Blocks: Haba or Barclaywoods

[kusumat]

I am looking for blocks for DD(14months). I can't decide b/w the Haba or Barclaywoods. Haba is nice and colorful, but I heard some was made in China? There was a post here and someone mentioned that.

Barclaywoods seem to be safer, more natural; however, it looks boring, no colors! I am not sure whether it will attract DD. However, it seems to be safer if DD put in her mouth. Anyone has used any of their blocks? Either brand. Thanks

http://www.barclaywoods.com/

[mominmarch]

My husband called Haba about some of their infant toys last week and they told him it was all made in Germany and vegetable oil based paint. My DH then went out and spent $60 on more of their toys and wants me to throw away all of those that are made in China!

[Lolagirl]

We have three sets of Haba blocks, and my kids love them. We started with two sets of the colored blocks, and later added a third set of plain wooden blocks. All of the blocks (and other Haba toys we have) have stood up remarkably well to my boys use and abuse over the last couple of years, and I highly recommend them. As the pp mentioned, Haba only uses natural vegetable dyes for their toys, and they are made in Germany were they have pretty strict safety standards for toys. If we could afford to get rid of all of our plastic toys and replace them with Haba and similar toys, I would definitely do it in a second.

I'm not familiar with Barclaywoods, so I can't comment on them.

Good Luck!

[KBecks]

We have barclay blocks and like them, but they don't get played with as much as I had hoped for. I don't know if color would make a difference or if I've just got a train boy. I think when he's a little older he will get interested in making more architectural buildings. We're past the stack 'em up and knock 'em over fun. He does like building garages for his cars to go in. It's a start! I do think the Barclays are pricey. I bought regular but would probably buy 2nds if I got more.

[kusumat]

I just talked with one of the customer service at moolka.com. She told me that the wooden Haba toys were still made in Germany; however, the fabric ones were made in China at this moment. You may need to check the boxes or tags to see whether the ones you got were all made in Germany. Some EU companies subcontracted or had their factories in Asia. Though the European standard seems to be stricter, I still don't trust anything which was made in China.

[kusumat]

I do think it is expensive as well. Were you looking at Haba too? What made you chose Barclay over Haba? I still can't make decision. Do you like the quality of Barclay? My DD still likes to put things in her mouth, that why I thought about this one.

[kcimato]

We bought some that are made in Vermont. Check out their site at

www.maplelandmark.com

[zoestargrove]

We have a large set of barclay wooden blocks, but its only been recently (boys are 2.5 and 4yo) that they are getting lots of use. I think the barclay site even says that wooden block use doesn't get really started until 4yo.

I would go with colorful playful haba blocks for younger kids. Also, check out Grimm's Spiel and Holz as another manufacturer of quality german made wooden blocks/puzzles. The colorful natural dyes are simply gorgeous. Everyone who comes over to our house is drawn to the two pieces we own - adults and kids alike. My favorite is the extra large nesting rainbow arches (from atoygarden.com. IMO, it's truly one of the best open ended toys we have. My boys have created a hundred uses for them - bridges, caves, mazes, pens to keep animals and trains, etc.

[KBecks]

I like the Barclay quality. I wasn't looking at Haba, just saw Barclay fans here and decided to go for it. I will look into Haba toys now that I know they are of good quality too.

The blocks have gotten naturally banged up through roug boy play, which is why I wouldn't mind spending less and getting their "seconds" from the start. We bought a few sets and my husband enjoys them too :) He makes great structures!

[alexanderg]

We always read commentaries about our blocks and those of other companies with great interest. However, there are some differences among blocks that are not always apparent, and I really can’t resist adding my two cents to this discussion.

In general, Haba blocks are made to a 25 mm scale (about 1 inch) and so are blocks from MapleLandMark. Our blocks are made to an 1-3/8�scale, the de facto standard for the schools that are our bread-and-butter customers. This sounds like a small difference but it is enormous. Our blocks are 2.6 times as big (weight/volume). A set of our blocks that weighs 28 lbs. would weigh about 11 lbs. if they were 1� scale. This is huge. It’s about the same comparison as a Camry to a Yugo. For those that are seeking little blocks, perhaps the small size is a virtue – we don’t mean to criticize. But they are a completely different product. Children move beyond stacking and really begin to build things with blocks around the age of 4-5 and they need big blocks to do so with any success. The little ones just fall over.

