It's not just me; research concludes that children learn a lot by designing and building things. Many skills are rooted in the act of construction: creation, examination, and problem solving are but a few. Construction will encourage your child to separate complicated tasks into manageable bites. The nature of building complex models encourages children to think about multiple steps of assembly at the same time, particularly when working with gears or fussy pieces. Based on my own engineering background/ bias, I believe that construction is one of the most valuable educational processes available and that both learning to build and learning by what has been built should be a part of every family's curriculum.
But some children have zero interest in building and creating. Possibly it is because most construction kits emphasize vehicles, machines, and other man-made innovations. If your child's inclinations are more creation-based, if he would rather build a realistic animal or a lifelike fish, consider Bloco with its uniquely-shaped, high-density foam and specialized plastic connectors that both link and rotate pieces.
This one-of-a-kind construction kit allows your child to build simple, flat models and extraordinary 3D animals like lizards and lions. Each set comes with detailed illustrated designs, and sets can be combined to allow the creation of even more interesting creatures.
Colorful and appealing when completed, these are not simple slaptogether kits. Our experience is that younger children, unless highly motivated, are initially going to find some of the more complex models "impossible." Instead of becoming irritated, rejoice; it means that by the time your child completes the projects he will have learned something and you will have gotten your money's worth. Each Bloco set makes an assortment of creatures, from sharks to eagles to zebra, each one worthy of display. All sets are fully compatible. Suitable for ages four to twelve. The sets are listed in order of difficulty.
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