Peel and Stick by Numbers

Recently, I was randomly looking for something new for Grant to play with.  Since nothing was sparking my interest through this method, I thought about all of our favorite toys. Then, I decided to search for other products made by the manufacturers of the toys we liked the best. This search method yielded one of Grant's absolute, all-time favorite things to do: Peel and Stick by Numbers from Lauri Toys (see my review of one of their other toys here: http://aweplay.blogspot.com/2010/11/model-airplanes-and-helicopter.html).

The Peel and Stick by Numbers kits come with four pictures, all related to the same theme (ie: trains, wild animals, pets, etc). It's the same concept as paint or color-by-number, except the child uses tiny stickers to "color" with. Each picture is made of tiny little squares with a number inside. There is a color code on the box, indicating which color foam sticker should be placed in each square, based on the number inside the square. The stickers measure about 1 cm square and can be tricky to get onto the picture. If your child is having trouble with fine motor skills, this is a great manipulative to use to gain finger strength!

Each picture takes a couple of hours to complete, and as I mentioned earlier, this is one of Grant's favorite things to do. We leave the picture he is currently playing with on the table, so when he wants to have some quiet time, he can sit and do stickers.  He plays with this for at least an hour every day! I'm starting to get concerned about what we will do after he's completed all of the sets Lauri has for sale. Hopefully, they have new ones in development!

Bloco Wild Cats

After all of our enjoyment of the Lauri foam models, I looked to purchase others. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any other models made by Lauri. So, I expanded my search and came across the Wild Cats foam and plastic construction set by Bloco.  The kit includes pieces to make six different cats, although not all at once. In our experience you can make 2 - 3 cats at once, depending on which ones you select.

After many months of owning this product, I am less enamoured with it than I once was.  I still love the bright colors and details given to the construction of the cats. The foam is very thick and durable. However, in our experience, it is just a little too thick, or the connecting pieces are just a little too short.  This product is manufacturer recommended for 5+.  My four-year-old, who has excellent fine motor skills, is not able to put these models together by himself. Even I find some of the pieces aggravating to put togeter. Sometimes the pieces just don't stay together, because of the aforementioned problem of either the foam being too thick or the connecting pieces being too short.  Also, because the animals are so cute and colorful, my son likes to play with them after they are constructed. This leads to the animals falling apart, even if they are not being treated roughly. When a toy takes an hour to build and then falls apart, a normal child response is to want it rebuilt, immediately.  Consider the parental exasperation this could cause!

We've only tried the Wild Cat kit.  There are many other really cute kits, but they all appear to be made of the same thick foam and plastic connector pieces, so I will probably skip purchasing any other kits.  This is one of the few times I've reviewed a toy that I'm not very fond of. I've done so, because frankly it is an expensive toy and in my experience does not work well. I hope the manufacturer will fix the design flaw, but I also hope, in the meantime, I can help save someone the frustration and expense of buying this toy!