Architecture Toys

Did you have wood blocks to play with when you were a kid? My sisters and I had a basketful of plain wood blocks. We’d take over the living room and build towers as high as we could. Or we’d build abstract cities. Recently I rediscovered blocks in a toy store (and resisted the urge to buy them) marketed as architectural blocks. Talk about starting the kids young, huh? They seem like an excellent way to get kids interested in buildings and sense of place at a young age. Plus, for those of you preservationists with young children, it will keep you entertained as well.

HABA Wooden Blocks Extra Large Starter Set

HABA Wooden Blocks Extra Large Starter Set

The company is named HABA and the buildings blocks are reported to be of quality construction and unique with many different collections from the starter sets to logic sets to landmarks such as the Leaning Tower of Pisa, pyramids, skyscrapers, a Japanese house, Russian architecture, a castle, and so much more.

HABA Romantic Era Building Blocks

HABA Romantic Era Building Blocks

HABA Baroque Architecture Blocks

HABA Baroque Architecture Blocks

I’m not a parent, but it seems to me that in an age of plastic toys and video games, classic blocks are a good way to stimulate the imagination and build a child’s knowledge. My sisters and I would have chosen these blocks over video games any day. And I happen to know a handle of people (ahem, Mary Wash preservation kids) who would still play with these.  Certain designs would be an excellent interactive teaching method for architectural history. Enjoy! Does anyone know of other preservation related kids toys?

2 thoughts on “Architecture Toys

  1. Maria says:

    When I was younger my dad bought me a book/stamp set called “Fun With Architecture” the book had designs and patterns and in the back was a stamp set that included all sorts of architectural details so you could create your own buildings such as palaces and churches or regular houses (for exaple they had different styles of arches and windows as stamps). Still one of my favorites 🙂

Have a thought to share?

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out /  Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out /  Change )

Connecting to %s