House construction

I bought these for my granddaughters. When they arrived, my husband and I opened them to make sure they were ok for small hands to play with. Well…after about a half an hour, we decided we needed to order a few more sets. They are great, they lock easily, but securily in the tips of the pedals, between and even in the center. Storage bag is a nice solid drawstring, for both big and small fingers. If you are thinking about these, get them! I wish these were offer in a larger set.

We got these for my 3 year old. It’s not the first toy he usually goes for, but when he does play with them, he’ll spend 30 minutes doing this one thing. He prefers to have help, but he is able to snap them together on his own. I think he’ll enjoy them more when he’s a little older, like 4-5 years old. My 1 year old enjoys playing with them too, but she cannot snap them together, so she just scoops them into piles and examines individual pieces.

This book is billed as a “complete guide” when what it really does is present only a thin sketch of the subject matter with very little insight or professional expertise involved. It reads like a high school term paper in which the student spent a few hours madly pulling stuff off of the internet without really doing any serious research. And don’t buy this if you what you want is a guide for you to do alternative home building yourself. Every third paragraph ends with an admonishment to leave the job to a professional — this despite several recipes for do-it-yourself building materials. And the organization of the book makes what little valuable information it has almost inaccessible. For example, although cordwood construction is specifically mentioned on the cover and takes up a number of pages and pictures inside, you won’t find it on the table of contents or in the index. You will find it buried in an overlong and overbroad chapter that purports to be an overview of the building process. Supposed “case histories” interspersed throughout the book are frequently little more than thinly veiled ads for the subject’s professional services or political agenda. You’d do better spending a few hours cruising the internet for better information than wasting money on this book. Besides, your internet search is likely to be more thorough and illuminating than anything this author came up with.