Monday, October 18, 2010

Guidecraft Rainbow Blocks {Review}

I'm not sure if there is a more classic toy for children than wooden blocks. Is there a child out there that can see a pile of blocks sitting there and not be interested in stacking one on top of the next to construct a tower, castle, house, car and more? I don't think that desire is something that we outgrow either - if there was a set of blocks in front of you, could you resist not at least building with a few of them?

So now you know how I felt when my kids paused playing with the incredible Rainbow Blocks from Guidecraft. How could I stop myself from taking one look at the box and wanting to turn these high quality, innovative and colorful blocks into this?

Really, as soon as I saw Guidecraft's Rainbow Blocks 30-piece set in person, I had a hard time keeping my hands from wanting to touch and play with each and every one of them. The strong, hardwood frame is similar to traditional blocks and feels smooth and comfortable in any size hands, particularly with the addition of the soft, rounded edges.

But one look and the unique aspect of these wooden blocks is blatantly apparent: the colored plexi interiors. This very, very cool aspect gives this set a whole new way to play as suddenly there is more to building than just getting the blocks stacked and balanced.

Both Big Sister E and Little Sister B realized right away that they were fun to peek through...

Build with both horizontally and vertically...

And work individually or collaboratively to build structures both simple and complex.

There's a possibility that I helped Little Sister B out with this one just a tad bit.

As I knew that these blocks would be great for hand-eye coordination, motor skill development and color and shape recognition, I didn't realize just how easy it would be to make playing with them educational. We lined the blocks up and counted them, all the while naming their colors...

And, while talking about the different shapes and sizes, Little Sister B put two of the rectangles together and helped discover a new aspect to learn about: primary and secondary colors.

Suddenly, instead of just talking about red, yellow, blue and green, Big Sister E and I were having conversations about red + yellow = orange and more and she was excited about learning how the colors mixed together to form a new one. What a great bonus to playing with blocks!

All in all, we love Guidecraft's Rainbow Blocks. They are high quality (both the wood and the plexi are extremely durable and strong), well-constructed, entertaining, educational and a unique twist to traditional wooden blocks. Every kid needs a set of blocks to inspire creativity and learning and these do all of that plus more!

Available in sets of multiple sizes and also with with cool things like sand, water or mirrors inside, Rainbow Blocks are available directly from Guidecraft or on sites like Amazon.

Enter to win a set of Guidecraft's amazing Rainbow Blocks! As this is a Guidecraft Moms review, that means one of the moms is hosting a giveaway, right? This month Confessions of a Homeschooler is the lucky blog, so head over there and enter for a chance to win a 30-piece set of Rainbow Blocks (ARV $60)!

(I was provided with one 30pc set of Rainbow Blocks to help facilitate this review as part of my participation as a Guidecraft Mom. I was not compensated or enticed or to do this review in any way and this post is solely my honest opinion of this website, the products and how much we love them.)

7 comments:

Liz Mays said...

I just love the pretty stained glass look to them!

Anonymous said...

Oh these do look quite amazing. I'm with you and love building with the kids. I make towers on a daily basis with them. I'm gonna check the giveaway out tomorrow!

Chanda Wilkin said...

Those look fun!
I am a new follower from the TTA blog hop, would love to have you follow me back.

http://mommaneedsablog.blogspot.com/

Junneth said...

Wow this is cute! How I wish to have this for my pre- school! This is fun and enjoyable!

LP said...

this is very nice for my little girl...

Anyway, new follower... would love it if you follow me back... :)

MIG said...

You did such a wonderful job building with these blocks! I want to play too. Lol! Wooden blocks are so cool. I like the colors with these.

Aleksandra Nearing said...

Those are cute! I haven't seen blocks like that before.