Wooden Building Block
Buying Guide
Wooden building block is one of the most treasured childhood toys. They are fun, educational and good
to improve fine motor and spatial skills. Therefore, it is important to invest in good quality wooden toy blocks.
But, there are many brands and types of wooden building block available today. You may
wonder which wooden block sets are best for your children. This
article will answer your question and give recommendation on what children wooden blocks are the best and where to buy them online.
Basically, there are five types of wooden toy blocks for children (choose one
from below to go straight to that section, or just continue scrolling down the page):
Your toddlers and preschoolers will love to play with alphabet wooden toy blocks which have numbers, alphabets and pictures printed on them.
Although commonly used for stacking activities, children can always mix these children wooden blocks with other kind of blocks and use them together
to create a structure. My children, for instance, love to use cube-shaped blocks like ABC wooden blocks as a castle wall. In addition, we use
ABC wooden blocks in different ways, for instance, as a pretend birthday cakes, as targets for bowling, and so forth.
This way, even school-age kids will love them.
There are two kinds of ABC building blocks for kids: the ones sized around 1 inch, and the bigger ones (1.75 inches). I suggest you to invest in the bigger ones since they're
more stable and versatile.
If you have a toddler, it is important to get an ABC wooden block set painted with non toxic and good quality paint. So that when they chew the cubes,
the paint won't come off. It's also important to get the ones which have smooth edges.
In my opinion, the best alphabet kid's building blocks is the Uncle Goose blocks made by Lindenwood. However, they are not the cheapest around.
Expect to pay between $30-35 for a set of 28 blocks. Fortunately, these blocks are
currently on sale at 20%
OFF here.
, so that a set of Uncle Goose blocks can be bought for around $25-27.
For a cheaper alternative (about half the price of Uncle Goose blocks), have a look at big
Schylling blocks. They're good enough, but they only have alphabets on the side. So don't expect
any numbers or pictures on the blocks. This wooden building block is also only suitable for children who
will not lick the blocks. A set of 48 blocks is currently offered for $20 (30% OFF)
here
.
When your child reaches a preschooler age, she will also be ready to play with unit blocks, or wooden building blocks which have different kind of shape (prism, pyramid, cubes and long cylinder).
You can easily buy wooden building block like this locally. But usually, you will get more choices online. If you want to buy these online, below is the links to where to get such unit wood blocks:
Shopping Tips: When shopping online, look at the dimension carefully. Photos can be deceiving ...:)
- Unit wooden toy blocks by Melissa and Doug.
These children's wooden blocks are all time favorite. They have good quality and are large enough to make them stable to stack.
You can get the unfinished version (60 ct) at 25% OFF here, 
or the colorful ones (36 ct) at almost 20% OFF here. 
- Smaller unit wooden blocks.
If you don't mind smaller children's wooden blocks, you can get them at 2-3 times cheaper than the standard unit blocks. Bear in mind though, that since they're small,
they're not very stable, and it will take a long time to build bigger structure. Melissa and Doug sells 100 colorful wooden toy blocks over 20% OFF here.
Wooden castle building blocks, or architectural building blocks are wooden building blocks which have more sophisticated shapes compared to unit blocks, for instance
bridges, domes, and so forth, so that they enable children to build more elaborate and beautiful structures. There are many architectural wooden block sets available
today, from medieval castle, to Chinese pagoda. So you will not run out of choice.
Unfortunately, general stores usually won't carry this type of wooden building block.
Therefore, if you want to buy wooden castle building blocks, you will have more choice if you buy them online.
Here are some wooden castle building block sets for children:
- Melissa & Doug Architectural Building Blocks (bigger size) for children.
If you want to buy a sufficiently large architectural building blocks for kids, get the architectural building blocks from Melissa and Doug.
This wooden block set is large enough and therefore produces stable structures. You can mix this set with Melissa & Doug standard unit blocks since they're compatible
with each other. I highly recommend you to buy these two sets of building blocks. The architectural building blocks can be purchased here at 25% OFF
whereas the unit blocks (60ct) can be obtained 25% OFF here,
.
- Smaller architectural building blocks for children.
Both HABA and Guidecraft produce high-quality, non-painted, beautiful and realistic-looking architectural building blocks for kids. Your children
will be able to create different structures, from Roman colloseum to middle eastern palace, depending on the set you buy.
However, the pieces are pretty small. We bought the middle eastern architectural blocks from HABA
and the dome base has just over 1 inch in diameter.
You can get HABA architectural blocks here at mostly 20% OFF
or Guidecraft wooden castle blocks here at 50% OFF..
- Archiquest wooden building block.
Archiquest is the most educational architectural block set available and is most suitable for older kindergartner or school-age children.
\ The blocks themselves are beautifully painted and have different shapes and prints. What
makes them stand out is the fact that out of these blocks, your child can simulate real architectural design. They are also more difficult to build than
HABA and Guidecraft's wooden castle blocks.
The wooden block sets come with small books containing history of
certain architecture and building ideas. They are available here at below the retail price.
- HABA Fantasy Blocks.
HABA's fantasy block is a really whimsical castle block set with print on them. They're most suitable for preschoolers and may not appeal older children.
This wooden building block set can be bought here. 
.
Lincoln Log and Frontier Log blocks are popular wooden building toys for children and especially interesting since, as the name implies, your child will be able to build different kinds of log cabin using these child building logs.
The building sets come with little people or little figures which will make the pretend play even more exciting. Lincoln Logs and
Frontier Logs are available
at Amazon at below the retail price.
If you have school-age children who think that wooden building block is no more their cups of tea as it's getting too easy, then get a set of plank building blocks.
These children's wooden blocks are made of planks and children are expected to build a structure from those planks.
They are undoubtedly very educational and are sometimes
found in children museums or schools. The most famous of these is Kapla Blocks, but there are also Keva and Citibloc which are cheaper. Although
these three brands use wooden planks, it
important to note that they have different plank dimension and color depth. Currently, they are available here at deep discount. .
Interlocking Toddler Wooden Building Block.
Big interlocking blocks are very appealing for toddlers and preschoolers. The blocks made of plastic, such as Mega Blok and Lego Duplo, are of course the most popular ones. But did you
know that big interlocking blocks can also be made of foam 
and wood ?
Yes, interlocking blocks can also be made from wood. They're pretty rare, but yes, they're available. HABA makes such interlocking wooden building block and it is safe, of high quality and age-appropriate.
However, they are more expensive (we're talking about $31 for 13 pieces of blocks).
However, you can try this store
as it often discounts these blocks.
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