Thames & Kosmos Gumball Machine Maker Lab - Build Machines with Physics & Engineering Lessons | 12 Experiments | Make Your Own Gumball Machines | Includes Gumballs | Award Winner

Purchased for a 5 year old friend for a gift. Hudson requested it and loved it. Wonderful gift idea.

My son loves gumball machines and this has been a favorite of his Christmas gifts this past year. The gumballs looked like they had melted and they were no longer round and fit through the machine just right. I notified the company and they were so easy to work with and replaced the gumballs quickly.

I’ve been eyeballing this for ages but couldn’t justify spending $30 on it, so when it went on sale for like $11 I bought it immediately thinking it would be a really cool gift for my 10yo son who has autism. I’m so glad I waited…For starters, it’s much smaller than I had realized. That’s probably my fault for not paying closer attention. It takes the mini .5” gumballs and total height is about 17” though for reference.My biggest complaint is how frustrating and fiddly it was to assemble. Every time I tried to add a piece, another piece would fall over or just not stay where you put it. It’s hard to snap some of the bigger pieces on to the frame and if you don’t line them up PERFECTLY the gumball just flies off onto the floor. If you try to pick it up the wrong way the whole thing just falls apart.**To top it off, the bowl just sits on top, it’s not attached, so if you lift it up by accident ALL the gumballs go spilling everywhere. I assembled this by myself because I cannot imagine my son trying to do it, or even trying to help.The pendulum snapped in half with the slightest pressure and can’t be fixed so we never got to use that piece. I had to hide it to avoid a meltdown.It’s also really difficult to get each piece to line up and function as intended, even following the included designs & instructions.Overall, it’s a really cool idea for a STEM gift, but it just felt cheaply made and not well thought out. For $11 absolutely, but had I spent the full $30 I absolutely would’ve returned it.

I think this is a great gift for kids. Especially good for kids interested in STEM and have the patience to build. Id recommend 7 and older.Downside is that it's hard to no lose pieces over time. Plus like anything else, kids get bored of it.

This definitely looked like a cool product. However, we are very disappointed with the Thames & Kosmos Gumball Machine Maker Lab. It looked fun, but it was extremely difficult to put together—even for adults. The instructions were confusing, and the pieces didn’t fit well. My child lost interest quickly out of frustration. Not worth the hassle.

THIS WAS A BIRTHDAY GIFT FOR MY 12 YEAR OLD GRAND. SHE REALLY LIKED IT AND ENJOYED PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER. HER BIRTHDAY WAS IN DECEMBER, AND SAID THAT SHE ENJOYED BUILDING IT.

My granddaughter loves this gumball machine

The track is hard to assemble and falls apart easily. It is rickety and some pieces that require balance fall over at the touch of a feather. The gumballs rarely stay on the track for the full trick, even if you follow the instructions or the online tutorials. The gumball dispensing machinery gets stuck easily and requires significant force to dispense a gumball, which sometimes causes the entire setup to fall to bits.