My son’s birthday is coming up, as it seems are those most of the children in his class. So, of course I’m stocking up on birthday gifts to distribute over the next few months I’m more and more and more these days shying away from cheap toys. Admittedly, I’ve never been a fan of overly commercial, what I call, “ten second toys”, that is, toys that have limited play value, but I find I’m getting even pickier.

So, I’ve started to limit myself to just a few categories of toys. One of them is building toys, which I’ve written about a few places, including here and here. As I’ve been cruising my favorite web site, PriceGrabber of course, for ideas, I ran across these Kapla blocks.

Lightweight and simple enough for a toddler, they are just the kind of toy I like – one that grows with your child. The simple shapes can be used to make fences or small structures and later on to build intricate buildings. They also can be combined with favorite pretend play toys and incorporated to pen in horses or build a defense structure!

An award winner, Kapla blocks’ proportions are based on the elementary progression of odd numbers: 1:3:5. This ratio for optimal strength is often used in forming bricks, cutting beams, planks, and stone. In other words, you can build these to the ceiling without them tipping over – more or less.