Do you like educational toys and learning manipulatives for kids? If so, be prepared to fall in love with Spielgaben! I consider myself pretty well versed on educational toys, but I hadn’t heard of this one until I started seeing it on a few favorite blogs – and their instagram accounts! I was intrigued by this all wood and wool set of early childhood learning manipulatives developed by Friedrich Froebel, inventor of kindergarten – and I jumped at the chance to review a set with my kids!
The Spielgaben set comes with thirteen different components. Version 02 is the style that will be sold in the US; we were sent Version 01. The actual components are identical in both versions. The set also comes with learning resources to create a complete curriculum – complete with a lifetime update on future upcoming learning resources!
I looked over the learning resources, and they are an excellent teaching resource, as well as providing creative inspiration. The toys themselves are equally inspirational. Here, four-year-old Lily and five-year-old Johnny played very differently with the colored sticks and rings. Lily used them on a 3D plane and spent a lot of time exploring their movement and the sounds they made; Johnny created pictures:
The colors combined with the solid wood make for incredibly rewarding exploratory play – they are weighted just right, and the colors are beautifully vibrant:
Spielgaben 7 is made up of seven differently-shaped tablets. They are quite small, and can be used to create complex patterns and mosaics as well as to build towers and rocket ships:
Spielgaben 10 (the small discs below) is designed to introduce kids to the idea of a geometric point. They are wonderful for detailed mosaics, as counters, and even as play food (coconut shell not included):
Anna quickly adopted the wool balls. There are 12 – one of each color with a string and one without. They are soft, and excellent for exploring movement:
Anna also thinks they make quite a fashion statement! My other kids also really like these, and there are some great ideas of ways to incorporate them into structured explorations in the user guides that I want to explore.
I have always felt strongly that early childhood was the time to introduce geometry, and Spielgaben does this better than any other educational tool I have seen. I love the way the Spielgaben 2 set allows kids to explore planes and points of intersection in a 3D geometric solid.
The geometric solids can also be suspended – from a crossbeam (included) or your own hand:
These blocks are also excellent for exploring 3D geometric solids:
I have emphasized this set’s use in early childhood education, but honestly I could see this being useful clear through high school – both as a learning tool and as an artistic toy.
What part of this set do you think your kids would gravitate towards first? What part would you want to explore first?
We were sent a Spielgaben set to review. All opinions are my own.
MaryAnne lives is a craft loving educator, musician, photographer, and writer who lives in Silicon Valley with her husband Mike and their four children.
Your photos are so beautiful and this entire review is very helpful. I’m wondering, though (as I consider purchasing one for my family)–it’s been some time since your kids received this toy. Has it kept its appeal for your little ones over time?
It really has, Declare. My four-year old especially loves it, and plays with it pretty much every day. The older kids are busy with school, but they still get it out a couple times a week.
There are many high quality educational toys in the market. Lasykids blocks is one of them. I bought one set for my little boy and he loves it.
Their web site is http://www.bp-toys.com
You can search “Lasykids Blocks” and find many amazing samepls online.
My grandparents have a set of those (or something like them) that my kids enjoyed playing with last summer!
Thanks for the review MaryAnne. Spielgaben is one of the highest quality in both learning and durability. My 6 and 10 year olds love toys like this. Heck I play with them too!
Thanks!
It’s an incredible toy, Marie!
I think that Its really interesting set . I have a son of 2 years old , really active , and my husband and me are always wondering to buy an appropiate toy for him . I was reading everything about this new option and I think that its really interesting and I will like to obtain it for him . How can i do ??? If We are living in Denmark ??? Thansk!
Hi Sarita,
I know that Spielgaben ships to the UK, so they may be able to ship to Denmark for you. I recommend contacting them directly: http://www.spielgaben.com/contact/.
Good luck – it is an excellent product that I highly recommend!
MaryAnne
Wonderful! Your review inspired me to place a pre-order. Christmas is sorted!!! :)
I actually thought of your family when we got these – I think you will love them!
I ordered this set during the pre-sale. I am so excited about starting a preschool type curriculum with my son. He is 2 now and we will give this to him for Christmas. Can you tell me how you get opportunities to preview things and review them? Thanks!
I hope your son loves this set as much as my kids! We will be using ours for years!
As for previewing and reviewing items, companies usually contact me. I have been blogging for almost five years now, and have built a large enough community that it makes sense for them to use me as a tool for raising awareness about their product. I get several offers every day, but only pick the ones I think my family will really enjoy.
Looks like a great educational play set!
What a nice set! They look a bit like Montessori materials.
They definitely remind me of Montessori materials.
They look beautiful! I think my kids would enjoy the wood blocks the most.
My seven-year-old really enjoys the wood blocks – they are very small, and I think she likes having mini architectural blocks!
These look amazing. Would love a set of my K classroom. The more I see of Spielgaben the more intrigued I am.
They are an incredible toy – and they would definitely be perfect for your classroom!
It is so wonderful to see these toys in use with your lovely kids. I’m thrilled that you all get to experience them and I’m sure you will get tons of use from them over the years. Thanks for sharing a lovely review. THIS is Play Based Learning! :)
I adore this toy, Debs. So inspirational for kids – and adults!
These look amazing… they would be a fun addition to our play room too!
We love this toy!
I’ve been marveling over these toys, too. They are beautiful and the learning potential is awesome. Not to mention the fact that I want to play with them. I think my son would gravitate towards the blocks first.
They are an incredible toy. I was playing with them today :)
What lovely wooden toys! Are they made for Montesorri preschools?
They are not, but they would fit in perfectly in a Montessori preschool!
looks like fun educational toy. Would be interested in learn more in their guide.
I may write a second post that will feature their guide more, once we have played with it for a few months :)
These look awesome! I can see so much open play and learning happening with them. Thanks so much for sharing MaryAnne!
Wow – this set looks incredible! Thanks for sharing as I’ve never heard of Spielgaben before!
I think it’s the ultimate preschool curriculum, Jody!
Well, what a beautiful toy set. What a perfect open ended set of items for kids to play with. I know my kids would love building little worlds with the blocks. Those will be toys you can keep and enjoy for generations to come. Lovely.
It’s definitely an heirloom toy!
Oh my goodness, this looks like a FANTASTIC toy set. Love how they all found something to play with. Adore wooden games!
Maggy
My kiddo would like all of these; he’s really into little trinkets and shapes :)
Those toys look like so much fun, and so many ways to play with them.
Awesome Mama! It looks like a lot of fun, and as we all know, when kids are having fun – they are learning!
Thanks so much for the introduction!