Guidecraft Educator Review/Giveaway Link: Community Buildings: Set of 6

Each month, the Guidecraft Educators will share our honest feelings
about a Guidecraft product(s) and how these products would fare in an
early childhood classroom. This month's selection comes from Guidecraft's Block Play line - Community Buildings: Set of 6.

The set of 6 community buildings features a hospital, police station, car wash, fire station, store and school.  The buildings are simply designed, yet colorful enough to catch the eye of young children and inspire them in new ways.  The blocks are wonderful for vocabulary building and pretend play, yet offer the opportunity for so much other exploration as well!  Needless to say, I was very excited to see theses arrive... I had almost purchased them for my classroom prior to their arrival!   They have been such a huge hit and have really added a wonderful element to young imaginations at play in the block area!

I held off on putting them out into the block area until we had started our "In the City, In the Country Theme."  Along with adding these for the "In the City" component, I added a set of farm blocks that I had purchased last year... the way the children interconnected the two different concepts was pretty interesting to say the least!  They took "that man" to the hospital because he's sick."  The "kids" (pretend people) were taken and put into the school building and the "firemen" were stationed outside the fire house.  When coupled with the pretend people, all sorts of curriculum content can be touched upon during child-centered play - sorting, vocabulary building, social skills, pretend play... the list can go on! 

The children took it upon themselves to combine the two unique sets of blocks into one working area, building the road and extending it "a long way away" to distinguish the distance and differences between city and country life.  As you can see from the picture on the right, the children in the foreground were working in the city.  The children in the background were busy building their farm.  The little girl in the very front opted to build "sky scrapers" using the plain old wooden blocks. 

So far, I am VERY pleased with the quality of the 6 pack Community Buildings blocks.  They seem very sturdy and have thus far tolerated the wear and tear of a VERY busy class of 20-preschoolers!  Definitely a must have for this age group, especially if you already have the Roadway System and/or the 

So... what do other 'Guidecraft Educators' have to say about the Community Buildings: Set of 6 blocks???

Maureen at Simply Stacie
Andrea at MommyPR
Deborah at Teach Preschool
Carrie from Huppie Mama
Jody from Mommy Moment
Candace at Mamanista!
Lisa from Planet Weidknecht
Vanessa from Pre-K Pages

The Giveaway

Guidecraft is generously offering ONE lucky reader of the Guidecraft Educators a chance to win one of these Community Buildings: Set of 6 sets!!! To enter, head on over to Huppie Mama for details!

Or... if you just can't wait to win one and NEED them now, they can be purchased online at: 

Community Buildings:  Guidecraft.com or Amazon.com

Roadway System: Guidecraft.com or Amazon.com

7" Block Play Traffic Signs:  Guidecraft.com or Amazon.com

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If you're interested in finding out more information about any of the books reviewed or if you'd like to purchase the books, click the cover image for a link to Amazon.com. I am an Amazon Affiliate, so any purchases you make after clicking these images will result in my receiving a small percentage of the sale price!