Block Building for Children

Architect Lester Walker's Block Building for Children : Making Buildings of the World with the Ultimate Construction Toy shows several interesting projects for a set of Unit Blocks (aka Kindergarten Blocks), but uses a somewhat odd block mix that is hard to match using any normal set (though Barclay Blocks does offer a special set for use with this book).

After months of muddled cogitation, I finally set out a few days ago to make the missing blocks. The cathedral plan from the book is slightly modified as I built it for my picture, above, to make use of some extra blocks my unit block did provide, along with several of the missing blocks I made.

Making up shortages is a lot more feasible for me than making a whole block set, since most of the blocks I made are for cosmetic rather than structural use, and thus don't have to be as dimensionally accurate. Even so, I would have been happy to purchase individual blocks had they been available for my nonstandard size.

The Barclay web site also has information on making your own blocks, and lists a wide variety of individual blocks for sale for standard unit blocks. Unfortunately, they do not offer mini unit blocks for table play.