Story Blox, The Island is an E-Blox building bricks set. Users go on an adventure with Seymour and his robot Robyn as they investigate a mysterious light in the ocean. Along the way users will build Robyn the Robot, Glen a Wicklow Terrier, Glen Sitting, a Boat, Stairway Lights, a Seahorse, Devyn the Devon Rex Cat, and the final build is a Morse Code Transmitter. The included booklet, The Island: A Chapter in the E-Blox® Novelette “Earth One,” is a story that you read along the way that has QR codes to introduce each new build. There is a, The Island Assembly Manual which takes readers step by step in building each of the 8 projects. The set includes over 100 parts. The cost of the kit is $54.99.
Story Blox, The Island in my opinion is ideal for use in the home setting. The set is intended for ages 8 and above. This product is labeled a STREAM product which stands for: Science, Technology, Reading, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics. The main components that power each of the 8 projects are the tin-plated blocks which safely carry electric current through a circuit from a 9V battery housed which a building block which then utilizes LED’s in other blocks. The kit provides children with experience in the following areas:
- Robotics
- Canine Breeds
- Nautical Terms
- Marine Biology
- Metaphysics
- Laser Technology
- Architectural Weather Forecasting
- Google Navigation
- Morse Code
- Feline Breeds
- 3D Electronic Circuits
- Architecture
- Mechanics
- Vocabulary & Reading
The story is 10 pages in length. As you read the story you will research using QR codes and build the projects. My 12-year-old daughter has had a fun time building each of the fun projects. She is not an avid reader and so was excited that the reading part was very minimal. All of my children love building sets and so I knew that this would be a hit. My daughter loved that each of the projects lit up! She thought that the final building project, the Morse Code was pretty cool. The information that is learned from the QR codes is very informative. One of the QR codes was coordinates of a location at 54.324633, -9.637499 which took us to a map. The location was in Ireland. The QR codes take users to Wikipedia for most the information.
Story Blox, The Island: A Chapter in the E-Blox® Novelette “Earth One” is part of the Novelette Earth One which also includes the following chapters: The City, The Cave, The Sea & Sky, The Moon’s Face, Thee Hard Iceberg, The Night Stars, The Creature, and The Spirit.
My daughter and her sibling really enjoyed Story Blox, The Island. I would most definitely recommend this building set to educators and parents looking for a building set that goes beyond just building. Your child will have an interactive learning experience with Seymour and his companions.
-Product review by Jennifer Ladewig, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, September 2020
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