WFMW - Fischertechnik

I'm really excited about this week's Works For Me Wednesday hosted by Shannon at Rocks In My Dryer! Works For Me: Toys Worth Buying (Subtitled: I DO NOT WANT ANY MORE JUNK IN MY HOUSE) Although I'm through buying toys for my own kiddos, I have nieces and nephews and hopefully (someday) there will be grandkids. So I'm excited to see what tried-and-true toys y'all have discovered!

As for us, the hubby and I were never big on buying toys for the kids. I mean we bought toys, but they always had to have educational value. And we really, really hated buying anything cheap and poorly made because HELLO!, those things break almost immediately. Since we had a very limited toy purchasing budget, a lot of thought and searching went into birthday and Christmas gifts each year.

Being homeschoolers we had access to some pretty cool catalogs. Which helped a lot since we were out in the boonies. My favorite catalog of all time is from Timberdoodle, because they sell the most amazing things! We found fischertechnik through them. And for our hands-on son (and what boy isn't hands-on?), these kits are great at teaching construction and engineering while being seriously FUN. And the design meant the things he built would not break apart until he was ready to take them apart.

Here's a blurb from the fischertechnik website:
fischertechnik is the flexible construction system for young and older system designers alike. Produced in Germany to high standards, fischertechnik has been innovating and manufacturing the highest quality modeling systems since 1965. These robot kits allow a multitude of systems and system models to be created by slotting precision-engineered parts together. How is it that fischertechnik came to make the best construction system available on the globe? It starts with fischertechnik's parent company and founder, Artur Fischer. fischertechnik is a relatively small division of a firm named Fischerwerke. Fischerwerke is not a toy company. Fischerwerke's primary business is the manufacturing of industrial connectors for the construction and automotive industries. With fischertechnik, Artur Fischer took the firm's expertise in engineering and materials to construct a modeling system of superior quality and capability.

Yes, these are more expensive than Legos. But they are SO WORTH IT! These are the kind of toys that your kids will enjoy for years, and then you'll pass them down to their kids...

We look at the purchase of those fischertechnik kits as an investment. Our son went on to "play" with computer parts, building his first computer at age 10, and that led to paying his way through college doing on-site computer repair and installation, and now he's partial owner in a computer business. I think it all started when we gave him the first fischertechnik kit and got him hooked on figuring out how to put things together so they would actually work and DO something.

Another BIG plus: all their kits are completely compatible with all parts back to 1965. How cool is that? This is a company and a product you can TRUST, which is no small beans these days when toy recalls are so common.

And now I'm gonna go over to Shannon's and see what great toys your kids have been playing with. Wanna join me?