On the left, we have rods from the Chinese magnetic castle set, and on the right, we have rods from another Chinese set called Moli (also known as Magnastix). The Magnetic Castle has attic window panels that can only be held with a half ring of sticks of this particular brand. If you use the semi-circle made of Moli sticks, the panel simply slips away without stopping.
When looking at the Nelson set through a computer screen, Admiral Nelson immediately comes to mind, setting off on a ship to the sea. Dark blue sea depths, gray-blue sky, green uninhabited islands, orange sunrise… “How romantic!” – I thought. And I was wrong – the set is named after a modern American designer from Connecticut, George Nelson. The colors in the set are really wonderful, and the quality is excellent. Sadly, I can’t say the same about the locations of the magnets in the pieces – they are catastrophically few. It seems that the details were well thought out, but they remembered about the magnets at the last moment, and hastily shoved a pair into each detail. We haven’t felt this dissapointed in a long time…
Canopy bed for our favorite mouse. First we made a blanket, then we added an attachment to it in the form of a bed. The blanket was made by 3-year-old Alesya, and her mommy helped her with the bed.
More a sculpture than a toy. The wheels don’t rotate, but they are surprisingly sturdy.
In general, we liked playing with the Chinese magnetic constructor Castle (details below in the photo). As I expected, the children liked the openwork panels with windows, the original domes, and the corner towers. The color of the details, of course, is very specific, in a Chinese style – the towers are blue, the magnetic sticks are purple and green, the panels are pink… At first, castles and fortresses were built only from the details from this set. All five sets fit nicely in a small container. Magnets don’t come off. Now about the cons: the magnets in the sticks are weak, because of this, the panels are constantly shifting, the corner towers crumble into pieces and balls escape from there, the color of the sticks is a little depressing.
Wheels from left to right: The large yellow wheel with rubber tire is from the Zoob Jr Zoomer set. The parts in these sets are 4 inches long. Wheel diameter is about 3 inches. Large gray wheel with rubber tire is from the Dragster set. The diameter of the wheel is 3 inches. The small wheel with a rubber tire is a wheel you can find in some car Zoob sets. Its diameter (with the bumps on the wheel) is 2 inches. The last wheel on the right is a clone from the ZZ Toys company. Its diameter is 1 inch, just rough plastic, no rubber…
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. With these simple pieces, you 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 will move after assembly, so you can have fun with the toys you create.
There is a set’s logo on each of the Gakken pieces.
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 Gakken pieces, stack them, lay them, plug, or tuck blocks in different orientations, for example, horizontally, vertically, and diagonally.
One of the many creatures made from Tazoo Beto set.
This is our excellent student Baby Bear at his desk. A green lamp above the table shines cozily, a medal handg around his neck. So our Baby Bear is ready to do his homework. We also have a bed from K’Nex, but we didn’t include it in the photo. Just to not embarrass Baby Bear – all his friends are preparing for hibernation, and he is studying.
The green grid in the centre is a piece from malysh set, and anything else are Japanese Gakken blocks. It actually looks like they use the same mold.
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 Japanese Gakken 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.
