| Show GERMAN BUILDING BLOCKS UDI BLOCK A Easy and Interesting Way to Study Architecture in the Nursery Nur-sery See what I have just brought my boys from Vienna said the father of two of the most Intelligent and perfectly per-fectly trained lads that I know I have always thought it a pity that more boys or rather more parents do not know about these building blocks for that is really all that they arebut such building blocks I They represent a regular progression i and this Is the ninth box that my boys have had each for a little more complicated I com-plicated design than the one before it I They began playing with the first series se-ries as soon as they could sit alone and put one block on top of another mId now that they are S and 10 years old I they play with them with always increasing in-creasing Interest as I do myself for that matter The have had more hours of solid pleasure and enjoyment I out of these toysif indeed one may call them toysthan out of all their other playthings combined The beauty of it is there is always something fresh and new In the way of combinations combina-tions The manufacturers have architects archi-tects continually at work designing and from their schemes the most clever and beautiful models are selected anq I then formed into books of designs This box is what Is called a supplement I supple-ment box and the designs that go with it call for the use of blocks in part or all of the preceding boxes Expensive Well not when you consider con-sider that they are absolutely imperishable imperish-able so that the money spent for them is in the nature of a permanent investment invest-ment I paid 350 for this last box but the blocks that my boys began playing with seven years ago are in just as good condition today as these new ones And they are sofond of them that of the thousands of different pieces that they have manipulated they have lost only nine In almost as many years Indeed putting them back in the boxes according to the pretty designs de-signs painted on the inside of the cover is a part of the game So absolutely exact are the patterns that the loss of a single block be it ever so small renders ren-ders the erection of the building impossible im-possible They may be easily replaced however by simply sending on for the required number as they are most carefully systematized The blocks are of real stone as you see the tints resembling the stone brick and slate colors of real building material thus giving to the buildings a beautifully covered and imposing appearance ap-pearance The heaviness of the stones and the mathematical exactness of each causes them to He firmly together and makes building an easy task The work Is swiftly done and even the very largest buildings in spite of their more complicated nature easily constructed con-structed by children The surface of the stones Is sufficiently rough to prevent pre-vent the stones from shifting and if a child is ambitious to erect a permanent perma-nent structure the stones may be stuck together with ordinary gum and can be taken to pl ce again by soaking in lukewarm water When they become soiled they may be cleaned by simply I washing them in soap and water Of course the boys have no thought beyond the fun of the thing But I am tremendously interested in it as an educational factor Why it teaches them deftness accuracy order symmetry sym-metry sense of proportion taste in the combination of color and a world of other essentials The small box of tiles in subdued harmonious tints is a most charming study In color effects I Both memory and Invention are greatly strengthened by the proper use of the stones as It Is very interesting to an intelligent child to try to build a given gen design from memory or to erect a building quite according to his own idea With the ordinary wooden blocks the structure so often topples over Just as it is nearly finished that it discourages and l irritates a child but with I the heavier stone this disappointment i disappoint-ment cannot be experienced for they are so accurately molded that they fit I each other to a nicety and stand abso lutely firm Froebel and his followers gave building build-Ing blocks the very first place among the different occupations to be occupatons prac ticed by children and youths To boys with any bent toward architecture these anchor boxes are simply invaluable invalu-able as their clever and artistic designs de-signs in bridges convents Gothic and Greek churches cottages of every style pillars etc are a liberal education They range In price from 20 cents upwards and the stones vary in size I from onehalf and oneinch cubes to pieces three inches in length I |
