Am I wandering a little astray to include Wedgits in this blog?Most of what I do here is devoted to basic building blocks in wood or stone, though some of the structures get a bit elaborate, especially the Ankerstein and Kappla.
In contrast to the mellow tones of natural wood or artificial stone, Wedgits can seem a bit gaudy. And they can violate the implicit "gravity rule" with a clever interlocking trick (not used in today's structure).
I find that they fall somewhat in the spectrum of my blockplay activities, though, so here they are for what is probably a one-time appearance.
The other day I had a moderately severe PTSD trigger reaction. I came home and built simple Wedgit designs from one of the pattern card decks. It was very effective therapeutically - sort of a cross between Tangrams, Binary Arts (Rush Hour, Leapin' Lizards, Lunar Lockout, etc), and Building Blocks. Good tactile feedback, interesting structural challenges at various levels of difficulty.
I recommend them for younger children of any inclination, and for older children and adults who might be inclined to appreciate such things - or benefit from them. Those inclined to scoff are encouraged to find a display set in a store, or a friend with a set, and build a few designs.
Good Block Play
[created 8/21/05; modified 5/13/07]
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1 comment:
A couple of footnotes:
1. This can be built with one Junior Wedgits set plus one Starter Wedgits set, with one slight modification: I have a small green wedgit almost invisible in the dark center hole between the base and the first yellow layer. Use a large white octahedron here instead.
2. ThinkFun (formerly Binary Arts) apparently has dropped Leapin' Lizards and Lunar Lockout, their two best products, hence the lack of links. They can still be found new from some sources, and one would hope they will return with new "ThinkFun" packaging, but just in case, find them now and buy them if you don't already have them.
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