Construction toy set for toddlers and young children

Abstract

A construction toy set that stimulates young children to plan and construct objects with which they can play or interact when finished. The set includes pieces with joints that allow the child to build an object having parts that turn or rotate, allowing him or her to play actively with the object when fully assembled. Many of the pieces are relatively large and brightly colored, and have soft textured surfaces that stimulate the child's senses of sight and touch. The rotatable pieces turn in response to a moderate force while emitting a pleasant clicking sound that appeals to the child's sense of hearing. Accordingly, the inventive toy set enhances the child's creativity, imagination, and dexterity by encouraging him or her to plan, assemble, and then interact with a finished object or model. Further, the finished object can be easily disassembled and then reassembled as often as desired by the child.

We claim: 
     
         1 . A construction toy set for children, comprising:
 a number of joint pieces each constructed and arranged to rotate about an axis of the piece in response to a force applied by a child when the piece is joined with other pieces of the toy set; and   a number of block pieces having different shapes;   wherein a given block piece is colored according to the shape of the block piece, and the block piece has a relatively soft textured material on a surface of the piece to facilitate gripping the piece by a child.   
     
     
         2 . A construction toy set according to  claim 1 , wherein one or more of the joint pieces are constructed and arranged to rotate about two axes that are orthogonal to one another. 
     
     
         3 . A construction toy set according to  claim 1 , wherein one or more of the joint pieces include a click mechanism constructed and arranged to emit a click-like sound when the piece is turned in response to a force applied by a child. 
     
     
         4 . A construction toy set according to  claim 1 , wherein an exposed surface of the textured material on a block piece of a given shape has a textured pattern which is distinguishable from textured patterns provided on block pieces having other shapes. 
     
     
         5 . A construction toy set according to  claim 1 , wherein one or more of the block pieces are constructed an arranged to be rotatable when joined to another piece of the toy set. 
     
     
         6 . A construction toy set according to  claim 1 , wherein the one or more rotatable block pieces include a click mechanism constructed and arranged to emit a click-like sound when the piece is turned in response to a force applied by a child. 
     
     
         7 . A construction toy set according to  claim 1 , wherein one or more of the block pieces are oblong or disco-rectangular in shape. 
     
     
         8 . A construction toy set according to  claim 1 , wherein one or more of the block pieces are rectangular in shape. 
     
     
         9 . A construction toy set according to  claim 8 , wherein one or more of the block pieces are square in shape. 
     
     
         10 . A construction toy set according to  claim 1 , wherein one or more of the block pieces are round or circular in shape. 
     
     
         11 . A construction toy set according to  claim 1 , wherein one or more of the block pieces are half round in shape. 
     
     
         12 . A construction toy set according to  claim 1 , wherein one or more of the block pieces are triangular in shape. 
     
     
         13 . A construction toy set according to  claim 1 , wherein one or more of the block pieces resemble a hand in shape 
     
     
         14 . A construction toy set according to  claim 1 , wherein one or more of the block pieces resemble a foot in shape 
     
     
         15 . A construction toy set according to  claim 1 , including one or more pieces that resemble a face. 
     
     
         16 . A construction toy set according to  claim 1 , including one or more pieces that resemble hair. 
     
     
         17 . A construction toy set according to  claim 1 , including one or more pieces in the form of a color pinwheel. 
     
     
         18 . A construction toy set according to  claim 1 , wherein the pieces of the set are molded from acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS). 
     
     
         19 . A construction toy set according to  claim 1 , wherein the soft textured material comprises thermoplastic rubber (TPR).