Working with your children is one of the best experiences you can give them. Not only are you imparting specific tactical skills, but you are also imparting life lessons in patience, perseverance, and creativity. Sometimes is fun to take the children into your world and have them help you repair your car or refinish furniture.

Other times it is fun to go back into your childhood and work with your children on one of their projects. For both boys and girls, building model kits are a great way to play as well as a way to feel a sense of accomplishment at the end of the project. Working with your kids to build the K’Nex Lava Launch Coaster is a perfect way to have some family bonding time.

One of the reasons that the Lava Launch Coaster is a great family project is because all family members must agree that it is a really cool toy. By using the 1200 K’Nex pieces that come in the box, you create a volcano-shaped roller coaster that is over four feet high. This coaster is decorated by snap on lava pieces.

The finished result is amazing. What is even more amazing is how fast the roller coaster car races around the track. Even after the fun of building is done, setting up the car on the launch pad and slamming it through the course that you built can create hours of fun.

The K’Nex Lava Launch Coaster needs a considerable amount of work before it is in its finished form, however. It comes with a sixty page instruction book. However, this book is completely color coded and no reading is required. That means that you, your nine year old, and even your six year old can sit down one rainy afternoon and build it together.

The only part where adult hands are really needed is to install the batteries in the car launcher and screw the lid back into place. Otherwise K’nex is all about matching colors and shapes with the pictures in the directions. It is the perfect way to interact with your children in their world.