Which Grimm's Building Set is the best for me and my kids?
Is it the Grimm's Giant Building Blocks or the Grimm's Geo Blocks? Should I go for the Grimm's Basic Building set or the Standard Building Set? What are the differences? Why should I choose the Grimm's 1001 Nights Building Set over the Grimm's Romanesque? Or should I try to get my hands on the ever popular Grimm's Large Stepped Pyramid? And how is the Grimm's Large Stepped Counting Blocks different to the Pyramid? Please help!
© photo by @ourcountrytale for Oskar's Wooden Ark
These are some of the most frequent asked question we get asked every week in our Facebook group "The Wooden Ark Family". So we thought we would ask Phoebe from @creativelittlemindsfdc to write a blog post about this topic. Phoebe has quite a Grimm's history and also is running her own Family Day Care. Her kids had the chance to play with nearly every single Grimm's Building Set over the last 16 months so we thought she would be a good reference to talk about the different Building Sets and what's so cool about them.
At Oskar's Wooden Ark we stock the whole range of Grimm's Wooden Toys which of course includes all Grimm's Buildings Sets that are currently available.
Which Grimm’s block set did I choose when I started my collection?
This is a question I hope I can help you answer by giving you a small inside to the blocks sets I’ve previously owned and the block sets I own now.
A good set of blocks is a great investment for your children and even yourselves as parents as they are enjoyed at every age and lasts a life time. It also comes down to personal preference, for me it was about various sizes and shapes, bright colours and the style of finish. More importantly the blocks that you choose should be versatile enough to support your child’s current developmental stages.
I started my block collection with the 1001 Nights set, a stunning set with various shapes, sizes and colours. It also came with a wooden base (most Grimm's Building Sets do come with a nice wooden tray). These blocks aren’t just for building but for problem solving especially when it was time to pack up, it was like a puzzle trying to work out how the blocks went back into the base so that they all fit neatly. I found this block set was great for building castles and palaces. Younger children are fascinated by the bright colours and beautifully formed shapes. As the children get older, they will create more elaborate buildings and use their imagination to role play in line with their creations.
I found that my younger children weren’t as interested in the different shapes found in the 1001 Nights set but building with the smaller and straighter cubed blocks found also in the block set. I added a set of the Grimm’s Large Mosaic Square with the 1001 Nights Set to encourage more play but unfortunately the children just continued to play with the same square blocks. So, I made the decision to sell the 1001 Nights Set to a dear friend of mine who had a child who was older than mine and was able to appreciate and play with all the beautiful shapes it had to offer.
I had also purchased the Grimm's Natural Geo Blocks as I loved the shapes, natural wood and the photo creations I had seen online. When I received them, I was quite surprised about the size difference to the large Grimm's Building Sets. They are definitely smaller but come in a set of 60 classic geometrical building blocks.
© photo by @mumz.world for Oskar's Wooden Ark
Last year I then finally got my hands on a Grimm's Large Stepped Pyramid, something that was very popular with the children on Instagram and other known social media. I knew it was a huge investment and something I knew I wanted to save my money for as the smallest block is 4cmx4cm (square) and the largest is 4cmx20cm (length) with 100 blocks included in the one set. It also comes in a wooden base for easy pack up and storage.
After receiving the Large Stepped Pyramid, the children’s creativity flourished. I hadn’t even finished opening the box before they came over and began pulling blocks out and started building and creating. The Large Stepped Pyramid has been one of the best sets I’ve purchased. As well as encouraging children to build it up like a pyramid, they can build within the base or just on the ground. This beautiful block set is large and extremely heavy (about 9 kg). A block set that will end up being out on the ground all the time as it will be played with daily.
Even the children packing it up has advanced as it’s simple to put away but it doesn’t have to go back together in a certain way like other block sets. It just all seems to fit together no matter how you stack it.
It has been extremely pleasing to see how much it has been used! Tower building, even one big tower on the base, used as a car track, fences for our Ostheimer animals and so much more. But of course, having all straight blocks can only gain so much interest. I knew it was time to add another block set to my collection but this time I wanted something in a natural colour and larger than the normal building block. So, the Grimm’s Giant Building Blocks were added to my Wishlist.
I found them to be amazing, the grains in the wood and the size was unbelievable. Plus, with them being so much bigger they are more stable on uneven surfaces. As well as the different shapes, arches, circles and triangles, I knew they could be combined with the Large Stepped Pyramid to create houses, castles and so much more.
In the beginning I stored them in a basket but I found they didn’t get the attention I wanted because they weren’t in plain sight, so I stacked them on a shelf at their height level. This has encouraged more play and so far, the children have combined them with the Large Stepped Pyramid, built a big castle for a King and Queen, built a bridge with Grapat coins blu-tacked to the rectangle blocks for traffic lights (for our WayToPlay roads) or simple tower building with the blocks themselves.
Both the Large Stepped Pyramid and Giant Building Blocks have both been a great investment and wonderful together.
I recently added the Grimm’s Standard Building Set to our collection. I chose this block set for the bright colours, the multiple shapes and sizes and the fact that it comes in a base as well.
The colours are so bright and vibrant and have attracted the children easily and quickly. The blocks are similar to the Giant Building Blocks in regards to shapes and arches but smaller and great for smaller build creations.
© photo by @creativelittlemindsfdc for Oskar's Wooden Ark
I also liked this set because pack up is great for problem solving like a puzzle. To make it easier for the children, I printed out a picture of the set in the base and stuck it to the bottom of the base so they can see which blocks go where. A great learning tool for colour and shape recognition as well.
I have also added a Grimm’s Sparkling Orient Building Set (which has been put away for our daughter’s birthday) with the hope of it being a beautiful puzzle and to also add a bit of sparkle and glamour to our building creations. I can’t talk much about this beautiful set as we haven’t played with it but it is smaller (the base is 30cm x 30 cm compared to 44,5cm x 44,5 cm) than the base of the Standard and Large Stepped Pyramid. The colours are beautiful and the little gems are stunning. They are imbedded into the wood too so the gems can’t go missing. I think they will be great for stacking, colour sorting and making different pictures with the blocks.
In the recent Oskar's Wooden Ark Grimm’s restock, we added the Grimm’s Romanesque Building Set to our collection. It has been put away for my daughter’s third birthday in September so again unfortunately, we haven’t had a chance to have a big play with it just yet. I decided to add it to bring more shapes into the building process with it‘s cylinders and arches. I think it’ll also encourage more balance and problem solving as the arch way pieces need to balance against each other to actually form the archway. I also love the bright colours of the Romanesque Building Set and the amount of different shapes that come in the set.
Also the best thing about these blocks sets is that they can all sit on top of each other for easy pack up and storage when not in use. Obviously the Large Stepped Pyramid isn’t flat at pack up but it can sit on top of one of the other sets. I do love the block sets that come in bases as when it comes to pack up time, it’s a great use of problem solving to put the pieces back into the bases so they all fit in like a puzzle.
© photo by @toddler_playspace for Oskar's Wooden Ark
So which Grimm's Building Set should you end up choosing?
I hope this overview will help you choosing your first (or second or third ) Grimm's Building Set in the future! Happy Building!
At Oskar's Wooden Ark we stock the whole range of Grimm's Wooden Toys which of course includes all Grimm's Buildings Sets that are currently available. We will add answers of the most frequently asked questions here in the future.
Another overview and some facts that might also help to choose:
Grimm's Large Stepped Counting Blocks
