Toy Review: Tegu Blocks

When a wood block and a magnet love each other very much...

Block Love, image from Amazon

Blocks are always awesome. I dare anyone to think back on their childhood and not find a happy memory with some sort of block-like toy.

And there are so many types: wooden ones, plastic ones, connecting ones, mega- ones—all wonderful. But this time I'm going to endorse the wooden, magnetic connecting ones.

We have two of the 22-Piece Tints Endeavor Block Sets and three of the Green a la Carte Cubes Block Sets (4 blocks per set). However, more and more different sets keep coming out, so the 24-piece set seems to currently be the standard medium-sized set.

24-Piece Set, Tints; image from tegu.com

Made by: Tegu
Recommended age: 1+ year
Added bonus: Blocks help children's brains develop lots good

Haven't you heard that blocks are good for you? NPR recently did a story about wood blocks, mentioning that "early childhood studies have shown that children who play with blocks have better language and cognition skills than control groups" (full story here).

Tegu also has an impressive chart. I don't know about you, but I trust a good-looking chart.

This chart makes me want to help my children be good at stuff, image from tegu.com

I'm also a big fan of any child's toy that is fun for me to play with as well (besides Tegu, Squigz are another great example).

My 13-month-old twins aren't quite ready to use these blocks to build, but as you can see, they enjoy handling them, banging them together, pulling them apart and—inevitably—chewing on them.

PROS:

• Fun for the kids and the adults
• Good for solo play and/or group play (hear that, moms of multiples?)
• Comes in many shapes and colors and various sets
• If people double up on them for gifts, you just think of it as expanding your set
• Smooth wooden surfaces are easy to wipe clean
• It has magnets! ... Magnets are proven to be cool by science!!
• Magnets are strong enough to stick to other metallic surfaces
• Blocks in general make brains good :)
• They'll play with them for many years
• You can feel good about the company you are patronizing (see their Our Story Page)
• Tegu donates towards replanting efforts for trees
• Their factory is in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, in efforts to bring world-class employment standards to Central America
• Safe, good quality product
• magnets are deep inside the toys and not accessible
• use non-toxic, water-based lacquers

CONS:

• They're a bit pricey

My advice is to get them from amazon.com or zulily.com when they're on sale. Zulily requires that you sign up in order to view their site, but it won't cost you anything. It's worth it since I've found better sales for Tegu through zulily than anywhere else.

You can even search specifically for the Tegu brand. Then click on the heart, and you'll be notified when it goes on sale.

Toy Review: Squigz

It's hard to know what to buy for infants and toddlers unless you've had an infant or toddler. Even then, toys change so often, and it's hard to know what's really awesome and what's just kinda meh.

I would definitely put Squigz under the awesome column.

Squigz Starter 24 piece set by Fat Brain Toy Co., image from Amazon.com

I was first introduced to them when my adorable, little niece received some for her first birthday. My inner child took one look at them and went, "Ooo—I want."

They are colorful, multi-shaped bits of silicone with suction cup ends. What's fun is that they can stick to each other as well as other surfaces.

Made by: Fat Brain Toys
Recommended age: 3+ years*
Tagline that makes me smile: fun little suckers!

*Since this is a building toy with multiple pieces and takes some coordination and creativity, I assume that is why the manufacturer recommends the age at three and above. I recommend it for one-year-olds and maybe even a little younger. My only warning at this age is to give it to them under supervision so you don't lose the pieces or risk them gagging on it because, yes, they will definitely want to chew them. Everything in the starter set seemed to pass the cardboard tube rule, but there's no harm in being a little extra cautious.

What's included in the starter 24 piece set, image from fatbraintoys.com

My children first started playing with them when they were about one-year-old. They aren't quite ready to start building with them yet, and they haven't quite figured out how to stick them to other surfaces. But they sure love to chew on them and unstick whatever I stick together.

Winry demonstrates the silicone chewiness

PROS:

• Fun for just about any age

  

  Sticks to multiple surfaces (like Henry and me)

• children 3+ years: encourages creativity and fine motor skills
• under 3 years: fun to chew, swing around or pull apart
• adults: I love making abstract shapes for my children to destroy
• Silicone makes it great for teething babies to chew
• Silicone also makes it easy to clean
• I throw mine in a dishwasher basket
• Comes in different set sizes so you can always choose to expand later
• Don't have to worry about more than one person getting it for your child (the more, the merrier)
• Sticks to multiple surfaces
• The tray of the highchair is a great place when mealtime gets a little fussy

This video from the manufacturer makes some great points:

CONS:
Honestly, there really isn't anything of significance. If I were really reaching...

• The Squigz don't always hold together as well as the video makes it seem, but it's still entirely possible to make a big shape without it falling apart
• It's probably easier when babies aren't constantly trying to grab at it

Why it is not a real con: My husband once complained that they're not sturdy enough to make a big structure. To which I responded, "Then you're not building them right."