Melissa & Doug Match & Build Soft Blocks

Build them up and knock them down--14 soft blocks combine in endless creative combinations . . . and topple with a gentle bounce that makes them safest for little ones. Match & Build Blocks can build much more than towers, too: This colorful soft-block set helps develop motor skills, logical connections, creativity, and more, so it grows along with a child, helping build key developmental skills along the way. Kid-friendly artwork on the coordinating cubes encourages matching activities (numerals with quantities, animal heads and tails, and everyday shapes), puzzling (complete the picture of a Ferris wheel!), and even sequential thinking and storytelling with before-and-after flaps on three of the blocks. With unlimited open-ended opportunities for learning and play, kids can also create their own sorting games and creative combinations--and of course, the 14 soft blocks make a terrific tower, castle, boat, or rocket ship!

Melissa & Doug K's Kids toys nurture early childhood development in three key skill areas: physical, cognitive, and social. With interactive designs and multisensory features, K's Kids promotes constructive play and effortless learning, keeping interest high and new skills flourishing throughout the baby and toddler years!

Extension Activities: More Ways to Play and Learn:

• 9 MONTHS AND UP: Place a piece slightly out of reach, and encourage the child to reach and grasp to pull it near.
• Hand the child a piece to touch and hold. Demonstrate how to pass an object from hand to hand.
• Make a tower of blocks and invite the child to knock it down.
• Identify different pictures on the blocks, encouraging the child to pat each block as you point to its picture.
• 12 MONTHS AND UP: Ask the child to try to stack the blocks.
• Ask the child to hold two blocks and knock them together.
• Help the child identify the different colors on the blocks. Say a color name aloud and help the child point to a block with that color.
• Line up the blocks in a row and count them aloud. Ask the child to pat them along with you as you count.
• 18 MONTHS AND UP: Encourage the child to stack the blocks into a tower.
• Help the child pair the blocks to make different vehicles and animals.
• Open and close the flaps as you tell a story about each before-and-after pair. Talk about the changes in each sequence and encourage the child to point to key details.
• Help the child identify the different shapes on the blocks.
• OLDER TODDLERS AND PRESCHOOLERS: Name a color or pattern and ask the child to point to all the pieces that fit the group.
• Match a counting quantity with the numeral it goes with. Count the items in the group aloud, along with the child.
• Arrange the blocks on the play surface so that all the pictures in one category (shapes, objects, counting groups) are facing up. Help the child identify each of the illustrations.
• Help the child to arrange the blocks to complete the puzzle picture of a Ferris wheel.
• Encourage the child to get creative in building towers, houses, bridges, and more.

Dimensions: 16" x 10" x 4" Assembled