We’re lucky enough to own both sets of blocks, but we don’t think that you need one over the other or any at all. This blog post is written to clearly state the differences between each set to help you decide.
The base of each set is the same size, containing 100 blocks of an even width. The heights vary in each set. The Counting Blocks (right) have 10 different sizes and 10 of each size and the Pyramid (left) has 5 sizes with 4x largest, next size has 12 the 20, 28 and 36 of the smallest size.
The Large Stepped Counting Blocks are a recent addition to our collection, kindly gifted to us by Grimm's after Dion had so much fun with them at the Nuremberg Toy Fair!
The Counting Blocks are great for creating ball runs and towers with more specific heights or spacing as they have less height between each size. Ten of the smallest blocks is equal to one of the largest block and this is why they are called counting blocks. They can be used for numeracy as each size block equals a number eg. 10 of the smallest blocks equals the largest block.
One of our favourites is to run cars and balls down the Counting Blocks, which doesn’t work as well on the steps of the Pyramid due to the size of the drop between blocks.
The Large Stepped Pyramid has more larger blocks, the largest being 2x the height of the largest Counting Block. The smallest block in the Pyramid is the same as the fourth step up (yellow) in the Counting Blocks, both are an even cube. The longer blocks allow easy creation of larger spans in bridges, taller towers and longer ball runs.
The most asked question is definitely “If we could only pick one which one would it be?” We’d have to say the Large Stepped Pyramid due to getting bigger/longer blocks. The longer blocks better suit our creations and play.
They are different in their own way and as with any great open-ended toy are only limited by what you create with them. We love stacking, building mazes, zoos and farms for animals, towers, roads and ball runs just as much with either.
Left: largest block of the Large Stepped Pyramid
Right: two largest blocks from the Large Stepped Counting Blocks
These are all from the Large Stepped Counting Blocks to show how the different pieces make up the largest block eg. 10 in each combination.
Super interesting post!
Thanks for the blog! I have the large stepped counting blocks but not the large stepped pyramid. What Grimms product can I buy to get the larger blocks that are in the large stepped pyramid but that are not in the large stepped counting blocks?