Review: Tecti

Today, I’m sharing my review of the Tecti kinetic building system kit.

Disclosure: I received a complimentary kit for review from Timberdoodle. All views expressed are my own.

What It Is

Tecti is part brain teaser, part fidget, part construction set, or, as the box says, “an interactive sculpture system that can be assembled and taken apart.” It is recommended for ages 12 and up.

Using the included components, your student (or you!) can build elegant sculptures with cubes in a wide variety of configurations. But the really cool thing?

The hinged pieces allow your sculpture to shape-shift or bend with a single movement.

Tecti offers both convergent (following directions) and divergent (creating your own designs) learning. Why is that important? Timberdoodle explains it well in this article.

What’s Included

The cleverly-designed two-layer storage box includes:

• 44 two-inch square plates, each with a circle cut out of the center, stored in the top layer
• 40 hinged plates, equivalent to two of the square plates side-by-side, stored in the bottom layer
• 6 keystone plates exactly like the square plates, only colored orange instead of turquoise
• a “tectool” used to assist in disassembling sculptures
• an instruction sheet with 11 building challenges ranging from Beginner to Advanced

I feel like some kids younger than 12 could successfully build with Tecti. The pieces are fairly easy to snap together. However, disassembling is somewhat more difficult. The included “tectool” helps, but even then pieces went flying more than once when I pried pieces apart.

Building Challenges

I enjoyed working my way through the included challenges. The illustrations have the single plates printed in pink, though they are actually turquoise, to highlight the difference between the plates and the hinged pieces. That took a bit of getting used to, but I did find it helpful.

The printed directions are fairly easy to follow. I found a few errors in the quantity numbers listed, but with the illustrations, it wasn’t hard to figure out what was actually needed. Still, that might be confusing for a younger student, so that’s something to be aware of.

Fun in Motion Toys (the manufacturer) also offers videos of more challenges to build with the Tecti playlist on their YouTube channel. You can also download their app, which includes links to the videos.

My Thoughts

Tecti is an irresistible creative fidget perfect for anyone (like me) who wants something to do with their hands while watching TV or listening to audiobooks. Or for the engineering types who enjoy the focus of a more intense challenge of building their own thing.

I like following the printed directions and then discovering how it moves once it’s completed. It’s fun to assemble one challenge each evening, pass it around to play with it, and then put the sculpture on display until the next evening.

Video Clip

Because this is a “kinetic” (movement-based) building set, you really need to see it in motion to appreciate its coolness. Check it out!