Wooden Blocks – Planks of Fun! Review.

Wooden Blocks – Planks a new dimension

 I have always loved children playing with Wooden blocks  and now we have wooden Planks, created by Cam Lee from  The Green Hat Workshop.

My initial impression of the planks was “Oh a box of Planks”, they are all identical in size and are made of pine.

So I called in my Mr 6 and a team of children I work with, to see what they made of the Planks.


Wooden blocks, superceded by the Planks

Well, give a child some Planks and watch their amazing imagination get to work.

  1. They used the Planks for building structures, because the Planks  are  very even and smooth and thin enough to a stack and balance (imagine the game Jenga but with thinner blocks), they were in their element stacking them as high as possible
  2. They used the Planks in conjunction with other toys, a fort was built for soldiers and a zoo was made for their animals.
  3. They asked whether they could draw on the Planks, of course I said yes, I was quite intrigued to see what they would come up with.
  4. Mr 6 actually used his kids’ size tools and hammered some together creating a permanent wall for his Ninja Turtles hideout.
  5. Miss 15 found them relaxing and very therapeutic creating different more advanced structures with them.
  6. I interacted with the children and used the planks to make maths more fun and visual, we added, substracted, divided and created number patterns with them.
  7. We used the Planks to create our names and indivdual letters.
  8. We created all kinds of shapes with the Planks, learning the shapes as we went along.
  9. We lined up the Planks like Dominoes and then knocked them over.
  10. The children also made a boat out of the Planks.

Wooden blocks – Make way for your Rival -Planks

Well I was very impressed with the Planks as were my testing crew and reviewers. They used their creativity and imagination to their fullest potential. The Planks were great in developing their spatial awareness, the scientific minds- working out the different structures and balancing techniques. For the smaller children, their hand eye coordination and their pincer grip were definitely used as they played, as were their musical skills as they banged them together to make the clippy – clop horse sound, which I must add they found hysterical.

The Planks certainly are  a fun way to learn as children learn through play, whether they are playing on their own or with others there are enough Planks to go around for all. The older children really communicated well and negotiated together on their building structures, improving their social skills and team working.

The Planks are avilable from the The Green Hat Workshop, they retail for a Box of 100 Planks for $69.95 and a Box of 200 Planks for $119.95

 

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Nathalie Brown

Child Behaviour Consultant at Easy Peasy Kids
Child Behaviourist and researcher. Creator of "Less tantrums. More smiles". I look at the bigger picture and think outside the box when working with children and their behaviour. Their world is different. As adults we sometimes forget this. Happiness Creator in my spare time. Eater of chocolate and cake.

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Comments

  1. For my daughter it would be hand eye coordination but since you have said that I would say patience. Patience to build it and not get frustrated to quickly.

  2. I am a liker of their page now 🙂

  3. Gillian Lee says

    Have seen these Planks in action and for me it’s big pull is how it develops social interaction. It brings together young children, teenagers and adults in a creative way.

  4. melanie w says

    Great for creativity and imagination working together to achieve a goal.

  5. bubble936 says

    My son would learn the art of balancing with the help of these wooden planks. This would increase his concentration and overall attention span.
    He will learn that there are so many different ways to play with a box of wooden planks.
    This will definately help with his development.

  6. bubble936 says

    I have liked Green Hat Shop Facebook page.

  7. bubble936 says

    I have commented on a Easy Peasy Kids post which is not a Review/Giveway. – THE VALUE OF PLAY..

  8. It looks like one of those classic toys that would be as much fun for a Two Year Old and a Thirty Two year old , looks like Miss 5 and Miss Two could build at their own level and be constructive , one that I think Hubby and I may enjoy also , they look amazing so many possibilities , Learning wise I feel my girls may learn to respect each others abilities with such an open ended toy . I love that they are wooden also (little enviro friendly helping the world)

  9. has liked green hat workshop page

  10. Just commented on a blog I frequently go when I am a little sombre , these planks are so much better than planking!!

  11. They would be great for lots of things, including creating airplanes. With a little help the parts could be nailed together. Superb for hand-eye-co-ordination, language and working together. I could imagine that you could be half way through building the plane and change it to another object etc.

  12. I have ‘liked’ the facebook page.

  13. I made a comment about positive, meaningful praise.

  14. Erica S says

    Oh I love the endless possibilities of these! I know my daughter would make little houses and paddocks for her animals! But I would love to write words on them!!! She could learn her sight words with them and plenty more as there are 100!! I love that idea so much!

  15. Erica S says

    I have liked the green hat workshop page!

  16. Erica S says

    …..and I have left a comment on a post on facebook made tonight and on your blog 🙂

  17. Seeing how they’re thinner than regular blocks, I can see that Planks would be great for fine motor skill development, and taking a look at the photos on Facebook, there’s a fair amount of physics going on there too (counterbalancing, etc.)

    p.s. I’ve liked Green Hat Workshop (amazing photos!) and commented on Mother Fail, because I’m also not perfect…

  18. My son (5) wants to be a builder and has been telling us this for the past couple of years. He is forever constructing things with boxes, paper and lots and lots of tape. The planks would allow him to experiment building and creating with another material.
    I’m sure his imagination would run riot once he worked out how to balance the planks in order to build structures.

  19. mr 2.5 in our house is constantly ‘creating’ things – whether it be ‘cooking’ us cakes, ‘building’ me towers, or ‘making’ scary creatures to frighten me… i would love to see the creations he could come up with when let loose with a bucket of planks!

    i am a fan of green hat workshop on facebook, and left a comment on your blog post about boys playing with dolls.

  20. silvana gutierrez p says

    i like green hat shop on facebook amazing what you can create with this wooden blocks!! make kids and you more creative and have fun together

  21. Carmel Corry says

    A good learning to share tool. Learning to co-ordinate with other people is very beneficial

  22. Carmel Corry says
  23. kiri brunsden says

    Planks would be great in helping my 13 month old patience and how to play calmly. kgbrunsden@gmail.com thank you

  24. just played with planks at a friends house and was amazed that my 1, 3 and 5yr old all loved them. The youngest chewed them and put them in and out of the box, the 3yr old made roads and the 5yr old made amazing towers while I made my own creations! Awesome, a toy that is fun for boys and girls of all ages.

  25. Vanessa Mason says

    Just played with planks at a friends house and was amazed that my 1, 3 and 5yr old all loved them. The youngest chewed them and put them in and out of the box, the 3yr old made roads and the 5yr old made amazing towers while I made my own creations! Awesome, a toy that is fun for boys and girls of all ages.

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