Monday, February 12, 2018

Bring Brick Building to the Next Level with Strictly Briks (Review) #strictlybriks #tryabox #tryazon

Disclosure: I was sent samples from Strictly Briks and Tryazon in exchange for an honest review. All views shared are mine and mine alone.



My girls love building with their construction toys and building bricks.  I, on the other hand, am not a fan of stepping on these little pieces in the middle of the night barefoot...ouch!  Yes, you know what I am talking about...it is like an initiation for parents...walking across a trail of building bricks as you try not to let out any obscenities.  Boy, do these little pieces hurt when stepped on.  But, you are quick to forget this when you see your children playing with them for hours..and actually playing together and getting along.  Whenever my girls dump out their box of building bricks and toys I know that they will be keeping themselves busy for some time, and for the most part, they will enjoy each other's company as they use their imaginations and build things like castles, houses, animals and other cool structures.

I was excited when I received an email a few weeks back from the folks at Tryazon.  They wanted my girls and I to try out the Strictly Briks® line and share our thoughts and creations through my blog and social media channels.  I jumped at the opportunity as I knew my girls would love the assortment of Strictly Briks® that would be sent to play with.  And, Strictly Briks® are compatible with other compatible with all major brands, including LEGO, DUPLO, Mega Bloks, and K'NEX brand sets, so this would make combining all the building bricks my girls already own with the new Strictly Briks even more fun.   

Not familiar with Strictly Briks?  Here is more information about this dad-invented building briks toys line, which has become a hit with so many families, including mine...


"Strictly Briks® is an exciting and innovative brand that was founded in 2014 by Brian Semling in Fountain City, Wisconsin. As a father of two children, Sonja and Erik (then 7 and 4 years old), Brian saw first-hand just how much his kids and all of their friends loved playing with popular construction toys. Along with his wife Carina, they recognized that leading brands only offered limited options for creative play. Brian and Carina wished that all children could experience the joy of using their boundless imagination the same way Brian and Carina did in their childhood when they played with toy bricks for hours on end. 

Thus began the inspiration for Strictly Briks® products… 



About:
Creativity has its base with award-winning Strictly Briks, a hit since 2015. With a mission to provide an affordable platform and structure for kids to build, every product encourages combining with toys already available from action figures and cars to stuffed animals. 


This is play in a new way. Kids’ creativity shines by building upon stackable baseplates that grows to whatever is imagined at the moment. At the same time youngsters amass STEM knowledge from engineering to architecture as they play! Learn more: http://strictlybriks.com/about-us."

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Like I said, the folks at Tryazon wanted to send along a sampling of Strictly Briks products for my girls and I to try out...and I couldn't believe all the cool stuff that they sent. Just look at what we got, which you can purchase over at Amazon for your brick building fanatic...



  • MAKE LEARNING FUN: MathBriks are great for fun and learning at home, as well as classrooms and all kinds of educational settings. Younger kids can practice making numbers and basic arithmatic. Older kids can use MathBriks for practicing algebra, geometry, and more. Great for kids, students, teachers, educators, parents, caretakers and more!
  • PERFECT SIZED 2X2 TILES: MathBriks fit perfectly onto the included 10” x 10” baseplate with a tight fit so they won’t fall off if the baseplate is tilted or upside down. Each Tile takes up 4 pegs on each side and you can fit 16 tiles on each side of the base plate (64 total) for a wide variety of numbers and equations. Our 2x2 tiles have two open sides that make removing them effortless for all ages.


  • INCLUDED IN THE SET: This set includes 100 MathBriks and a stackable base plate that measures 10" x 10" (32 x 32 standard size pegs). The full set is backed by our 100% money back satisfaction guarantee, so you can buy with confidence and enjoy the hundreds of unique Strictly Briks® building sets you won’t find anywhere else

Learn more: http://strictlybriks.com/mathbriks2x2.html
 


Blue
(Available in blue, gray or green)

Trap and Gap Baseplates take your buildings to new levels! Use the traps to drop the floor out from under the bad guys or as ramps for cars in a car garage. 


