 [Larger view] | 2.0 Music Blocks
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Average user rating:  | |
| Wonderful Toy | |
| As a teacher, we have heard over the past few years how classical music helps stimulate the brain. My son recently turned 2 and we bought this for him. Yes occasionally, he likes to stack the blocks, but he loves changing the order of the blocks to make various melodies. The bright colors are great for teaching colors. I will ask him where is the blue block...and so on. Each block also has 6 shapes. In time I am sure he will learn his shapes from this toy as well. He is already calling the circle a "ball" and pointing to the other shapes asking, "That?" To which I will name the shape. Daddy also loves this toy. They will sit together making different sounds and melodies. They also like that they can hear a beat when the put the block in and try to match the melodies together before they play the whole line of blocks. I liked this so much; I ordered 2 more for our 2-year-old and 3-year-old nieces!! | |
| My daughter enjoyed instruments more | |
| My daughter had the original Music Blocks toy and enjoyed playing with it, although the toy didn't get the attention of some other toys. There are only so many times that one can hear the same 10-15 seconds of Eine Kleine Nachtmusik or Bippity-Boppity-Boo before it gets very old. It seems to me you could expose your child to classical (or another genre of) music with a well-chosen CD; and you could allow him/her more musical freedom by buying them a child's set of percussion instruments. The combination (CD/instruments) would be cheaper than the Music Blocks toy. My daughter still plays with her percussion instruments -- they're not as pleasant for adults, perhaps, but she has a LOT of fun. Also, not to be pedantic, but I don't see how arranging the five blocks can lead to "over a million" compositions. There are 5!=120 ways to arrange the 5 colored blocks into the 5 holes, and -- unless I'm mistaken -- only 6 ways to arrange each block. This leads to 5! * 6^5 = 120 * 7776 = 933,120 ways. | |
| My son loves this!!! | |
| Our 2 year old received this for Christmas and he loves it. Actually my husband and I get a kick out of it too. You can also teach colors and shapes just using the blocks. Composing your own music is lots of fun. We've not had any problems with this toy not being durable. I am now shopping for more cartridges... |
