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List Price: $24.99
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This can be a fun toy for babies and toddlers, giving them their first chance to build towers. You can have your child group or stack by color or shape.
This toy won the Canadian Concours International du Jouet Educatif Certificate of Excellence. The manufacturer, Quercetti, states that all of their toys are made completely in Italy.
A similar toy, (Learning Resources Stacking Shapes Pegboard), won the 2005 Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Gold Seal Award.
For kids with special needs (including cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, hypotonia, limb-kinetic apraxia, dyspraxia, and other muscle and movement disorders), these can be a great way for them to experience the fun of stacking towers.
This is the easiest set of stacking pegs I've seen. Their large size pegs (about 4-5cm high and wide) are easy for kids to hold, and the bump at the bottom makes them very easy to stack. There is no resistance (like there is with Duplos, for example); the child simply places one on top of the other. Once a peg has been placed on another, the stack won't fall down until your child knocks it down, which is half the fun!
I wish there were a star rating system for "appropriateness for kids with special needs" or "value for developing fine motor skills" each would have received 5 stars.
Therapeutic play suggestions:
Hold each peg just out of reach of the child at various angles (e.g. sit behind your child and hold up a peg so that the child has to turn his body and extend his arm to reach for it, then switch sides for the next peg).
For children who can stand with one arm supporting themselves on a table, put the base on a table (or couch) at the child's waist height. Put all the pieces on the floor (on both sides of the child) so that the child has to bend or squat down to pick them up.
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When I was a child, we had a peg stacking toy very similar to this. Ours had a hard yellow plastic base with pegs in different colors. I remember how much I loved that toy, so I was looking for something similar for my infant son (7 months). For now, he mainly takes pegs off the board, but I know this toy has lasting value as he will eventually be able to build towers with the pegs, sort the pegs, etc. Overall, I am very please with this toy.
Pros:
The pegs are large (perhaps larger than the ones from when I was a child) and are not a choking hazard, in my opinion
Many ways to play. Younger children can search for the shaker peg under other pegs, take the pegs off the board, dump the pegs off, etc. Older children can build towers, sort the pegs by shape or color, or create designs.
There is one peg that is a shaker/rattle. I didn't have one of these in the set I had as a child, and I think it is a wonderful addition.
The pegs fit together easily. For the most part, it is a loose fit, which is what I was hoping for (rather than a snug fit, which would make it hard for young children to play with because they would have trouble taking the pegs apart).
The pegs are slightly different shapes, instead of all the exact same cylinder shape.
Cons: (Please note that none of these are a big deal, I would certainly purchase this toy again even with these cons)
Some of the pegs have smaller holes and it is harder to fit the other pegs in (mainly the red ones)
The base is a soft, flexible material, instead of a hard plastic (like the one I had as a child). Maybe it said so in the description, and I missed it. This can pose a problem if you want to move the whole toy with the pegs in it; you need two hands to lift it without it bending and pegs falling off. Also makes it a bit harder to store, but I will be making a cloth drawstring bag to keep it in so in the end it isn't a big problem. I should note -the other peg toy I looked at had a foam base, and I really don't like toys with the foam because my son could chew off a piece and they aren't as durable. So, I definitely prefer this flexible base to the foam ones.
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My daughter is 16 months, and I wish I would have bought this toy sooner. She is loving stacking the pegs, andd putting them off and on the board. She is a hard one to get entertained, so I am impressed. I can see the toy will grow with her too. We will be able to use it for sorting and patterns when she is older. Great toy!
Honest reviews on Quercetti Geokid Daisy Maxi
I gave this to my 14 month old daughter for Christmas, and she is really enjoying it and getting a lot of use out of it. I think she is at just the right age for it, developmentally she loves stacking the pegs up as high as she can until the tower falls down. The pieces are a nice large size for small hands. A very simple and straighforward toy...which I consider good no lights, music or bells, just a simple educational toy.
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My baby (seven months old) loves this toy. I never would have picked this out for him but we tested it out at a local speciality toy store and he immediately could pick up the pieces and really, really, liked it. When he drops one he just picks up another piece. Now he is picking up the Daisy mat and dumping the plastic cogs (thus learning cause and effect). As he grows he'll learn to stack the pieces. Your baby will love it even if you think they won'tso go for it!
