We didn’t manage to make the ball completely orange, but still it turned out to be sunny and optimistic in our opinion. We used orange, yellow and red rods and plates from the Geomag Kids sets.
Geomag Ball
Author: TatianaZh
The Crow dropped the cheese…
…which the Fox quickly caught and ate. We also are lucky to have this wonderful carpet.
Mycologist Beetle
According to another version, this is a laboratory assistant beetle. The purpose of the grilles with cap-shaped structures is not entirely clear. The children’s opinions divided – according to one version, these are mushrooms, and the beetle is a scientist who collects and studies mushrooms. According to another version, these are test tubes with poison, and the beetle is a laboratory assistant experimenting with different chemical compounds. Made from Gakken New Blocks.
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 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.
Lake Exploration Machine
Everything that is in this machine exists to study the water and underwater world of the lake.
Tegu Future – Magnetron
No way we can live without guns and tanks… Actually, after seeing this particular picture on the Internet, my son and I became interested in the Tegu – Future series.
Flying Dutchman
The ship turned out to be big and bright, and it’s pity is that it can’t sail. But there are wheels – so it can ride. But Alesya launched the ship anyway.
A Very Fat Fox
After 20 takes of the fable, our fox got absolutely fat – no wonder, he gobbled up the cheese 20 times in a row …
Pieces Of Magformers Transform Set
The set pleased the children very much. Square inserts themselves have magnets, and you can use them on their own or as a base for installing guns, antennas, propellers. And they can rotate. All additions like hinges, antenna, guns, and propeller have magnets and can be used with any other magnetic construction sets. The new wheels on a square are good – the wheels are arranged one at a time, not in pairs, and now you can even build a two- or three-wheeled vehicle. I liked the new details – arches, sectors, small rectangles, they are very good and stimulate the emergence of new ideas in construction.
Zoob Piece Variety
In the summer, my son and I sorted through Zoob construction set, looked for broken parts for exchange, and at the same time decided to create our own catalog of parts. Zoob is an old building sets brand, it has been around for more than 20 years, and we play with it for 6 years now. So our family has collected both parts from older and newer sets, both the common ones and with sparkles. Children call the parts by their forms: ball, claws, center, notch. Here’s Zoob piece variety got:
GREEN (LIME)
First of all, it is, of course, more lime than real green. 99% of the green pieces are 2-claw pieces, like in the top row. The glitter set also has a 2-claw piece. In the middle row is a piece from a Chinese Zoob clone set, in emerald color. In the bottom row on the left are 2 parts with balls. This shape rarely comes in green, and on the right are parts of a rich emerald color from a vintage set of the late 90s.
BLUE (PURPLE)
In the top row, on the left there is a purple part with sparkles. In the center is a blue part with sparkles. And the right is the most common form of part in blue – with 2 claws and a notch in the center. In the middle row on the right is a blue piece from the Chinese Zoob. On the left are parts of a rare color, found mostly in the old sets of 1997-2001 – purple. In the bottom row – on the left – there are 2 dark blue pieces, they are common in the older sets.
GRAY
Parts of this color come in all kinds of shapes, usually with a metallic tint. In the top row there are the most common pieces of gray color. In the middle row on the left is a part from the Chinese Zoob clone set.
BLACK
Black is rare now, which is a pity – it was common in Zoob sets in 1997-2001.
YELLOW
99% of the yellow parts are the parts with 2 balls and a notch in the center, so all the cute crosses are yellow. In the middle row is a part from the Chinese – big thanks to them, because we constantly need these pieces. In the bottom row are rarer parts.
ORANGE
We have only one type of pieces – with glitter.
RED
In the top row there are 2 version, the most common one, on the right – a pieces with glitter. In the middle row we have a scarlet-colored piece from the Chinese Zoob clone. And on the right there is a burgundy piece from Zoob clone by ZZToys. In the bottom row are rare versions in red. Our most fragile parts are red, they break most often, and green with glitter, breakability is almost 100%.
This “catalogue” does not contain another wonderful type of ZOOB – glow-in-the-dark parts. We remembered the luminous set after we had laid out the parts; we couldn’t repeat the layout a second time. So I plan to show the glowing set in another post.
Geomag My Castle – Small Set – 87 Pieces
There are only 87 parts in the small castle set. It is good for the first acquaintance with the construction of magnetic castles, but not only that. What is valuable in a small set:
1. 2 bases – square and pentagonal, on which you can build a small house, a dungeon, a watchtower, a tent of a feudal lord who went on a campaign, and then transfer it to the appropriate game environment.
2. Cardboard inserts imitating a camping tent in wonderful red and yellow shades. Also suitable for a modest circus tent.
