Construction Toy

Children's Toys – Construction toys

Training future builders and architects

A special group of children’s toys – or, more precisely, play sets – consists of construction elements made from a variety of materials, particularly metal, wood, cement, paper and plastic. These allow children to play creatively and build all kinds of miniature buildings and other structures.

Building blocks – cubes, rectangular blocks, arches and the like – were already popular in Germany and also in towns in Slovenia in the nineteenth century if not earlier, offering children a great deal of creative freedom. Among the largest foreign manufacturers of metal construction sets was the German company Märklin. In Slovenia such sets were made by the Mehanotehnika company in Izola, founded after the Second World War. The best-known construction sets today are the plastic ones made by Lego, while a whole range of smaller manufacturers produce sets for children of different ages and for various types of construction.

Janez Bogataj