchange, Walmart approved this and then canceled the order the next day. This then led to an inability to attempt to exchange at a store nearby due to the return already being processed. A walmart associate then told me they don't do exchanges in store. If my child was getting this, I would have to purchase a new one. As for the toy itself, it is very messy and difficult for a child to clean the screen area. It also does not stay standing of attempting to draw on ot while it is upright. Overall, I am very disappointed, but I guess I am lucky my child is easily entertained.

The gumball science stem toy started out fun for my 8,11 and 15 year old then it turned to frustration. The concept is five stars but the execution of the product is problematic. My kids went to GT school so I think they are pretty capable of figuring out how to assemble the gumball machine. The legs of the machine are not sturdy and the spout that releases the gumballs made it difficult to expell gumballs. My kids were super interested for ten minutes and once they discovered that the pieces to make 12 different assembly methods weren't well made, they were discouraged and lost interest. Twenty minutes max of occupation and the kids only tried 2 of the 12 designs before they gave up from unstable design. For example: As pictured the "domino" slide isn't constructed where the small ball could pass over the flaps and if the ball were to roll over, the walls of the slide aren't tall enough to keep the ball from flopping over the side. Save your money.

The gumball machine was very diffi ult to put togethet so many parts and even though we put them all on the gumball machine was so unstable.When you try to turn the gandle for gum the top would fall off and gum would go Ll over.its not sturdy at all and the parts fall off they dont stay snapped on.Its very neat concept but doesnt hold together.