With traps and gaps the possibilities are endless!


  • INCLUDED IN THE SET: This base plate is colored classic green and measures 13.75" x 16.25" with four slots measuring 3.75" x 5.57" each that fit a ramp or a trap door. For maximum building space, this base plate has approximately 22 x 26 large big dot pegs - perfect to showcase your wonderful creations. Use our baseplates to create building tables or mats or simply lay them out over the floor at playtime

Learn more HERE.



Blue / Gray / Green

Trap and Gap Baseplates take your buildings to new levels! Use the traps to drop the floor out from under the bad guys or as ramps for cars in a car garage. With traps and gaps the possibilities are endless!  

  • NEW SPIN ON A CLASSIC IDEA: This unique baseplate by Strictly Briks takes the classic Strictly Briks stackable baseplate
  • •INCLUDED IN THE SET: This 10" x 10" baseplate set includes 2 10” x 10” stackable baseplates in gray and green, 2 10" x 10" baseplates with traps and gaps in blue and gray, as well as 15 Stackers.

Learn more HERE




Also available in 4-packs...


Let fun and creativity shine with the baseplates. Strictly Briks offers multiple color options so your children will have plenty of baseplates to build their creations with. 

  • CREATIVITY HAS ITS BASE WITH STRICTLY BRIKS: Let your imagination run wild! Our baseplates allow you to take your building to a whole new level. Quickly and easily build a tower, a skyscraper, parking garage, castle, or other structure that stands out above the rest! Unlike other brands, this unique base plate has a bottom that is designed to be stacked and combined with your existing bricks for tons of different construction possibilities. Stack em' up!
  • INCLUDED IN THE SET: 12 stackable plates In Rainbow Colors that measure 10" x 10" each. Use the baseplates to create building tables or mats or simply lay them out over the floor at playtime

Learn more HERE 



Let fun and creativity shine with these large, easy to grasp Big Briks.

  • LARGE SIZE, GUARANTEED TIGHT FIT: Strictly Briks® large building bricks play nice with other toys and are 100% guaranteed to be compatible with all major brands.  Our Big Briks™ products are a guaranteed tight fit with any large size building bricks, no matter what existing brand of building blocks or construction brick sets your child already owns. Help your child build a city and become a creator without spending a fortune
  • INCLUDED IN THE SET: 48 total Big Briks including 12 2x2 Briks, 12 2x3 Briks, 12 2x4 Briks, and 12 1x2 Briks in multiple colors including blue, green, red, and yellow. Simply lay them out over the floor at playtime and get creative. With 4 Brik shapes, 4 great colors, and 48 total pieces, this Brik set opens up limitless building possibilities!
Learn more: https://strictlybriks.com/product/big-briks-2x4-brik-set/
Watch video here: http://strictlybriks.com/2-x-2-briks-48-pack.html




 Build anything you can imagine with this fun and creative Brik set.

  • CLASSIC SIZE, GUARANTEED TIGHT FIT: Strictly Briks® classic building bricks play nice with other toys and are 100% guaranteed to be compatible with all major brands.  Our classic size products are a guaranteed tight fit with any standard size building bricks, no matter what existing brand of building bricks or construction brick sets your child already owns. Help your child build a city and become a creator without spending a fortune
  • AFFORDABLE, TOP QUALITY: All Strictly Briks® products are built to premium standards, and are a guaranteed tight fit with all major building block sets. They will not easily break or bend, and will keep your family imagining for years to come
  • INCLUDED IN THE SET: This 216 piece bundle contains 72 1x1 bricks, 48 1x2 bricks, 72 2x2 bricks, 24 2x4 bricks, and one 6” x 6” baseplate. With 5 Brik shapes, 12 great colors, and 216 total pieces, this Brik set opens up limitless building possibilities!

