Electrical engineer Charles Sharman realized that in order for his son to continue exploring his creative side he'll need to provided something to facilitate the switch between video games and real life. He wished there was a building toy kit for older ages that encouraged children to continue actively creating instead of passively being entertained.
At first, he searched for something in that direction. Once Charles realized he couldn’t offer his son, which was five at the time, a proper answer, he decided to make one himself instead. By 2009, the innovative dad had enough money saved to quit his day job and work full-time on what he later called Crossbeams. The first complete product was ready in 2014.
Apparently, the difference between other similar construct-it-yourself type of modeling toys Crossbeams consists in these words: strong, accurate, creative and honorable. As opposed to the rest out there, these pieces are joined in a similar way to a cotter pin; you slide the beam into joint and then twist the ring 45 degrees. This offers both strength and entirely new building toy uses such as operational models, sports equipment, clothing, and utensils.
The small, stiff, white tube-shaped bits of solid plastic are curved or bent at one end, depending on what the model looks like. Another particular detail is the fact that, as opposed to most building toys that connect in one orientation, Crossbeams do in eight different ways, and there are over 40 piece types (including the joints). This enhances creative expression.
The smart toy creator claims it requires a tiny number of different pieces to create every structure. In other words, the same set can make an airplane, a train, a dinosaur, a house, and a mountain.
Your kid won’t need tens of thousands of pieces to cover all the models he is thinking of.
The kits are currently sorted into ten categories that include everything from cars and trucks, animals, construction, helicopters to motorcycles, planes, and ships. The size of the model ranges significantly, according to each kit. Everything from small, 100-pieces, total measuring a foot (30 cm) or less in each direction to large, impressive 2,420-piece model of the US Capitol building, which can get as big as 4.6 feet (1.4 m) wide.
Since we’re car people, we’ve checked that category, and it seems the cheapest kit will set you back at $48 (EUR43) for a 230-piece sportscar. The toy start-up does offer a free chance to learn more about their kits downloading and using the Crossbeams Modeller so you might one to check that out first.
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