Average Price: $21.99
Official URL: http://www.alphabetalley.com
Age Range: 2+ (although younger children enjoy these as well.)
Rating:

The Alphabet Stacking Blocks are a unique and creative way to teach letters, phonetics and numbers to your child while building his or her knowledge of basic Bible stories. They are sturdy and durable with quality imagery and fit neatly inside one another for easy storage. Aside from a few minor issues, these blocks would make an excellent addition to the toy collection of any toddler or pre-school age child.

QUALITY & CONSTRUCTION

The quality of the wood used to make these blocks is extremely good. The weight of the whole set when it is nested together is a little bit heavy for a toddler, but my 3 year old can carry it very easily. The individual blocks are extremely durable. We put them through our own durability test and they passed with flying colors. My daughter stood on the bocks, jumped and wiggled and they showed no signs of breaking (she weighs about 50 pounds!). After a few weeks of play, there are some scratches and marks on the finish but the texture remains very smooth. Even when the wood is dented, it does not splinter. The seams are all very even and smooth and the paint used to make the letters, numbers and pictures is very resilient as well. It almost seems to have become part of the wood and does not peel or scratch off. It also appears to be waterproof. These blocks come across as having the highest quality of workmanship I have seen in a children’s toy.

QUALITY OF IMAGERY

The imagery painted on the blocks is very bright and colorful with distinct lines. It is an animated/cartoon type of style. Each block (except the smallest one) has a number on top with the corresponding number of stars painted alongside, then a letter, a word that starts with that letter and painting depicting the word on 3 of the 4 sides. The remaining side shows a painting of another biblical element that is not labeled, but when you stack the blocks in sequence it appears to depict Noah’s Ark, Noah and his wife and a series of animals in pairs. I will list the images on each block for your reference.

Block #1: Aa Angel, Rr Rainbow, Ss Shepherd, a painting of Noah’s Ark.
Block #2: Bb Bethlehem, Qq Queen, Tt tent, a picture of a man and woman (Noah and his wife?) in biblical garb.
Block #3: Cc Commandments (picture is of stone tablets), Pp Prayer (someone praying on their knees), Uu Unity (a group of diverse people holding hands), two camels.
Block #4: Dd David, Oo Olive branch, Vv Vine, two hippos.
Block #5: Ee Easter, Nn Noah, Ww Whale, two donkeys.
Block #6: Ff Fish, Mm Moses, Xx eXclaim (picture of baby Jesus), two sheep.
Block #7: Gg God (picture of two hands holding the earth), Ll Lion, Yy Young Moses, two pigs.
Block #8: Hh Heaven (picture of a moon and stars), Kk King, Zz Zebra, two ducks.
Block #9: Ii Israel, Jj Jesus, two ladybugs, two mice.
Block #10: Shows all pictures. There is a rainbow on top, then on the sides, two caterpillars, a dove with an olive branch, two butterflies and two bees. This block does not have the number “10″ pictured anywhere, perhaps due to its size.

From looking at these blocks, I think they were created to give the parent/teacher the ability to use them in biblical story telling without being tied to one specific bible story. For example a tent, a shepherd or a queen could all be used in various stories from the Bible. When a person’s actual name is used, there is sometimes a part of their story included on the painting (i.e. David is holding a slingshot, which was used to kill Goliath in the biblical account). The images are very vivid and it is easy to recognize as what they are intended to represent.

EDUCATIONAL VALUE

These blocks could easily be used to teach letters and some basic phonetics. If you stack them in order of size, the letters of the alphabet line up in order so you could also teach the ABC’s. They could be used in counting to 9 and to show what 9 objects look like because each number has the corresponding number of stars surrounding it. In addition, the blocks could be used to teach size relationships (big, bigger, biggest, etc.).

ENTERTAINMENT VALUE

These blocks have great entertainment potential. They are fun to stack, fun to nest and just plain fun to play with. My daughter has used them to build steps, bridges and towers and has had hours of independent play using these blocks. It is also possible to use the pictures on the blocks to tell Bible stories.

GROSS MOTOR/FINE MOTOR SKILLS

The use of gross motor skills is a strong point of these blocks. Your child will improve in this area as he stacks the blocks and knocks them down. The different sizes will require different general hand movements to hold and maneuver them. The smaller blocks will require some fine motor skills to stack and turn to examine the pictures. Fine motor also comes into play with nesting and separating the blocks.

VERSATILITY

The building capability of these blocks is somewhat limited by the fact that they are open on one side. They can only be stacked with the larger sizes on the bottom so it would be hard to build anything with them aside from a basic tower, etc. They are versatile in the fact that they can be used as toy blocks or as teaching tools for letters, numbers and Bible concepts. While these blocks are predominantly targeting those of the Christian faith, most of the images shown on them are multi-faith and could be used by any religion that discusses the story of Noah’s Ark. (Only a few images depict scenes specific to Christianity, such as baby Jesus.)

EASE OF STORAGE

To store the blocks, you can nest them by size into the second largest one, then use the largest block as a lid, making a self-contained box. For the most part, the blocks fit together easily. There is one block that always seems to stick a bit inside the next size but it can be removed with gentle force. My daughter can’t get that one out herself but it doesn’t take much adult effort to dislodge it. When moving or carrying the nested blocks, if you turn the “box” upside down so the large block is on bottom, they stay together quite nicely. The overall dimension of the nested package is just less than 6” X 6” X 6”.

SAFETY

Alphabet Alley goes above and beyond US safety requirements with their toys. These blocks are manufactured in China but are then sent to Europe for testing and must meet safety requirements that are more stringent than those used in the USA. The ink used on these blocks is lead-free, safe and nontoxic. The blocks themselves are well made and do not easily splinter, and the smallest block is still large enough not to pose a choking hazard even if the sides detach from one another.

ISSUES/NITPICKS

There are a few minor issues I found with this block set. First, I have a problem with the block that depicts the letter X. The word it gives for that letter is eXclaim. As you can see, this word does not begin with the letter X and I think it would be confusing to try and teach it that way. An adult can appreciate the creativity in using that word but a young child just learning letters would not get it. Second, the first letter of each word is capitalized, whether it is a proper noun or not. I think this could be misleading to a child who is learning to read. Finally, I really dislike the fact that the number 10 is left off of the smallest block. I’m sure it is due to the small size of the block but it seems to me it would have been worth the effort to find a way to include the number for the sake of continuity. Another possibility could have been to start with the number 1 on the smallest block and move up as the blocks got bigger.

BOTTOM LINE

Overall, I really like this block set. The quality of workmanship is definitely the highlight of this toy but it does have educational value and entertainment value as well. If you are looking for a creative way to incorporate letters and numbers into teaching the stories of the Bible, these blocks will be a good step in the right direction.