Long past are the days when towers were built to be destroyed. Bubsi has become quite the builder. Anything that can be stacked attracts her attention these days, and it better works when she tries, or else…
Soft blocks, Lego, Kapla, Montessori blocks…
In the beginning, we owned a set of soft blocks for babies. Well, owned is not quite right, we had them passed on by friends and I am not sure whether we are meant to return them. The blocks come in a few shapes and sizes, and some of them make noises when shaken or squished. Perfect blocks for exploration at the age of six months, or so we thought. Alas, that never really happened. Bubsi was simply not interested in building things at that age, and the sounds… Heard them, done that. I kind of forgot we had the blocks, to be honest. They were hiding with the soft toys in the big soft toy house, at the very bottom of course. Until Bubsi rediscovered them recently – now that building has become her passion. And no, these blocks are so not for babies, Mama!
Lego
About a year or so ago we started introducing Bubsi to Lego Duplo, or the toddler safe Lego product. That, too, took off rather slowly. Albeit with more success than the soft blocks, likely due to the little Lego people that come with most Duplo sets. At first, Bubsi liked playing with the plastic people or driving around the Duplo tractor. Recently though, she has really gotten into building towers and houses with the blocks. The litte people climb stairs, sleep in houses, slide down towers, you name it. Bubsi can spend a long time with Lego Duplo, provided it all works out the way she wants it. The tower must not fall. Nothing must break. Or else game over, cry party about to start. Or worse: throwing the individual blocks all over the house, making as much noise and mess as possible. Tidying up? Forget it, Bubsi is pissed after all.
Kapla
Earlier this year I became aware of a set of building blocks called Kapla stones. The beauty of these stones is that they are made of wood, and that they all have exactly the same shape. They feel very soft and yet they stick remarkably well together due to their surface texture. What really drew me to them though was the fact that they allow for maximum creativity. There is no prescribed way to stack them. One can build tons of things with them, but the boxes do not suggest an ideal way to use them. To make things short, I bought a starter set of 100 stones.
What can I say? Kapla stones have been used to build garages for our toy cars, houses for our little people, and tunnels for our train set to go through. Towers, robots, ships, planes and my personal favorite: a locomotive on tracks (pictured below). Their versatility is a real plus and I think I will get more Kapla stones as Bubsi gets older and designs more complex. Papa also likes building things so there is that too.
Kindergarden building
Of course, Bubsi’s new kindergarden offers building materials as well. After Bubsi’s surge in interest when it comes to construction, she now usually starts her day there building Montessori block towers with one of her teachers. It should be said though that those blocks are no challenge at all. The four different towers take her the first ten minutes of the day to construct, and that includes getting the boxes and putting them away. Maybe it is high time I look for more difficult material?
