Block Addiction - - can you have too many?

[sste]

Is there such a thing as too many blocks or will DS use all of them over time? I have bought pricey blocks in the past as I love the Haba quality and DS was born at the height of the whole lead paint thing. Anyway, he is 12 months old and he currently has:

1. Haba fantasy blocks - - absolutely loves these, not stacking them yet but loves banging, filling and dumping.

2. Habe Sticki-Bausteine - - one 27 piece set, I think these will be the first blocks he will be able to stack.

3. Djeco animal blocks - - in my closet, waiting for his second birthday due to some small pieces, absolutely lovely blocks though!

The contemplated ADDITIONAL block purchases are: 1) another set of the stick-bausteines so he can really go to town building larger structures as he gets older; and 2) a $40 set of the Haba cordoba blocks to augment his fantasy blocks for when he graduates from sticki=bausteines to normal blocks. I kind of want to buy now because gifted imaginations.com has nice prices, a 20% off special, and free shipping over $65.

Is a total outlay of approx. $270 on blocks over the top? Will all these blocks be used? Should I stick with the sets I have and not buy the additional blocks?

ETA: Wait, I forgot the Haba Knight's castle blocks I bought on super-discount for $35. Those are in my closet too.

[brittone2]

If he loves them and you have the space and money, why not?

That said, I'd probably hold off for some nice unit blocks down the road (something like the ones from Barclay or Maplelandmark).

[sste]

I am scared to ask given my *problem* but what are unit blocks? What makes them "unit-y." I tried to google them online and just saw pictures which didn't really illustrate the unit blocks aspects.

[brittone2]

I am scared to ask given my *problem* but what are unit blocks? What makes them "unit-y." I tried to google them online and just saw pictures which didn't really illustrate the unit blocks aspects.

Unit blocks have mathematical relationships to one another. So two square units will equal one rectangle unit, kwim?

These get great reviews here:
http://www.barclaywoods.com/toy_blocks_small.htm

We have some rubberwood Melissa and Doug unit blocks and have been very happy for the price. They get mixed reviews here but they have worked well for my kids. When we bought them we used a 40% off coupon at AC Moore and it brought the price down to just over $20 for a set. We have two sets, and also some unit blocks bought on ebay (used).

[rlu]

We have one set of Melissa and Doug cardboard bricks. DS use to use them constantly, and they still get some play, and he absolutely loved to have DH build him a tower on a tv tray so it almost hit the ceiling. Now they do similar structures with lincoln logs which we have at least 300 of (yeah, we bought 3 lots off eBay so outlay around $60 which also includes 3 sets on tinker toys).

I'd wait and see how often DS plays with them and how, but given my DS experience, the taller the better.

[fivi2]

We have some of the cardboard big ones too - bought on sale at lillian vernon last year - they get played with all the time!

[ett]

I'd say if he loves the blocks then why not? And yeah, I would definitely invest in a set of unit blocks. DS2 is 21 months and absolutely loves building with our unit blocks. Of course, I'm probably the wrong person to ask whether you need more blocks since I sort of have a block addition here. I won't even tell you how many sets of blocks and building toys we have, since it's too many to count.