We took our little ones to school today for their assessment for this coming school year.  Little Jade will be in Junior Preschool and little Jakei will still be in Toddler class.  I was actually hoping he’ll be in Nursery already but it seems that our little man just wants to play around.

Teacher Abby, the school directress, talked to hubby and I about how our little ones performed during the assessment.  Jade was commended for exhibiting skills advanced for her age.  Though Jakei was very playful, he was able to demonstrate skills at par with his developmental age.  Teacher Abby also noted that both kids had well-developed fine motor skills and was amazed that our three-year-old Jakei was able to build a tall tower with the small blocks.

This was nothing out of the ordinary for us though.  Our little ones have been building towers, bridges, and castles since they could sit without any help.  We have Mega Bloks, Smart Stacks, wooden puzzle blocks, and Imaginarium wooden blocks.

The Imaginarium 75-piece wooden block set has been with the children for almost three years now and has withstood being thrown across the room in a terribly fit of tantrum, being submerged in water, and whatever else you can imagine two toddlers doing to their toys.  We absolutely love this toy not only because they some in both natural wood and painted in bright colors but also because they enable the kids to build structures and to imagine that they are in a different world.

All 75 pieces of blocks come in a tub with a plastic lid that doubles as a shape sorter which makes packing away equally fun.  The plastic lid isn’t that sturdy though so you may want to take extra care of it.  The blocks come in various shapes such as cylinders, cubes, rectangular prisms, triangular prisms, half cylinders and even archs.  Actually, I love the archs most as they look lovely on top of castles and can also be used to build bridges.

When Jakei was younger, he would have more fun toppling his sisters structures.  He has since outgrown this “destructive” stage and is now quite adept at building his own towers and buildings.

Building blocks are must-haves for toddlers and preschoolers as they help develop hand-eye coordination and motor skills.  They also enhance children’s creativity and stirs their imagination.  If your child still has no building blocks in his toy chest, it’s about time you took a trip to the toystore to get him some.