Category: Plastic Building Kits

This one is a Japanese Bulldozer from a Gakken Gears 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 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.

Japan has been inextricably linked with the Shinkansen for half a century. So this theme is also reflected in children’s construction sets. This is Gakken New Block Shinkansen 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 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.

We have a new wave of construction from the Japanese Gakken set and similar sets. My son, 4.4 years old, makes a lot of things from the construction set – both the simplest things and complex ones. These diving mask, a watering can and a sawmill are the most recent examples. In this machine, the lighter blue part is moving along the dark blue one. It is pressing the material being cut to the sawing discs))))

Gakken are probably one of the most popular “waffle” blocks sets. The Gakken sets have many different forms and shapes of the blocks. There are arched blocks, blocks with different numbers of pegs on different sides, and figurines. There are also some pieces that can work like the rails for the Japanese Gakken set trains. That same pieces are just as thick as any other Gakken blosk, and you can use them in many ways, not just for building rails.

Gakken are Japanese sets, and Japanese Amazon have bigger choise of them. But the shipping may be long and expensive. In countries that are far from Japan, finding these sets can be more tricky, but there are plenty of sets that have pieces of the same shapes.

Original Gakken New Blocks were invented in Japan in 1960s. They original purpose was education and helping children develop imagination and fine motorics. Gakken quickly became popelar in Japan, and they are one of the oldest “waffle” blocks that are still around. There are many sets that try to repeat Gakken concept, but not all of them have this high quality. Another similar set brand is Danish Plus Plus, but in Plus Plus all the pieces have the same shape.