As to colored blocks, we think that these appeal mostly to younger children. My little girl (3) has some colored blocks and she likes them very much. But they are a distraction later on when children go beyond stacking up towers and start making buildings. Moreover, there are two separate safety standards for paints and finishes. First, there is the standard of the CPSC as it pertains to heavy metals in pigments, and chemicals in oils, binders and dryers (components of paints, stains and dyes). Second, there is the standard of the FDA in regard to paint suitable for foodware. Colored blocks always meet the first standard, but hardly ever the second one. We stay away from color. It’s impossible to control coating suppliers and it’s an accident waiting to happen. No manufacturer would purposely sell unsafe blocks, a recall is the kiss of death, but it’s impossible to know what goes on in the paint factory or the chemical supplier up the line.

Second, Haba blocks are made of Beech. This is a very nice material, typical of European blocks and toys – and we import and sell Beech blocks ourselves as an economy line. But high quality American blocks are made of Hard Maple, which is a uniquely North American tree occurring only on the East Coast and in Canada. There is no Hard Maple in Europe. It doesn’t grow there. Hard Maple is the stuff of Maple Syrup, Baseball Bats, Butcher Blocks, and Bowling alleys because it is unsurpassed for the combination of hardness, fine grain, and resilience. It is also expensive – in the same price range as Walnut.

Finally, we take exception to people calling our blocks "pricey." Pound for pound, our blocks are quite cheap and your readers will be hard pressed to find the same product for a lower price. I can assure your readers that we live very modestly in an old house in small town in the Midwest and that we profit in a completely reasonable way. We struggle constantly to keep the price under control, and if I told my spouse that people call our blocks "pricey" it would get that old sigh of despair. There’s no "pricey" about it. We proudly make big, heavy, blocks in the finest material – if these are what you need, the price is pretty good.

[KBecks]

Sandy, I'm guessing you must be from Barclaywoods?

Thanks for the additional information. The blocks *are* big heavy and sturdy for sure! They are very well made.

I think I'm the person who said the blocks are pricey, sorry about that. I like our Barclay blocks and we are very satisfied with our purchase of them. For me, any toy I'm spending >$50 is in my mind, pricey for me. So I'm focused to my expenditure and not meaning anything about your business model.

I expect we'll get lots more play out of our Barclay blocks as my boys grow and that over time we'll see a good return on our investment in them.

I also love that your blocks are American made and wish you a lot of success.

[KBecks]

Would you link to the arches you're talking about? I'm not sure that I'm finding them on the site you mentioned. Thanks!

[eb1]

Yes, Sandy is from Barclay. He has answered questions about his blocks in this forum a few times before.

We also have and love the Barclay blocks. I think Haba blocks are simply a totally different product than unit blocks. We "invested" in the Barclay blocks early on because we thought they would have a longer life/play-span, and when DS was very little, he would play with the smaller ones. He probably would have enjoyed a small set of colored Haba blocks for a limited time, but we honestly didn't miss them.

[eb1]

Might be these?

http://www.atoygarden.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&Product_ID=291

I'm not sure if this is the same:
http://www.novanatural.com/s.nl/it.A/id.235/.f

But I've seen a variety of these types (online) of arches/blocks and they've looked interesting...though $$.

[zoestargrove]

The first link from the toygarden site are the rainbow arches I was referring to. The ones at the nova natural are from the same manufacturer, but are a smaller set. (toygarden offers a 10% discount a few times a year)

edited to just say thanks to Sandy for chiming in - great information. I'll admit, I had sticker shock when I first found out what unit blocks cost...but, I think your website does a great service by educating the consumer on what the differences are and I did comparison shopping and came to the conclusion that you were selling the highest quality at the best prices. (especially when you buy during the summer discount) We're thrilled with the set we have and look forward to adding on. My oldest just turned 4 and he is really starting to design some intricate buildings and bridges. I know we have many years of block building fun ahead of us.

[Ceepa]

Edited: Should have added that DH and I took a 40% coupon to AC Moore one weekend (the coupons come out basically every week) and purchased a box of Melissa & Doug uncolored wood blocks for $20. DS and DD both play with these all the time. At this point, there are enough in the wooden crate packaging that both can play without fighting over pieces.

I've also heard of those who buy more than one of these boxes to double the number of pieces. They've held up well.

It was the right choice for us when we weren't sure whether our DC would take to blocks at all or whether they would collect dust. You just never know, KWIM?

