Melissa & Doug Jumbo Cardboard Blocks - 40 Pieces & & Doug 100-Piece Wood Blocks Set

You should know when buying these that you are getting cardboard boxes that you have to fold yourself. The giftability is thereby affected by the required assembly. That said, these were great fun for the kids, and hard for parents to keep their own engineering aspirations in check. *Important*: Storage of these blocks will take up about 20 times more space after assembly than when you first get them. There is one perfect solution for this! (Neusu Underbed Storage Bag,... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00U1CGT4S?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share) This 80 liter storage bag is 37x18x7", which is an inch longer, and most importantly, an inch taller than every other storage option. It is PERFECT for these blocks, and you will be much happier when they are neatly contained! (Neusu did not pay me for this review, but they probably should.)

Other than the trouble of putting them together, the blocks are well made. There are three negatives.1. Assembly. I bought them knowing I would have to put them together, so it wasn't a surprised. But even still it took me over an hour to assemble the entire set.2. The blocks have a slick outer finish which makes them difficult to stack very high due to the lack of friction between them. An older set we have are almost waxy and stack very easily.3. Over half of these are the little yellow blocks which are the least fun or useful build-wise of the set. You would have to read the entire product description at the bottom of the listing to know that 24 out of the 40 were the measly blocks.My son enjoys them, but the price, coupled with the assembly and the size distribution make these a less than ideal purchase. I would go with the "Mondo" blocks  Mondo Bloxx 40 Pack Cardboard Block Brick Set (12x6x3)  You get 40 pieces - all LARGE size and the material has a coating more suited to unstable stacking.

My wife recently bought these for our 4yo. He has a very heavy hand and there are not a lot of poorly produced items that make it through a day with him. He loves to build and my wife wanted to get the blocks we used to have in kindergarten. While these aren't exactly the same, they are pretty close -- close enough that it really doesn't matter.He loves them. He builds castles, chairs, and trains. He sits and stands on them. A few show some wear, but they have mostly held up well. I love them and have thought about ordering a second set for him.

I’m shocked with the reviews of these. I’ve had another brand of blocks edushape so I thought these would be a nice addition. Sadly mistaken. They’re very cheaply made. They’re very thin and not very durable at all. From the top pressing down they’re keep their shape, but from the side they easily smush. My son is all boy. We build with them, walk on them, sit on them, and throw them. and I don’t see these lasting very long. The picture taken was after one day, just building, none of the other activities we used the other blocks for. I’d keep looking.

If you google block playing you will find a ton of articles about how important playing with blocks is to a child's development. So, we wanted to have blocks in the children's room at the library. We love these cardboard blocks because children can play with them without making noise, and won't get hurt if one is thrown--kids do have library tantrums sometimes. There are 8 large red bricks, 8 medium size blue bricks, and 24 small yellow bricks. The children do play with all of the sizes. We actually have two sets for group play. I might prefer more of the larger bricks, but the variety is definitely good--wouldn't want ALL large bricks. They come flat. An adult has to fold them, which is not at all difficult; I didn't even read the instructions. One reviewer said his children crushed them in just a few hours. I can only think that their bricks were not put together correctly. Our library kids stand on them all the time, and they are still in perfect shape. One thing I don't like about them is that Melissa & Doug put their name and phone number on every block. That's just cheesy to me. If you keep them stacked up neatly, they don't take up much space--and the kids are pretty good about keeping them neat because stacking them up against the wall is kind of fun. They even seem to feel compelled to sort them by color. Also bought these for my niece and nephew, and they work out well at home, too. Hint: Amazon puts these on sale on Cyber Monday some years.

If i ever meet Melissa & Doug, I'm going to sit them down and give them this box and for an hour I will watch them assemble the hell they have created. How this seemingly innocent and constructive toy, stole an hour of my life on that fateful Christmas morning, i do not know.It all started on the 25th of December, my son, 2 at the time was drawn to the biggest box, tearing into the paper like a maniac he was overjoyed to see the Melissa & Doug logo. He asked me to build a castle, to which i gleefully obliged. i grabbed a glass of adult Egg Nog and opened the box. It was at that moment, a moment that remains with me to this day, where i saw a horrific fate, 40 un-assembled blocks with perforated and deliberate patterns on each. A new design for each color, a new horror to be learned, for each size.Now, I know what you're thinking, "Bro, Big deal, 40 blocks, no problem, I can do that while doing my dead lifts!"WRONG!From the dark union of rubik's cube and japanese origami, the Jumbo Blocks were born. I can only imagine what nightmares were manifested in Melissa and Doug's creation of these life stealing blocks. Like Neil Armstrong taking that fateful step, panicking, i gazed into the dark abyss i knew was before me. My son staring at me, a single tear travels down my cheek. I embark on my destiny.An hour would go by. A pack of Dunhills and a fifth of Egg Nog later, I completed my journey. No thanks to Melissa & Doug. My son overjoyed with his new "toy", unaware of the pieces of soul which was captured with each blocks assembly. He stacked the blocks playfully, violently smashing them to the floor. I watched, helpless, as evil from each block stares at me, mocking me to this day.

This is a great product.When it arrived the box was very large so I was surprised to discover that it was flat pack and that all the boxes needed assembling individually. However, they were satisfyingly large when built, and they are very versatile. My two-year-old builds towers with them that are taller than himself and then gleefully bashes into them to knock them down. My six-year-old likes to construct flat mazes across the floor and put dinosaurs in them. My 11-year-old likes to build wide walls across doorways with them and ask for passwords to get through. A great versatile toy that will be used for many years.One of the reviews I read before I bought this said that the cardboard was robust enough to support the weight of a child. I would disagree with that. It is thick cardboard and the blocks are still in very good shape after six months and lots of play, however one of them has been a bit squashed by my two-year-old standing on it, so I would discourage children from climbing on them.

Love these for my Montessori and Playgroup and the kids have really enjoyed building with them so far.

Flat packed cardboard blocks. Simple stuff but my niece loves them!

These actually bring me back to my childhood :) They were a little challenging to assemble, but it only needs to be done once, and once you figure it out it's not so bad.They seem to be on sale right now, for that price I would say they are worth it. For the original price I feel they are too expensive for what they are. My kids love them and will build and knock them over for quite some time, but they are all getting damaged. I remember as a child the ones I played with were heavily held together with packing tape, so I suppose that just comes with this type of product :)Still, lots of fun, and encourages kids to tap into their imagination, which is always great!

This was too pricey for cardboard it was for my son with special needs which cannot even put this thing together and it's just cardboard that gets crushed for a lot of money I paid over 40 Canadian for it and they wanted more than half the money for it to be returned I bought a lot from this particular provider also so I was not very happy about this purchase