Want a young Einstein? You can start with a set of his toys
AMBITIOUS parents concerned that their children’s addiction to staring at screens may prevent them becoming the next Albert Einstein now have the perfect solution: the great man’s toys, or at least, exact replicas.
Three leading businesses have become so worried about the lack of imaginative play enjoyed by today’s children that they plan to make available the great physicist’s childhood toy blocks for free via the medium of 3D printing.
The collection of approximately 160 small stone blocks in red, limestone and slate grey are credited with fostering Einstein’s understanding of complicated structures that evolved into the groundbreaking theories that transformed modern science. The Anker-steinbaukasten set was seen as a pioneering toy for child development in 1880s Germany, designed to help develop children’s tactile sense, manual dexterity and to stimulate creativity.
Now, the newly formed Real Play Coalition, comprising Unilever, the Lego Foundation and Ikea, plan to raise awareness at the loss of these qualities from the modern child’s diet of play. The coalition has now scanned the pieces for the first time, allowing those with access to a 3D printer to download and recreate them.
♦ Don’t give young children old toys you’ve had tucked away in the attic as they could contain chemicals that when chewed could prove toxic, warn scientists from Plymouth University who analysed 200 old plastic toys.