Roylco Straws and Connectors 705 Piece Set

I first saw Straws and Connectors in a class I was subbing for. It looked like fun, so I purchased a set for my grandchildren ages 5 and 8. We've had the set for about a month and I've well gotten my money out of it. My grandchildren especially my 8 year old love using their imagination as well as following the directions have come up with some great items. My husband and I worked with them, but they came up with the ideas. We've made rocket ships, a tent, tic tac toe board, etc. The only problem I see is it can be a little hard to connect the straws with the connectors. I wonder if the more we use it the holes in the staws will stretch and therefore be easier to connect. If you don't connect them well, the staws will come apart. Overall, we have had a lot of fun with Straws and Connectors and would recommend it.

My kids (4&6) LOVE this toy! We bought the smaller set first but my daughter who loves to construct towers and such complained (as she was standing on the counter topping off her tower) that there weren't enough straws so I bought this set for Christmas to add to their collection. We had a girl scout troop over the other day and all 11 girls were loving these as well - they made tunnels and climbed through them. The straws are pretty durable - my kids do have a habit of bending them in a way they shouldn't be bent so some are a little askew but we haven't had any break in half or anything like that. All in all I think it's a pretty durable product and I'm happy the kids are using their imaginations to build things together.

This toy is a great idea, but the follow-through is shabby. For structures to have integrity, the connectors need to fit snugly into the straws. However, the ends of the straws split when the connectors are fitted snugly, and once split they are useless. This is a huge disappointment. Also, even though the minimum recommended age for the toy is 5, I would say 5 is a bit young. My five-year-old son does not have the hand strength to insert the connectors into the straws properly, and quickly grew frustrated. Wish I could return this, but at least my cats like to play with straws.

We buy lots of learning/educational toys for kids and 705 pieces version reached couple days ago. Below are my thoughts:Pros:- Lots of pieces; enough for three Kids to create their own independent structures or work jointly on one big one- Good for all ages; elder ones can ask younger ones to work on smaller pieces to incorporate into bigger scheme later- Lots of possibilities; with some limitations on creative side (see cons below)Cons:- Straws have no "grooves" or "snap-ons". One shallow cylinder goes over a solid cylinder (male-female joint in technical terms). This means shallow cylinder will wear-out soon (when it widens with use or when *** it is left connected overnight ***). So the life of this toy is going to be very short. How manufacturer could have extended it? See recommendations for manufacturer below- There are "beams" (straws) and connectors in this toy. Since joints have four corners when you put these together one joint can connect/hold 4 straws meaning there should be more straws than joints. What you get is 390 straws and 315 joints. This ratio is not appropriate in my opinion. No matter what you build/construct, 100 or more joints are always left unused. So the ratio should have been 500 straws and 200 joints/connectors- Straws are not "flexible" enough to come back to real shape after bent 90 degrees (not as bad as straws you buy at Walmart but these should have been better since this is a toy and regular straws are not). I can understand making straws flexible would have reduced the sturdiness so it is catch 22Recommendations for the parents and manufacturer:- Parents: I wont recommend leaving a structure "connected" overnight or through some extended period of time because joints might lose strength (less elasticity - as diameter of the cylinder will increase having stayed over connector for long period of time)- Manufacturer: Please be practical. Add some "curved" straws so that kids don't keep twisting and turning straight straws to form curves, and please please extend life of this toy by extending joints from 1/4" to 1/2 inchesOver-all it seems expensive as it is not going to last long you can tell it out of the box; 3 stars for the fun while it lasts!

I saw this at a library game play day event and all the kids were fighting over it! So I looked it up and Amazon had the best price for it. I run a very small in home child care with older school age kids and it is tough to find toys that they all enjoy and this did the trick! The build tunnels, paths, and whatever they can think of. The only problem is that some of the connecters tips break off (but plenty do come in the box), so it is not good for small children as the little broken tips can be swallowed. But overall it is a great building toy.

This product gets 2 stars because the concept could be great. However, as others have said, many straws split when adding the connector- unfortunately if you don't put the connector in well enough the straws just fall out- even when bends are not involved. While building a bigger structure (like the ones pictured in instructions) seems like it would be great, but there is not enough stability and the straws come apart or split and it crumbles... Leaving kids frustrated. This product is a short term use product, by the way the straws are failing on the first use (probably a near 30% failure first time out), making it really expensive for what you get. I would absolutely return this product if I hadn't transferred right away to a storage container and gotten rid of the box before it was played with.1 star for product2 because of concept which I'd like to rate higher- please improve the product!!

This is a classic toy set that is great for the imagination. I had one when I was a kid and now 30 years later I bought one for my son. A+ !!

I bought these for my Kindergarten class. They love them! There are a couple of designs included but some of the designs require a person to cut the straws to a certain length. My class just builds whatever their creativity wants.

As expected

Very satisfied

As advertised. Did delivered on time