Tuesday In Review: Uncle Goose Blocks

Finding great children's toys is hard, harder than I thought it would be.  You want them to be educational, and to promote creativity, but you also want them to be fun.  And if you're of a foreign language, you'd also like them to be in Polish.  To get Polish toys it's not as simple as going down to the local toy store.  Here, when I find them I have to snatch them up.  Enter the Uncle Goose blocks.  

They're handmade and non-toxic.  The company is 30 years young and is comprised of artisans who personally make these toys.  I think that supporting local business and craftsmen is important.  And though the U.S.A. isn't local to me per se, I like that it's not made overseas like almost everything else these days.  They come in regular English, but best of all they come in specialty sets as well.  There are dozens of foreign language sets to choose from, and there's also two braille sets.  Made of real wood, they are sturdy and hefty - and won't break easily.  And I love that Baby can grow with them.

Right now, she flings them around, and puts them in and out of the box.  But as she grows, the words, letters, and numbers written on them in Polish will be fantastic teaching tools.  Already she loves when I describe each color for her and stack them to build a tower *which she can them demolish*   Yes, I could go to a local big toy store and get plastic blocks *and risk a toxic recall - everyone remembers that fiasco* - but they wouldn't be handmade, and most of all they wouldn't be Polish.  So essentially, if you need a specialty set of blocks - get these.  They're completely worth the slightly higher price point.