Customer Reviews

Block Building for Children: Making Buildings of the World with the Ultimate Construction Toy

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is the best book on the topic of block building that I have ever seen. Black and white photographs of the beginnings and completions of interesting structures are shown, as well as carefully drawn plans for building each structure. While recommended for older children on this site, I highly recommend that it be included near every block corner in kindergarten classes. The children are able to visualize, then extend the ideas contained in the book, and have become much better block builders as a result. One very positive thing is that the book tends to attract girls to the block building area, where they carefully study the plans and cooperate to try to reproduce the structure. Since block building is known to nurture spatial sense, an important math skill, anything that encourages girls to participate in block building is highly recommended. (By the way, boys love it too!)

Genuine hardwood unit blocks are THE best toy for children. I have a fairly large set of them and my children, who range in age from 2-8, all sit down together (and separately) and play with them. The blocks become horse stables, airports, buildings, hotels, doll houses, highways, you name it!! And when other children come to our home, the blocks are invariably the first thing pulled out and played with.

In general, I've held that open-ended toys like blocks should be open ended, that kids should be encouraged to make their own creations, not carefully recreate someone else's construction.

I make an exception for Lester Walker's exceptional book. Some of his buildings are so realistic - his cathedral, roman temple, and skyscraper, for example. It is so interesting to see how he takes the basic block shapes to make such complex looking structures.

Other projects in the book invite hours of play, such as his shopping mall, airport, and boat dock.

I highly, highly recommend this book.

This book is lovely. A true treasure. I will be keeping this one after my kids are gone. It has "plans" for building everything from a car wash for toy cars to an airport complete with hangers for the planes. The illustrations are very well done and easy to see which block goes where. One important note- you need a FULL set of unit blocks to build most of what is in here. A little kit of 50 blocks just isn't gonna cut it. Unfortunately it's not so easy to find a good set of block for your kids. In my opinion, however, it's worth it. A quick internet search should lead you to a source. Keep in mind, they aren't cheap. You have to look at them as an investment. Blocks are something that will easily provide 10 years or more of play. And don't forget the future generations. So do your kids a favor and get them a big ol set of unit blocks and a copy of this book and watch the fun begin!

Absolutely THE BEST building book for unit blocks. My son can't keep his hands off it, or the unit blocks. We'll never get rid of them; they're such a great toy. He's almost 10 and blocks are still his favorite toy. Take that, electronic babysitters!

Great book for all aspects of block building from the beginner to the advanced. My son is almost 4, wish I would have got it a couple years ago.