Thinking Thursdays: The fall of Jericho

Now Jericho was tightly shut up because of the Israelites.  No one went out and no one came in.

Then the LORD said to Joshua, "See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men.  March around the city once with all the armed men.  Do this for six days..."

"On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets."

"When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have all the people give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse..."

"... and the people will go up, every man straight in."

- Excerpts from Joshua 6: 1-5 (NIV)

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We read the story of Joshua and the fall of Jericho in the little boy's Bible storybook, sang the song "Joshua fought the battle of Jericho", then built the walls of Jericho.  Little boy got into the story with gusto, walking around the walls seven times on the seventh day (sorry the photos were blur, since I was trying so hard not to laugh!) and trying to blow his trumpet.  Then it was crash!  And the walls came tumbling down!  After the whole story, the first thing he did was to retrieve the "Jericho" sign, and then he tried to rebuild the city, saying "Jericho no more fall down!"... 

Oh, and anyway, this "Jericho" was built using PlayBrix (available at Smart Alley).  These are large bricks, made using corrugated cardboard which can be wiped clean as they have a water resistant coating.  After letting the boy play with these bricks for a week, here's what we think:

YAY! points:

:: The Brix are great for developing both fine and gross motor skills, since stacking the large bricks would require kids to squat, stand, tip-toe and balance.

:: I liked that they allowed open-ended play and room for imagination.  The little boy has been fashioning tables and TVs out of them, and building "tall towers" out of them.

:: They'll be great for co-operative play, and I think families with two or more young children will probably get alot of mileage from them.

:: They are pretty kid-proof and would probably last.  Being made of corrugated cardboard means they are really light, but yet tough (the boy accidentally stepped on a few of them, and didn't make a dent!), and the water-resistant coating is a plus.

:: They can be folded flat for storage, so they'll help to save space!

NAY! points:  

:: When assembled, they do take up quite abit of space, so for those living in tighter quarters, it might mean tripping over them when the kids are playing with them.

:: You'd probably be able to achieve similar playtime using recycled cereal and shoe boxes, but of course, they'd be all sorts of shapes, sizes and colours, plus not as durable compared to the Brix (not forgetting it'll take quite awhile to save so many boxes!).

:: The cost would make me think twice before purchasing it, but as mentioned earlier, those with 2 or more kids would probably get quite alot of mileage from the Brix. :)

Disclaimer: The PlayBrix are on loan to us for a week, courtesy of Smart Alley. We were not paid to do the review and the points above are based on our own honest opinion.