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Gakken Party Owls

A spring with forest celebration and happy owls among the flowers. Made from Gakken New Block set.

Unlike Plus Plus waffle blocks, Gakken blocks have pieces of many different shapes. They have round and curved pieces, long beams and H-like pieces. The empty spaces inside the blocks also can have different sizes and shapes, so you can stack inside different pieces in different positions. All this allows even more building possibilities than the waffle blocks sets with similar pieces. However, some pieces have less connection opgtions, because they don’t have pegs on the sides, or have only one hole.

Gakken brand appeared in Tokyo back in 1946 when it became an important component of Japan’s post-war efforts to rebuild the nation. Back then, it became incredible important to properly raise a new generation that will be able to create a better future.

The founder and educator, Hideto Furuoka, created first Gakken New Block set. He later told that his inspiration was traditional Japanese wooden houses. There he saw an idea of flat blocks people can took apart and rebuild again when they need to. So he decided to create a toy which repeats this principle. Children can connect these Japanese waffle building blocks, stack them, lay them, plug, or tuck blocks in different orientations, for example, horizontally, vertically, and diagonally.

Gakken Party Owls
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Edtoy + Tegu – School Bus

Using 2 magnetic construction sets together (globalization in action) – Edtoy from South Korea and Tegu from the USA, although it is made in Honduras.
Tegu planks fit well with Edtoy blocks, the bus rides on a pair of wheels from the Korean set. Thanks to the strong magnets of the Korean manufacturer, the vehicle turned out to be robust enough. Tegu’s magnets are hidden under the wood, so their strength is somewhat reduced.

Edtoy + Tegu - School Bus
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Tokyo Tower

Tokyo Television Tower is one of the symbols of Japan and the tallest building in Japan (height – 332 meters), embodied in the Japanese building set by Gakken. To build this tower, the manufacturer released a separate set with only red and white parts – New Block Tokyo Tower.

Unlike Plus Plus waffle blocks, Gakken blocks have pieces of many different shapes. They have round and curved pieces, long beams and H-like pieces. The empty spaces inside the blocks also can have different sizes and shapes, so you can stack inside different pieces in different positions. All this allows even more building possibilities than the waffle blocks sets with similar pieces. However, some pieces have less connection opgtions, because they don’t have pegs on the sides, or have only one hole.

Gakken brand appeared in Tokyo back in 1946 when it became an important component of Japan’s post-war efforts to rebuild the nation. Back then, it became incredible important to properly raise a new generation that will be able to create a better future.

The founder and educator, Hideto Furuoka, created first Gakken waffle buidling blocks. He later told that his inspiration was traditional Japanese wooden houses. There he saw an idea of flat blocks people can took apart and rebuild again when they need to. So he decided to create a toy which repeats this principle. Children can connect these Japanese waffle building blocks, stack them, lay them, plug, or tuck blocks in different orientations, for example, horizontally, vertically, and diagonally.

Tokyo Tower
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K’Nex Railroad Pals

Well made set with sprockets, rods, wheels and blocks – 58 pieces in total. It proposes 20 models to build – steam locomotives, trolleys, rail layers, semaphores. There are also some creatures that are not directly related to the railway, but live in forests, fields and swamps, spread out on both sides of the railway track. For us, the set was an additional one – it attracted a nice steam locomotive to our collection. We assembled it and rolled it around with great pleasure. I also liked the blue blocks included in the set, which are compatible with Lego Duplo. Younger daughters enjoy using these blocks along with Knex parts and Duplo. From this set they built the K’Nex Bird – I made a separate post obout it. The lid deserves its own description – it has several holes into which you can insert a rod or place, for example, a small bird on one leg or hoist a flag.

K'Nex Railroad Pals
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Zoob 500-Piece Set Box

Zoob 500-piece set is a classic Zoob set in all possible ways. It has those typical Zoob pieces with balls and sockets, but no extra pieces. This is a great set if you are interested in Zoob building. It’s more than enough for big and complex crafts. This set comes in a plastic box. It’s is good for storage, but not so great for moving the set around.

Back in 1997, inventor Michael Grey introduced Zoob, a toy inspired by the science of motion and organism development. Zoob represents an acronym for Zoology, Ontology, Ontogeny, and Botany. Each set has rod-like pieces with joint balls and sockets on their ends. Each of these balls has small bumps on its surface, so the joints can both move and stay in a certain position if you need them to.

This innovative toy features a ball and socket connection system, mimicking the natural movement and design found in people, animals, and machines. With just five basic shapes, Zoob offers 20 different ways to connect them together.

Zoob building sets have won awards because they’re different from regular building blocks. They use plastic pieces that snap together, like gears and joints, to build all kinds of objects, limited only by your imagination. After you build something with Zoob, you can actually play with it – the pieces were designed to move after being assembled, so you can have fun with the toys you create.

Zoobs are great for helping children improve their fine motor skills. The pieces are small enough to easily manipulate and put them together. But they’re not too tiny like some other toys, so it’s easier for kids who find small objects tricky.

Zoob 500-Piece Set Box
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Zoob-Bot

A robot from ZOOB – ZOOB-BOT. It has glowing eyes (greenish part, the battery is replacable, and there is a switch). The eyes blink differently, sometimes they just glow with a reddish-orange light, sometimes they blink. The robot also has an inertia mechanism, which is uncommon for ZOOB. It runs very quickly. The set also contains wonderful purple parts.

Back in 1997, inventor Michael Grey introduced Zoob, a toy inspired by the science of motion and organism development. Zoob represents an acronym for Zoology, Ontology, Ontogeny, and Botany. Each set has rod-like pieces with joint balls and sockets on their ends. Each of these balls has small bumps on its surface, so the joints can both move and stay in a certain position if you need them to.

This innovative toy features a ball and socket connection system, mimicking the natural movement and design found in people, animals, and machines. With just five basic shapes, Zoob offers 20 different ways to connect them together.

Zoob building sets have won awards because they’re different from regular building blocks. They use plastic pieces that snap together, like gears and joints, to build all kinds of objects, limited only by your imagination. After you build something with Zoob, you can actually play with it – the pieces were designed to move after being assembled, so you can have fun with the toys you create.

Zoobs are great for helping children improve their fine motor skills. The pieces are small enough to easily manipulate and put them together, but they’re not too tiny like some other toys, so it’s easier for kids who find small objects tricky.

Zoob-Bot