TRANSPARENT BLOCKS – PRODUCT REVIEW

“The maple-wood blocks…are in my fingers to this day.” This is the famous quote by Frank Lloyd Wright touting his kindergarten experiences with the maple block sets that were ubiquitous then. And we have no doubt that playing with objects with our hands is educational.  Nothing could be more analogue.

A couple of pages ago, I mentioned that transparent and translucent building block sets are available in the marketplace. So I ordered the transparent set. They are called Relational Geosolids.  And they are beautiful!

As the photo shows, the blocks are very well made. They are crisp and clean and certainly are transparent. They stack well and the transparent constructions that can be made are fun to manipulate and look thru.  At times, the forms almost look like they are dissolving into the other.  And they are listed for Ages 8+.  So I think that covers the emotional development for most of us.  Well maybe.

The set comes in a nice cardboard box with divisions. So each block has its’ own storage area so they don’t get scratched. I bought these thru Staples and I think they are an amazing bargain at around $22.00 including shipping and tax. This is a link to the set.

Back to Frank Lloyd Wright. What impact would there have been on his imagination if he would have been given this transparent set, rather than the maple blocks? What would it have done to any of our imaginations?

To answer that question, we recently visited his Oak Park Studio.  And right there in one of the display cabinets were Froebel Blocks of the type that his mom gave him to play with as a kid.  These blocks are what fired his imagination?  While I have no doubt that these blocks may have been the absolute cutting edge technology then, certainly there has been great evolution of the product.

I think that the transparent building blocks will open doors in our minds. All of the Transparent Drawing principals apply. You are creating an object, enclosure and interior space simultaneously. There is greater holistic integration. And you can see these three aspects develop at the same time.

Heck, these blocks might indeed be better than the transparent drawings that we have been yammering about. And this is only because with the blocks, you are manipulating them with your hands in real time in our multi dimensional world.