How to Choose And Where to Buy
Foam Building Blocks
Foam building blocks are toy building blocks made from foam. Basically, your children can use these toy building blocks in the same way as wooden building blocks. If your children play with wooden building blocks for hours, chances are that they will also love these kind of blocks.
In this article, you will find information on soft foam block buying caveat, types of foam building block available, and where to buy such blocks.
NOTE: To go shopping directly, go to recommendation section at the bottom of this page.
Soft Foam Block Buying Caveat
Foam building block offers some advantages over the traditional wooden building block:
- It is soft, so it won't hurt if it is thrown around during the block play.
- It can be used as a bath toy if needed.
- It is light, so even a toddler can play with the large version of this.
However, it also has disadvantages :
- it is less durable than the wooden building block.
- foam block can be chewed, especially the ones which have triangular shapes. For instance, younger children, especially toddlers can chew at the corner of a prism, hence this toy has a potential of causing a choking hazard.
- soft foam block is light. Therefore, the regular size of these toy building blocks can only be played on flat surface, for instance on ceramic surface. You can't use foam building blocks on plush carpets, since they won't be stable.
In addition, to ensure a safe block play, it is important that the children's foam block you are going to buy has manufacturer's declaration stating that the blocks are made from non-toxic materials.
What and Where to Buy
Some foam toy blocks, especially the regular-size ones may be found at the local toy store. However, the large foam blocks are more difficult to find locally,
so unfortunately you will have to get these toys online.
Below is the types of foam building blocks available in the market today and where to get those:
1. Regular-sized foam building blocks.
These foam blocks are suitable for use as toy building blocks for older toddlers or preschoolers or as a bath toy.
One caveat though. Since regular-sized foam building blocks have the size similar to the regular wooden building blocks, please exercise caution
if you want to use these blocks as a bath toy for a young toddler or baby because of the possible choking hazards.
These blocks have either a
smooth
or
textured
surface. The textured ones are of course good for providing extra tactile stimulation.
One of the drawbacks of foam building blocks are that they are not as stable as the wooden ones. If your children want to make a more stable structure out of the regular sized foam blocks, it is important to buy the ones which
interlock so that the block pieces can be shunted onto one another. So in essence, they are
pretty much like Lego Duplo and as big as Duplo (around 2.5 inch), but are soft, because they're made from foam.
Edushape, a premier manufacturer of foam toy blocks, is the only company I know of that manufactures interlocking foam blocks and these foam blocks are available
here.
2. Jumbo foam toy blocks.
Jumbo foam toy blocks are bigger than the regular-sized foam building blocks and are easier to stack than the regular ones.
Because of the big size, they are perfect for toddlers. However, they
are not big enough to make a life-size structures nor are they suitable for baby or toddler climbing activities since these blocks actually range in size between 4-5 inches.
To make a life-size structure or for baby climbing/crawling activities, you would need a large or giant foam building blocks (discussed at the next point
below).
These jumbo foam toy blocks come with either
textured
or
smooth
surfaces. (
NOTE: the one with the smooth surface is currently offered at 30% OFF
here.
)
Finally, if your children want to make a more stable structure out of the jumbo foam blocks, you can get the ones which
interlock so that the block pieces can be shunted onto one another. These blocks are
like Lego Duplo, but they are bigger and of course soft. These foam blocks are available
here
3.Giant or large foam building blocks.
Giant foam building blocks are ideal for making giant or life-size structures similar to the ones made by cardboard building blocks. Because of this, you can also use
these large foam blocks for baby or young toddler climbing toys. The triangular shape blocks can easily be used as baby slides.
Unfortunately,
these large foam blocks are expensive. For instance, good 12-piece giant foam block set
cost well over $100 and a proper soft /foam baby climbing toy
(containing
blocks for tunnel crawling, sliding and climbing activities) cost $over 300. They are perfect, though for a home or institutional child care.
Otherwise, I would suggest you to spend your money on cheaper giant building blocks made from cardboard. The giant cardboard blocks come in 3 sizes: small (blue brick), medium (yellow brick) and large (red bricks).
I prefer the large (red) one because they are the most stable ones. You can get either the set with biggest bricks only (the red brick) or the set with mixed bricks either at
Amazon or Kazoo toys.
Here are the links for your shopping convenience:
(UPDATE: Before shopping, please note that Kazootoys is currently offering
20% OFF all toys storewide at checkout and is therefore, for the time being, cheaper than Amazon. To claim the discount, click on Kazoo Toy link below)
- Mixed cardboard brick blocks (consisting of 3-size brick blocks):
- Red brick (the largest) cardboard blocks only from:
Kazoo Toy store
or Amazon
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More on building blocks .......
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main page of children's building blocks
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