Toy blocks that teach about our solar system

Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/05/10/toy-blocks-that-teach-about-ou.html

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Nice but expensive.

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Secretly I’d hoped the “sun” block was a million times larger than the “earth” block.

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I want the blocks to each have a dap on one side so that they can serve as pedestals for little wooden spheres. All the info for each planet/moon would be found on its pedestal. The “sun” holds a votive candle or bright bulb on a re-chargeable base. Maybe each planet’s pedestal could be unique to it (e.g. the Earth sphere only fits on the Earth pedestal). The spherical entities are to scale (as much as possible). Maybe the spherical entities are beanbags, not wood, so that they don’t roll away when dropped. The ink is non-toxic and doesn’t come off when wiped with disinfectant or run through the dishwasher. Nothing’s small enough to pose a choking hazard, the wood doesn’t crack or splinter when dropped onto a tile floor from a highchair, and each item is drilled through with a hole wide enough to thread paracord, so that the entire set can be stored together like beads on a string.

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I did price that out but it made the set $1999 retail.

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You would be surprised what the percentage cost of production, KS fees, shipping to backers and packaging all adds up to. Not to mention sales will donate an added percentage to The Planetary Society.

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If you want something similar but a bit less expensive, check out the Planet Blocks from Uncle Goose. About $20 for the set at Amazon.

https://unclegoose.com/product/planet-blocks/

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I LOVE Uncle Goose. However, one of the things that inspired me to make this set was how basic that set is. I agree. If you want a very basic set, that is the way to go for toddlers. Our set is 20 and loaded with hard and current science which makes it a great gift for ages 2-100.

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Did you price out my idea to have all the blocks to relative scale?

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I did, but the Sun block would actually be a square house you would need to put a down payment on with a $2,400 a month mortgage.

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So?
 

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Non-toxic non-breakable is totally worth it, no sense in having the child’s brain end up like mine

I’ll take six!

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For kids at least, I’d actually prefer if the planet name were printed rather than debossed since it makes them harder to clean. For adults though it’s a beautiful design.

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