Chenille Kraft WonderFoam Review

The boy was about six months old when we started playing with blocks.  We had a second hand set of small wooden blocks; I would stack them up and he would eagerly knock them down.  Not surprisingly, a year later, this game is still oodles of fun for the boy. 

Although the hubs is in favour of good old male destruction, particularly if Mommy builds the tower, he hated the wooden blocks.  I don't use the word 'hate' very often, but in this particular case it is fitting.  He hated that the blocks were small and therefore constantly underfoot since they never all seemed to get put away.  But more than that he despised the hard, sharp edges that the wood presented.  He was fearful that the boy (or one of us) was going to trip one day and head plant into a small wooden block.  He envisioned not only tears, but possibly blood and stitches, so he was adamant we find a better solution.

He made a good point, but I really wasn't sure how to address his concerns.  Although plastic blocks are not quite as sharp around the edges, they still have the potential for some serious pain if stepped on or landed on.  I should have known the hubs would have thought things through; he suggested foam blocks that he had seen at a friends house.

I looked for a long time, but it wasn't until I visited CSN stores that I found Chenille Kraft Wonderfoam Blocks.  These were exactly what the hubs was talking about and we were fortunate enough to recieve a 68 piece set for the purposes of this review. Made of 1 inch thick foam, these blocks are durable, bright, colourful and safe.  They come in a variety of shapes, including arches, triangles, sticks and rectangles.

Their large size means that even if I can only make a tower three pieces high, it's still bigger than the 1 inch blocks we used to play with, which means the pieces tumble farther and the boy laughs harder.  One of the boys favourite games involves the square pieces with a round piece that fits into the middle.  I push the round piece half way out of the square and then blow so that the circle flys at the boy, often hitting him smack dab in the gut.  He roars with laughter every time, then brings the circle back and pushes it into the square.

The only problem with Wonderfoam is that they come perfectly packaged in a plastic case; although this looks pretty, I personally don't have the time or inclination to play 'Tetris' every time we clean up the blocks.  I nixed the plastic packaging and instead threw all the blocks in a storage box and called it a day.

Chenille Kraft Wonderfoam is availalbe at CSN Stores and start at a price of just $19.99.  Wonderfoam blocks are available in a 40 piece set, 68 piece set and a 152 piece set, not to mention ABC Blocks, letters and number puzzle and a meterologist puzzle.

For the amount of fun Wonderfoam has brought to our home and the peace of mind that they bring the hubs, they are well worth the price.   Wonderfoam is wonderful, I rate them a 4.5/5!