A car made from Magna-Tiles Metropolis set. The thing on the top is mounted on a rotating piece and can turn. Photo by the manufacturer.
MAGNA-TILES Metropolis Set – Car
Mario-Inex Waffle Blocks
Waffle blocks like this Mario-Inex mini waffle blocks set are popular building toys. They are flat and have matching pegs on their sides. You can assemble these pieces in 2D and 3D shapes, and in different positions.
Pieces of this set have an unusually big number of pegs on them – far more than pieces of Gakken and Plus Plus. The pieces have openings in them, so you can connect the pegs to the edges or the centres of the pieces.
All the pieces in this set are exactly the same in shape in form, with the color being the only difference. The plastic is durable but flexible, so you can fold a piece in two and use it in construction without breaking it. On the other hand, this set doesn’t have arches and other similar pieces, which somewhat limits the building possibilities. The houses are the things waffle blocks make best, and, sadly, there are no options for, say, cars with moving wheels.
This particular set has pieces that are 1.5 inches wide, so they are safe for small children to play with. These pieces are easy to hold and too big to swallow, so the manufacturer recommends them for kids who are 3 years or older.
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.
PIXIO Orange Animals
Since all PIXIO sets have identical cubes, you can build whatever you want from any of those sets. But many sets have a general theme, and they have according number of blocks of different colors and proposed crafts. This, for example, is one of the Animals set – with lots of orange blocks and booklet offering to build orange animals.
K’Nex Intermediate Set – Crab
Another K’Nex Intermediate set. This set has these yellow round decorative pieces many othr K’Nex setys don’t have.
TAKO TOWER 2
The second version of a Tako tower. This is the first one.
Tako is another vintage building set. Its pieces are thin, open frames of different colors and sizes. All these frames have square shapes, and they connect to each other by the edges, forming all kinds of shapes. The manufacturer mostly proposed abstract geometric shapes as possible crafts, but these shapes look pretty, and you can use them to play along with some other toys.
Tako frames connect by the edges – they have tiny rails and empty spaces along the edges to put those rails in. As you can see, the edges are slightly asymmetrical, because the two sides of the square have the rails, and the other two have empty spaces. Sadly, the number of ways you can connect the pieces is limited. Many modern building sets offer more options. Of course, the pieces of the same size hold together the best. The pieces are beautiful but delicate and fragile – they can bend slightly, but they are also relatively easy to break accidentally.
Since all pieces are squares, the basic figure you can assemble is a cube, but it’s also possible to make prisms and other figures. They, however, are more tricky to assemble. The set has pieces of 4 different sizes and 6 colors.
Containers’ Lids
We used lids taken from round containers.
TAKO TOWER 1
We just stacked the Tako squares on top of each other to make this tower.
Tako is another vintage building set. Its pieces are thin, open frames of different colors and sizes. All these frames have square shapes, and they connect to each other by the edges, forming all kinds of shapes. The manufacturer mostly proposed abstract geometric shapes as possible crafts, but these shapes look pretty, and you can use them to play along with some other toys.
Tako frames connect by the edges – they have tiny rails and empty spaces along the edges to put those rails in. As you can see, the edges are slightly asymmetrical, because the two sides of the square have the rails, and the other two have empty spaces. Sadly, the number of ways you can connect the pieces is limited. Many modern building sets offer more options. Of course, the pieces of the same size hold together the best. The pieces are beautiful but delicate and fragile – they can bend slightly, but they are also relatively easy to break accidentally.
Since all pieces are squares, the basic figure you can assemble is a cube, but it’s also possible to make prisms and other figures. They, however, are more tricky to assemble. The set has pieces of 4 different sizes and 6 colors.
My Zoo – Korean Magnetic Animals Made Of Precious Woods
In theory, you can create 192 kinds of animals from 3 sets.
A military battle scene (Chinese magnetic construction set)
A military battle scene made by Mary B and 6,6-years-old Willy.
