Customer Reviews: Read 17 more reviews...
 Not as good as it looks. August 27, 2004
Jane Austen
29 out of 38 found this review helpful
This is a great concept but it does not work! The wooden pieces do not stay in place as you put the picture together. It's not awful but it frustrates my child, he wants each piece to stay exactly where he put it! I would try 'Playful Patterns' by Discovery Toys. It has foam pieces on a plastic board so they hold. Also, they have more shapes that can be used to make other shapes - semi circles to make circles, right angled triangles to make squares etc.
 great toy, but forget the picture boards November 28, 2004
L. Lee (San Francisco)
25 out of 25 found this review helpful
I bought this toy because my children loved to play with pattern blocks at science and art museums. This was the only toy I found with real wood blocks that were the size and feel of the toys they had played with earlier. Using the blocks alone, my children loved to create an endless number of beautiful geometric patterns. The toy encourages creativity and promotes mathematical thinking.
My daughter, who was five or six at the time, tried using the picture boards. At her age, she was able to do it although it was frustrating when the pieces moved out of place. For awhile, she thought that she had to use the picture boards in order to play with the toy properly. Once she got over that, we had a wonderful toy again.
If you throw away the picture boards from the beginning and let your child's creativity take over, you have a 5 star toy that even older children and adults enjoy tinkering with.
 My 3-year old loves it! October 7, 2004
Mom of 3-year old
15 out of 15 found this review helpful
My daughter received these pattern blocks as a present. At 3 1/2, she now loves to play with them. She enjoys the challenge of putting the blocks on the pattern boards and making pictures. Yes, as another reviewer noted, the wood blocks can slide around on the wood pattern boards. My daughter was initially frustrated that the blocks didn't "stick". But, this is not intended to be a puzzle. After sitting with her a few times and showing her she could just move the blocks back into place, the frustration was gone. This is one of her favorites. She especially likes to pick out 2 of the boards and have someone else make one picture while she's making another.
Hours of Creative Fun! March 30, 2006
C. E. Slider (Fort Worth, TX)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
My three-year-old and I have had so much fun with the pattern blocks. He can put them in place on the boards, but it's even more fun to use them in other creative ways. We also have two nice sets of building blocks that we use to make "castles." We use the pattern blocks for decorations, parquet floors, sidewalks, etc., in and around our elaborate castles. I probably wouldn't recommend "throwing away" the boards that come with the set--but I WOULD recommend using them in other ways, too. Great fun!
Nice puzzles December 30, 2006
City Witch (New Jersey, USA)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
This is basically a set of boards with patterns on them that your child is supposed to replicate with all these tiny puzzle pieces.
The good: It's fun. It's a great way to work on basic math, shapes, and matching. Its also good for small motor development and coordination. Its challenging.
The bad: The pieces are small and nothing holds them in place. They move when another piece is put down and they fall off if your child tries to pick up the board to show you his latest accomplishment. Also, the colors of the pieces are not distinct enough. The purple ones look an awful lot like the blue ones. Finally, the box is awkward to get the puzzle boards out of. I use the top puzzle as a lever to get the others out, but my almost 4 year old can't manage that. How hard would it have been to cut out a finger's width of the inner box?
I DO like this puzzle set, but its not as user-friendly as the other Melissa and Doug products I have seen. In spite of the labels, I do NOT recommend getting this for a 3 year old unless the child has excellent manual dexterity.
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