All the basic Gakken waffle pieces we have.
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 basic Gakken waffle pieces. 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.
(For Tatiana). A personal message failed, so I’ll try here. Tatiana, please share how and where you bought the Japanese Gakken blocks? How much did delivery cost you? I looked at the Japanese stores and couldn’t figure out the shipping. I also looked for a more detailed description of each set – what parts they contain, what colors, etc., in order to choose a set, but I couldn’t find it on the Internet. We really like this construction set and really want to buy it!! Please share your experience!! Thank you very much!
Honestly, I ordered my setz with delivery to Japan, and then my friends sent it to me. I bought the very first set with rounded parts in a regular Japanese store, just out of curiosity. I didn’t study the contains of other sets back then, and I didn’t have much time anyway. And when I brought it home, my girls began to actively build, and we realized that we needed to buy a large set. There are some Gakken on Amazon, and you can find even more of them on Japanese Amazon. But I’m not sure about the delivery. At least you can check out the sets and their composition.
Thank you!
Tatiana, can you please tell me how much a big set weights? I need it for delivery service.
6.6 pounds. Good look!
So had you ordered something from Japan?
No, not yet. We decided to buy sets available on Amazon for now.
I bought a 183-piece Gakken set on ebay for my kids. It wasn’t even that expensive, compared to a big Lego Duplo set.
It’s actually really cheap compared to Magformers :))) Even with delivery from Japan. Will we see your crafts from Gakken?
Yeah, my child got a Magformers set for Birthday. Kid liked the set, and I checked them to maybe buy one more set. They really are more expensive than usual sets. Not sure about the photos yet, we now build from Gakken by the manual.