Melissa & Doug Jumbo Extra-Thick Cardboard Building Blocks - 40 Blocks in 3 Sizes

Product Information

Cardboard is recyclable — and that’s something to celebrate. The best way to support Mother Nature is to make environmentally friendly choices! I created GIGI Bloks because I felt there was something missing from my daughter’s playtime. I asked myself, "What did I have the MOST fun doing as a kid?" And almost all my memories were of specific situations where I would play for hours using my imagination. I'd play house and serve tea to my dolls and stuffed animals. I'd build secret little forts out of pillows and blankets and hide under them. I'd play "the floor is lava" where I couldn't step on certain parts of the floor or else I'd fall into the lava. It was fun. It was memorable. And I believe it was essential. Visual motor skills: eye-hand coordination, form constancy, visual figure-ground, visual scanning, visual attention, visual memory

There are so many skills that are developed in the young child by playing with just this one type of toy:

Paper Briquette Maker

Once children are set with an idea of what they want to achieve they are completely lost in bringing their imagined story to the life. They build, they change outfits, they become the heroes of their own stories. And tomorrow, it will be different story! And so, it soon becomes a book of memories with hundreds of stories. Executive functioning skills: planning, prioritization, task completion, problem solving, attention, focus, working memory

With our press design there is little chance of injury when using the press. Simply fill the basket with the pulp, lower and align the pressure arm, and compress into a briquette as simple as that. There is no need to use any extra force as the press design will remove the maximum amount of water in one go. Our press is well designed and little or no chance of damaging or breaking the press. You will then be able to expel all the water using the handle provided which will automatically remove all the water, the extracted water can be collected below the press for reuse. Using our free mixing paddle, you can now mix the paper into a pulp ready for compression in the briquette press. Use the paddle in an electric drill to breakup the paper and cardboard. Melissa & Doug is one of America’s most well-known brands when it comes to educational toys. They were even featured on an NPR special about entrepreneurship one time.

How to use our newspaper and cardboard briquette maker for burning on a log fire.

The single most important piece of advice I can offer anyone who wants to make their own paper briquettes from recycled newspaper, cardboard, woodchips, straw, and sawdust even adding charcoal (you should not use to much or any glossy colour printed paper). Is to shred everything into a pulp (using our free mixing paddle) this helps extract the lignin in the paper and act as the bonding agent. Flour can also be used as a bonding agent. Every time I see a child play with GIGI Bloks for the first time my eyes light up. They have so much fun. And why wouldn't they? They get to build their own house, next week it might be a tower, then a spaceship, a castle and anything else they like, for THEMSELVES! A few weeks later I tried out the Multimate MK2 briquette press, shredding the paper as before but this time using the free mixing paddle supplied with the briquette maker. I was able to produce a good pulp ready for compressing in the press.