Creativity.
When I think of the educational values I want to instill in my boys lots of important things come to mind: knowledge, hard work, persistence, and one more VERY important attribute–Creativity.
Finding creative building toys that really engage your children is an exciting thing. It is even more exciting when that toy also teaches hard work, persistence, and a certain understanding (knowledge) of how something works.
A little while ago I was contacted by a Canadian toy company called Bloco. If you live in Canada, you may already be familiar with Bloco Toys. Bloco™ is a groundbreaking, patented construction toy whose high density foam pieces and uniquely designed plastic connectors interlink allowing children to create loveable, silly, and sometimes even ghoulish characters. The plastic connector pieces act as joints so kids can either display or play with their creations.
You know you’ve found one of the best creative building toys when it has received the “Top Toy of the Year” award from Creative Child Magazine and the Children’s Choice award from the Canadian Toy Testing Council!
Bloco Toys come in several different themes and characters. You can see their full lineup of building toys at the Bloco website. We were sent the Robot Invasion set (225 pieces) and the Ogre & Monsters set (280 pieces) for Big Brother and Little Brother to review.
I have to admit that when I was looking at the Blocos on their website I wondered how well they’d stand up to actually being played with. I was a little dubious that the foam wouldn’t be prone to ripping when played with by 4-10 year olds. But as soon as I began taking the pieces out of the box I could see and feel how durable (with the exception of a few very thin parts, like the robot’s antenna) the high density foam would be.
As you can see, each set comes with a lot of little pieces so if you have little ones like Baby Z, who likes to put everything in his mouth, you’ll want to be careful to keep the Blocos out of reach.
As an adult, the design of the whole set is really quite impressive. Upon opening the box you’ll see 3 to 4 sheets of the high density foam with the pieces waiting to be punched out by your child. From those 3 to 4 sheets of foam they’ll be able to create a variety of fairly intricate characters or animals.
Your child can choose to free-build their own creation or follow the step-by-step instructions provided. The age range stated on the box starts at age 4. However, you’ll probably find that most 4 year olds are going to need a fair bit of help from an older sibling or grown up. My 6 year old, on the other hand, is able to follow the directions and build his Bloco creations correctly and quite quickly. Once my 4 year old gets used to how the pieces fit together he should be able to free-build without any help.
*One word of advice for any age child: Start your child on the easiest looking character of the set, or be prepared to build with them. There are a lot pieces to these characters, and if your child is a novice builder you don’t want them getting too frustrated and throwing in the towel.
The high density foam pieces are large enough even for those little 4 year old hands. And, as an added bonus, they are washable. 🙂
You really can’t go wrong with Bloco™ toys. Starting at around $14 retail (they’re under $10 on Amazon.com
Check out all the Bloco creative building toys at Amazon.com!
Don’t forget to Like Bloco on Facebook for all the latest happenings, reviews, and giveaways!
Click HERE for a fun Bloco toys giveaway!!!
About Amy @ Oh So Savvy Mom
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