fivefeettall: Uncle Goose and his Bag of (well designed) Tricks

I was in Detroit when I discovered an amazing Grand Rapids-based company.

Uncle Goose makes (beautiful/intricate/creative/handcrafted/designer) wooden blocks right here in GR. The materials (fast-growing sustainable basswood) are sourced from the around the Great Lakes and everything is 100% produced in the USA. Oh, and the ink is non-toxic and child-safe too.

That's cool.

But look at these blocks you guys. THEY ARE AMAZING. I'm really just lost in wonder over them. And I'm an adult (sort of).

The first set I saw was at The Detroit Mercantile, and it was the Invisible Creature's Odd Galaxy set. You guys, I went nuts over these blocks.

This goes way beyond ABC blocks to a whole realm of stacking potential. Check out Stack and Scare Rodney, many of his pieces aren't typical square blocks. And that is awesome.

As I turned to Google I discovered the enormity of the Uncle Goose collection. In terms of basic alphabet and teachablity, they have ABC blocks in Chinese, Swahili, Ukrainian and every other conceivable language (is it still called the ABCs for other languages???)

And you can just keep on learning with Presidential blocks, USA blocks, nursery rhyme blocks, musical chord blocks, nautical flag blocks, periodic table of elements blocks, and Braille blocks. Honestly, you're going to have the smartest kids ever.

And of course the designer in me FREAKED OUT over their House Industries (type foundery) sets... including an Eames set?? No way. Is it ok for an adult to play with blocks? That wouldn't be weird.... would it?

Clearly, these blocks are for design-centric parents and not really their kiddos. But while the parents are going FLIP OUT over these blocks, the kids are going to think they're pretty cool too. The colors are stimulating, the patterns intriguing, and the possibilities endless.