Hexagon and Millefiori Pieced Quilts Helper

My son had asked me to help him find something to help occupy the neighborhood kids that land on his front porch, many from less than stellar home lives. So, he and his pregnant wife (my first grandbaby!) are showing love and kindness to these kids, but they do need some 'toys'. I love thinking outside the box to find uses for things that the maker never imagined it to be used for. For me I like giving children items that help them think and gain knowledge from the play. I think this is what is behind the STEM system that is currently popular with schools. So, when this item ETA hand2mind Pattern Blocks Games for Classroom or Home came up for review I got it. This set is well made, and quilts aside, does have activities and games for the children to play.

What I found is that the pieces of this game include, I believe, all the different shapes to make hexagon paper pieced blocks. If you want to try to design a different styled block you can do that. As there are only 10 each of the shapes, you may want to get a supplemental set of shapes such as Learning Resources Plastic Pattern Blocks (Set of 250 pieces of 6 different shapes). This is where you can find enough shapes if you want to design a Millefiori style quilt top. While you won't have the shapes in the colors that you want to use, being able to figure out a logical structure with premade shapes should make things go smoother. I am dyslexic and seeing those quilts, while beautiful, I'm pretty sure I couldn't put even a small quilt without some help of pre-made ‘templates’.

One of the things that comes with this kit which isn't made to help quilters but are for children are patterns to make of assorted animals and other objects. You can also buy Learning Advantage 8837 Pattern Block Activity Cards (Pack of 20) to help give your youngster ideas. At that point you and your child can design hexagon blocks together and make them into a quilt of different designs. What is better than getting a child into quilting and sewing and using their creative minds plus the bonus of working together on a project with an adult?

My apologies for not being able to have embedded links to each of these sets. Amazon wouldn't generate them for me. I will add them when I am able.