5 Great Ideas Using the Pastel Transport Pack

By Kathleen Prinsen

It’s the pack so many CONNETIX pastel lovers have been waiting for… The Pastel Transport Pack! You’ll find an awesome long reversible transport base in this pack, just like the dark grey one found in the Rainbow Transport Pack. However, this base is exclusively designed in a light grey colour to perfectly complement the beautiful earthy pastel CONNETIX colours! This pack also contains two clear motion bases with real rubber wheels (just like all the CONNETIX transport and motion bases), and a great selection of magnetic tile shapes in pastel colours. Another surprise you’ll find is a new updated inspiration booklet!!! Woohoo!! So much to be excited about!!! Here’s 5 great builds to get you started using pieces solely from the Pastel Transport Pack.

1. Caravans

Is your child eager to go camping and explore the great outdoors? Although, its pouring rain outside so you just want to stay indoors? Try building a caravan and get your child creating their own imaginary outdoor adventure. There is endless fun to be had; attaching and detaching the caravan from the car, setting up the campsite in the wilderness, sleeping under the stars, sitting by a hot campfire toasting marshmallows or maybe even being chased by bears. You are only limited by your imagination.

2. Trains

Choo Choo!!! Watch out for pastel CONNETIX trains on the move. The Pastel Transport pack is perfect for building trains. It contains 6 x lemon, 6 x mint and 6 x emerald small rectangles which I am personally so excited about! The only other pastel CONNETIX pack that has small rectangles is the Mega pack, and it only contains one of each colour! Having 6 of the same-coloured rectangles can be very useful. As you can see in this train, combining the small rectangles with the transport base and 2 x motion bases works so well to make a train. What would your child transport in their CONNETIX train? There are so many options from animal figurines, to play food, loose parts, wooden people, cars, or even pretend coal – piling up in your kitchen before you know it! Whatever they choose, I think we can all agree that transporting items from one place to another can provide children with so much joy and hours of open-ended fun!

3. Food Trucks

Have you got an aspiring foodie in the house? Then they are sure to love this creation! This build has a very clever way of using small rectangles to transform a regular truck into a food truck. With some role play you can turn this activity into a fun mathematic learning activity. For example, you could count the number of food items, use addition to work out the total cost and use play money or other items to represent money. This idea can also inspire creativity by envisaging what delicious food the truck will sell or what the customers would like to eat. Role play activities like these support children to learn life-skills which ultimately helps to motivate these behaviours in real-life, for example creating a menu and cooking a delicious meal at home.

4. Garbage Trucks

Clean the streets with your very own garbage truck. This creation could provide hours of free play and an opportunity for your child to learn about the environment, waste and recycling. The square magnetic tile positioned on the long side of the right-angle triangle makes an excellent door for lifting up to put garbage in and closing to keep the smell out. Garbage comes in all sorts of shapes and sizes. Items you could use include; scrunched up paper, loose parts, pom poms, wooden blocks, Duplo blocks and cardboard pieces. If you get really inspired, you could even make an entire town! Just imagine the fun a child would have rolling around a garbage truck, collecting garbage as it stops at each house.

5. Transporter Trucks

Last but not least are transporter trucks. I think a lot of kids love transporter trucks and they are often easy enough to build on their own. My kids love transporting all sorts of things in their CONNETIX creations all over our house. You’ll notice the benefit of using door tiles instead of solid square tiles is that some items that normally wouldn’t fit, can actually fit! For example, the tail of a dinosaur, much-loved figurines and sticks that represent log piles can all easily stick out of the door pieces. Using the window pieces can also make it nice and easy to see what’s being transported inside the truck.

If you’re after some more transport pack inspiration, go check out the ‘5 Great Ways to Play with the Transport Pack’ blog and try recreating these rainbow designs in pastel. We’d love to see what you come up with!

Kathleen Prinsen

Katie is a pharmacist who found a passion for play when she became a mum of 2 boys. She enjoys inspiring creativity and learning through play. Katie especially loves experimenting and creating with CONNETIX. You can find more of her play ideas on her Instagram account @dudekidz.

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