All young children love to play with blocks.
Music
Blocks brings a whole new twist to this classic toy by adding to it the power of music. Kids are able to compose their own music simply by mixing
and matching Music Blocks' 5 colorful blocks in a variety of
ways. Each block is a bright and bold color with a different shape on each of
its 6 sides. Placing it into one of the slots will bring up a two-measure phrase
of melody of the featured music (the toy comes with a Mozart's Night Music
cartridge, and other cartridges are sold separately). Each of the 6 shapes
represents a different instrument or arrangement — woodwinds, violins, ensemble,
trumpets, xylophone, or voices.
Children
will experiment with the blocks by placing them in the different slots with
different shapes face-up. If they line the blocks up in the order of the rainbow,
the melody will play in its original order. Placing all of the blocks each with
the same shape face-up will create a piece with a common musical arrangement
or instrument. Each block can be pressed into its slot to hear its melody individually
or the big blue playback button can be pressed to hear the entire masterpiece.
The accompanying booklet contains many suggested methods of play. Younger children
will likely be happy with simply playing around and experimenting with the different
sounds and melodies they can produce. At some point, when a child is ready,
parents might suggest arranging the blocks according to the shapes on the faces
of the blocks. Parents might want to write down a musical pattern for an older
child to reproduce — this creates a wonderful musical puzzle. Perhaps
future releases of this product will contain a "song book" to serve
this purpose.
Designed by neuroscientists and music educators, this "smart toy"
truly has smart features. It is based on the latest brain research that shows
the powerful effect that music has on young developing minds. This research,
often referred to as The Mozart Effect, suggests that early exposure to classical
music and training in music actually helps form important and beneficial connections
in the brain. Research has revealed a powerful connection between music
and cognitive abilities as well as spatial reasoning skills. As such,
early training in music can actually help a child with math and reading skills
later in life.
The
sound is outstanding and of orchestral quality, and has two levels
of volume, as well as output for headphones. We were surprised at the quality
of the music coming from a toy — the high tech digital audio and stereo
speakers produce very powerful and rich music.
Children will learn about patterns, colors, shapes, and even some basic
musical notation. Child testers simply couldn't get enough of this
toy — they were drawn to the powerful sounds and melodies, and delighted
in creating different musical patterns.
There are currently two other cartridges available that will help extend play
and are sold separately:
- The Sounds of the Orchestra is designed to introduce children
to the different lively sounds of an orchestra, and the featured arrangements
include the violin, bassoon, flute, trumpet, piano, and an ensemble of these
instruments.
- The Rhythms of the World introduces kids to the different
rhythms from around the world. Each shape represents a different rhythmic
phrase: American March, Native American, African Beat, Exotic Blend, Singles,
and Energy (Contemporary percussion).
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