Giveaway: Enough Makedo for a Small Play Group!

Congrats to Lyndsey, the winner of the Shen the Panda/Zylie the bear giveaway. If you didn’t win, don’t fret, there’s still plenty of time to get a bear of your own for your child by Christmas. By the way, are you guys loving all these giveaways as much as I am? Yes? Good, ’cause another great one starts today.

The guys over at Makedo contacted me recently to see if I’d be interested in trying out their product first hand and doing a little giveaway. Having already shared about the Makedo concept here, I was pretty excited. A toy that encourages open-ended creativity and recycling is a winner in my book. Plus I talked them into offering up a whole prize package and it’s open internationally (an MPMK first!).

The lucky winner of this one will receive a Find&Make Flower Set, a Find&Make Robot Set, and a FreePlay kit for three (which has 170 pieces all by itself)! Trust me, that’s enough to keep all the kids on your block occupied for a month’s worth of rainy afternoons.

We’ll get to the rules in a minute. First, let me share a little about the weekend we spent playing with the Find&Make Car Set, which (as the name implies) is a kit with everything you need to spend a few hours building your own car out of found cardboard boxes, paper plates, and etc.

Since first reading about the Makedo products, I’ve wondered – what do you actually get in the box? Quite a bit as it turns out. Along with lots of connector pieces, there was a safety scissors version of a saw, directions, an inspiration sheet, and enough stickers for at least three cardboard box cars.

I made poor C wait while I lined up all the pieces to show you (check out the top photo). Then he and daddy took a few minutes to learn about how the connectors work.

Once a plan was formulated they got down to business. First they rounded up left over party plates, cups, and a large box for parts. Next C helped trace some cut lines and the hubs started sawing away. To be honest, the saw wasn’t the most efficient tool ever and he eventually switched to a serrated bread knife but I can see how the plastic version would be a nice option for older kids to get more involved.

Once all the pieces were cut, it was time to attach the connectors. What’s super cool about these is they’re reusable so once your creation losses its luster, all you need is another cardboard box and the fun can start all over again. (This is also where all those extra stickers come in handy.)

Here’s the finished product. Pretty rad right? C gave it the old walk around (checked under the hood and kicked the tires) before hopping in.

Then it was time to grab his best pal and head off into the sunset. This activity was good for a ton of quality daddy and C time. They spent a few hours in the morning putting it together and trying it out and after C’s nap he hopped right back in for more imaginary play. The car has been a fixture in the living room all week and is still a hit with both kids.

So what do you think? You wanna try it right? If you really want the car, you can get it (along with lots of other Makedo products) via Amazon here – it’s a steal at less than $9. If you’re feeling lucky, you can enter to win the delux prize pack described above simply by being (or becoming) an MPMK facebook page fan and/or by being (or becoming) a makedo facebook page fan. Additional entries are available for facebooking or tweeting about the giveaway.

That’s a total of four possible entries – YOU MUST LEAVE A SEPARATE COMMENT FOR EACH ENTRY AND INCLUDE AN EMAIL ADDRESS.

The contest is open internationally (yipee) and ends at midnight EST on Tuesday, November 1st. Good luck!