-Ceepa

[alexanderg]

Thank you for the many kind comments about our blocks. It is true that Unit Blocks are an educational toy and that while they have a terrific range of uses they are not, as far as that goes, targeted at 3 year olds or younger children. Mileage may vary, as they say, but children from 2-4 are likely to play with unit blocks sporadically and for lengths of time shorter than a half hour. This will increase if other toys are removed from the play area, but the families we know often have many dozens of distracting toys in the same room, not to mention CD players and televisions, and the atmosphere is not conducive to lengthy engagements with anything. It’s not just that many of these toys are simple, redundant, plastic junk but the atmosphere itself is a visual and aural pandemonium.

With younger children, stacking, learning names, and making towers and roads is about as far as it goes. There is also a social aspect. My daughter, who is three and a half, enjoys making towers with me and takes particular pleasure in knocking my towers down when I am distracted. This is a kind of catharsis, I surmise, since she is usually free to punch and sock me in these evenings, behavior which is forbidden in interactions with her mother or other children that occupied the earlier part of the day. "You shouldn’t let her do that," is usually her mother’s reaction. But getting pummeled, in my opinion, is as essential to father/child interaction as chasing and tickling – a roughhouse, and also part of the ongoing father/child conspiracy to thwart her mother’s struggle to encourage compliance and good manners – an irksome sabotage that many mothers will recognize.

Blocks as an entrée to architecture and math probably doesn’t get traction until 5, and really doesn’t flower until a child is 7 or more. They are particularly good for children who, perhaps, have a more introverted personality and like to work on things alone for longer periods. There is a corollary here, and that is that more narrowly focused block sets such as those designed to make specific buildings are utterly lost on 3 year olds. It just ain’t gonna happen. They say that fishing lures are designed to catch fisherman; fish never buy fishing lures. These seductive toys are designed to catch parents operating in the hope that precious is a genius like Mozart if they could just find the right violin (and move to Salzburg!). A good measure is to ask yourself whether you child is capable of working on a large picture puzzle – if not, forget it - they’re not going to build the Taj Mahal.

A very small set of unit blocks is ample for the typical younger child, and playing with them increases with adult interaction. You will know when you are on the right track when you child begins to get obsessive about stacking blocks precisely with all the sides lined up. (But also when you child begins to work on free form stuff that is more creative. For this, I love Zolo (A jazzy version of Tinker Toys), which gets the idea across that shapes needn’t be formal). When buying unit blocks, start small and buy more later when you need them.

Getting blocks for a 12 month old may be a trifle premature.

[mum1day]

M&D products are made in China.

In case you didn't know and were avoiding Chinese products.

[kusumat]

Hi Sandy,

Thanks so much for the wonderful advice and information. I think DD(14months) may be too young for the building blocks(like you said), but I will definitely get them for her in the future!

I also look for other types of toys beside blocks. Your company doesn't make these items. I would love to buy American-made toys if I could. I am just wondering whether you know of good American-made toys companies who share the same professional ethics as yours. I hope to find ones which use the safe natural paint on their high quality products if not I have no choices but need to get them from European companies- Selecta and Haba.

http://www.oompa.com/baby-toys/category.cgi?item=SE1438
http://www.oompa.com/baby-toys/category.cgi?item=HA0645
http://www.oompa.com/baby-toys/category.cgi?item=SE2051
http://www.oompa.com/baby-toys/category.cgi?item=SE2482
http://www.oompa.com/baby-toys/category.cgi?item=SK48253&type=store

Thanks so much.
Kathy

[annmcnam]

I have a couple of different Haba block sets and I also think that Haba and Barclaywoods are for children of different ages. DD is 2 and loves to play with our Haba blocks. A friend in my playgroup has Barclaywoods blocks and they are way too large for her to play with. I agree with Sandy that the colored blocks may be distracting for older kids but for the younger ones they are great (I have the Fantasy Blocks and DD loves them - Parenting Magazine had a coupon for 20% discount not too long ago: PARENTINGMSG).

I researched Haba a little while ago and all toys are made at their facility in Germany with the exception of the Architectural Blocks, all Fabric Toys and the Sunnyland Puzzle which are made in China.

Hope this helps!

[Ceepa]

These are the ones I always see at the craft stores. Unpainted. Box of 60.

http://www.fatbraintoys.com/toy_companies/melissa_doug/standard_unit_blocks.cfm

Just checked our label and they were made in Thailand. Thanks, though, I was nervous when I saw your post!

-Ceepa