Learn more HERE; Watch video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2DHdVBJN3s


  • CREATE AND LEARN: AlphaBriks and MathBriks are the perfect tool to write messages, practice spelling, or to learn the numbers and alphabet for the first time! AlphaBriks are perfect for learning and creating in the home as well as classrooms, day cares, and other learning environments
  • INCLUDED IN THE SET: This 36 piece flexible silicone AlphaBriks set contains all 26 English letters and all 10 digits 0 through 9 in a classic light green color. Simply lay them out over the floor at playtime and get creative!

Learn more HERE 

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Isn't all this stuff cool?  As a homeschooling mom, I was really excited to use the silicone AlphaBricks and MathBricks with the girls.  


The girls, on the other hand, couldn't wait to try out the Trap and Gap baseplates as they didn't have any and thought these were the neatest thing ever. :-)



Being a good mom, I made my girls do a couple math problems before I let them go at the Strictly Briks assortment we were sent...they had to earn all this cool stuff someway - and, what better way than with math. :-)


If you have children who struggle with math or even spelling, but love to use building bricks, then the AlphaBricks and MathBricks would be great to use with them.  When my girls saw me making up equations to solve, they gave me that look like, "Come on, Mom."  But, then I said they could solve the problem using the Strictly Bricks small briks we were sent.  The girls loved the idea, and within a minute, they had the three math problems solved (and correct).  I loved seeing the visual explanation of the math problems I posed for the girls, and they agreed that using Strictly Briks made solving the math problems more fun.  I told now that we had the AlphaBricks and MathBricks, I would be incorporating these into our schooling to make learning the spelling of new sight words and solving multiplication (which we recently started on) much more fun and enjoyable.

As soon as the girls solved the math problems and I gave the thumbs up, they quickly grabbed the Strictly Briks goodies we were sent and went to town playing with them.  It has been a wash out of a weekend, so these building briks have done wonders in keeping the girls entertained and playing nicely together.   

I loved sitting back and watching the girls build things and talk with one another about what they were making.  


Savannah loves dogs, so she made a collection of brick pups, while Bella tried her hand a making a cat and robot she called Ralph.  



Together the girls used the different trap and gap baseplates and building brik baseplates, along with the small and big briks to create some fun creations.  This is what they came up with this evening, before I had to say, "Bedtime," after which was followed by grumbles and and "Come on, Mom, just a few more minutes."  



The girls were having some much fun creating and building with their Strictly Briks that they didn't want the fun to stop. But, I reminded them that tomorrow was another day, and that getting a restful night's sleep will help them think of cool new things to build in the morning.  I had to promise not to touch their creation, as they were afraid if I moved it, the pieces would get shifted and they would have to set up their scene again.  




Tomorrow they plan to film short videos of their pups and robot moving throughout the brik playzone they created. I, for one can't wait to see their videos.  And, I know that they will be having a blast using their creativity to come up with great stories to tell and act out -- all while getting along and playing nice. :-)  What more could a Mom ask for?  


I am so happy we had the opportunity to try out Strictly Briks and will definitely be buying more of their small and big briks to add to my girls' growing brik collection.  


Compared to other brick brands, Strictly Briks is much more affordable, and offers some great products like their trap and gap baseplates, and their educational AlphaBricks and MathBricks really are a must have for families to help reinforce math and spelling skills in kids of all ages.  


You can learn more about Strictly Briks and their entire product line by visiting their website - https://strictlybriks.com.  Once you try Strictly Briks with your kids, you will see why my girls and so many other brik loving kids love Strictly Briks, and could play with these brik and building plates forever. :-)


Disclosure: I was sent samples from Strictly Briks and Tryazon in exchange for an honest review. All views shared are mine and mine alone.

1 comment :

  1. Classic brick building toys are about the best sorts of toys ever!

    ReplyDelete