Fisher-Price IncrediBlock: Wonderful for Toddler Development

The Fisher-Price IncrediBlock is an excellent toy for taking your child from infancy to toddler-hood. With four sides and a top full of engaging activities, the IncrediBlock can entertain your child for hours and build skills.

Although Fisher-Price recommends this toy for nine months and up, my twins got their IncrediBlock for Christmas when they were seven months old. At this time they were sitting up and just starting to crawl. The block offers four sides with activities that are perfect for entertaining sitters.

The twins first figured out the Stack and Spill side. As they put the blocks into columns, the toy makes little noises depending on the column they put the block in. But what they loved the most was pushing the lever and watching all the blocks fall. This side was a great precursor to teaching them to stack blocks. Now they stack the blocks on their own without using the IncrediBlock.

Next, they found the Sort and Store side. They could put the blocks in and then open the door to get them back out. I particularly liked this side because it was a great place to store all the Peek-a-Blocks so that I wasn't tripping over them.

The Drop and Tumble side reminds me of that Price is Right game Plinko. You drop the block in the top and it in pings around on these brightly colored pegs. However, if you don't make sure that you pull out the blocks at the bottom they get a little backed up.

The last side, Plug and Play, my children played with the least. It has mirror and a couple of cut outs to insert blocks.

The best part, for parents, is that you can try out all these features virtually on the Fisher-Price website before deciding to buy.

As the twins headed for the walking stage, the IncrediBlock was a great incentive for them to start pulling themselves up. They could each stand holding onto a side and play with the Spin and Learn top.

The IncrediBlock came with eight Peek-a-Blocks when inserted in the top of the block made different sounds (i.e. if the block had a dog would bark). The Peek-a-Blocks are the perfect size for little hands. Each block contains a 3D image inside that the twins could look at from different angles.

Besides the blocks that came with the IncrediBlock, we bought several additional sets of Peek-a-Blocks. There's a holiday set with 12 Christmas-themed blocks. We also bought the Visual set that had six blocks with different optical illusions and a texture set with six blocks whose centers had different feels to them.

As the twins matured, they like to stack the blocks. They also move the IncrediBlock around the room to uses with other toys. The twins' four- and five-year-old friends always make a beeline for the IncrediBlock whenever they come over to play.

Even after a year and a half with two little ones playing with it all the time, the IncrediBlock is in great condition. But as the twins approach two, we've decided to pass the IncrediBlock down to their 10-month-old cousin. But it will be missed!