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MelissaClaire
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| Posted: Nov 27 2010 at 4:23pm | IP Logged
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Thanks. I guess for the price we'll give them a shot!
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Melissa
Mom to a dd ('02), ds ('03), ds ('05), dd ('07) and baby due 9/01/09
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pilotswife
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| Posted: Nov 27 2010 at 7:08pm | IP Logged
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We have both Keva Planks and Citiblocks. Our first purchase was Keva Planks under the name of "Contraptions". Very expensive, but so worth it at the time. It included a great book filled with instructions and ideas for big contraptions, tunnels, flumes, platforms, etc, as well as two large ping pong balls. I think lots of people build objects out of the keva planks, but my son, who lives to make contraptions out of everything in the house, just loved the ideas in the book. He made some amazing ball runs.
Well, two of my other children always wanted to make their own things when my oldest was using his set. I wasn't about to spend that much money on another two sets. But when I saw a set of 200 CitiBlocks on clearance at ToysRUs for $11, I got them each a set. 200 was never really enough anyway!
Side by side, I cannot even tell which set is which. The planks look exactly alike. You don't have to get colored ones; Citiblocks have plain wooden ones too. I think our set has 10 colored ones out of 200. The weight of the planks are the same and they are both smooth. I see no difference in how well they are sanded. And the objects/contraptions are just as sturdy as the more expensive set.
Even though I do like the idea book that came with the Keva Planks, I would buy the cheaper CitiBlocks if I had a choice. You can find all sort of plans and blueprints online if you look hard enough.
Hope this helps!
Take care
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JennGM
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| Posted: Dec 04 2010 at 5:30pm | IP Logged
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pilotswife wrote:
Side by side, I cannot even tell which set is which. The planks look exactly alike. You don't have to get colored ones; Citiblocks have plain wooden ones too. I think our set has 10 colored ones out of 200. The weight of the planks are the same and they are both smooth. I see no difference in how well they are sanded. And the objects/contraptions are just as sturdy as the more expensive set.
Even though I do like the idea book that came with the Keva Planks, I would buy the cheaper CitiBlocks if I had a choice. You can find all sort of plans and blueprints online if you look hard enough.
Hope this helps!
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It did help, thank you SOOOO MUCH. I couldn't make it to Costco until today, and my local one was out of Citiblocs. I found out which other stores had them and made a trek to one -- very unlike me, but $20 for 300 seemed pretty good.
I bought 2 sets and at the checkout they rang up for $9.97...so I went back and bought 2 more for gifts. I'm really happy.
Apparently this is a deleted item, so they won't be restocking it.
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Jennifer G. Miller
Wife to  & ds1  '03 & ds2  '07
Family in Feast and Feria
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MelissaClaire
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Any idea how many planks would be good to get? At the $10 price I want to get all that we'll want to have now rather than having to go pay 3 times as much later!
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Angie Mc
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| Posted: Dec 09 2010 at 3:30pm | IP Logged
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I believe that my boys have 200 now. They can each build one smallish project each or one biggish project. We're getting 300 more and if I see the price drop again, I may get even more. I just don't think you can have too many!
Love,
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Angie Mc
Maimeo to Henry! Dave's wife, mom to Mrs. Devin+Michael Pope, Aiden 20,Ian 17,John Paul 11,Catherine (heaven 6/07)
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JennGM
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| Posted: Dec 09 2010 at 3:38pm | IP Logged
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I'm looking for books or booklets with ideas for building. I did see some Kapla booklets (series of 4), but one reviewer said there was only 5 designs, and they don't specify how many blocks to use for the pattern.
I was tempted to buy the Contraptions just for the plans. Any ideas?
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Jennifer G. Miller
Wife to & ds1 '03 & ds2 '07
Family in Feast and Feria
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MelissaClaire
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I'm bad. I bought 8 boxes of the 300 today at Costco. 2 are for my sisters kids, and I wanted to have extras on hand for birthday parties my boys are invited to, but I'm stumped on how many to give for Christmas. I was thinking either 1 box for each of the 2 boys (600 total) or 1 box for each of the 3 biggest kids (so 900 total.)
Melissa
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Mackfam
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Ladies,
Mr. Ken Scheel, president of KEVA planks, has noticed our thread and has asked if he could offer some information about his KEVA blocks. His message is below:
Ken Scheel, KEVA wrote:
Dear Jen,
We love to support the homeschool community since we homeschooled our three daughters and my wife continues to teach art at 2 homeschool co-ops.
One member mentioned that her KEVA canvas bag had a torn handle. If she sends us an email we will replace it for her. (Moderator note - Ken provided his email address. I will pm that member directly with contact information. If you need Ken's email, pm me (Jen-Mackfam)  )
Also I wanted to point out that KEVA planks takes pride in being one of a just a handful of toy companies that manufactures in the USA. Our profit margins are small but we continue because we love making our product here and all of the ancillary US business we get to work with. We also work hard to create cutting edge projects such as the new KEVA Contraptions set that uses KEVA balls and adds action to the play. Contraptions won the prestigious Disney Family Fun Toy of the Year Award for 2010. We also strive to present KEVA planks to families as more than a typical toy. Our instructions look more like art work than a toy and the book includes games and activities as well as projects.
We know Citiblocs went to the mass merchants such as Costco and Toys R US and dropped their price very low. We do not try to compete with them on price since they use extra soft pine and have a brief instruction book. When making complex structures, the quality and precision of the blocks really matters and we believe we have impeccable quality in all of our planks.
Whatever blocks you choose, we wish you a wonderful and blessed Christmas.
Sincerely,
Ken Scheel
President, KEVA planks
Note: The KEVA planks in Contraptions are made from high quality pine in China. All other KEVA sets are made in the USA. |
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Edited to move the coupon code offered to the members of 4REAL to the Trading Post.
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Jen Mackintosh
Wife to Rob, mom to dd 19 , ds 16, ds 11, dd 8, and dd 3
Wildflowers and Marbles
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4Real Forums : Living Learning
Topic: Keva/Kapla Planks
