Pete's Expert Summary
My human has presented me with a box of 100 small, garishly colored plastic squares from a brand called "Learning Resources." Apparently, these "MathLink Cubes" are meant to teach the small, noisy humans about numbers and patterns, a concept I find dreadfully dull. However, the sheer quantity is intriguing. One hundred individual pieces that can be scattered, batted under the sofa, and lost in the dark corners of the house presents a certain chaotic appeal. The fact that the humans can build them into towers only adds to the potential for grand, crashing finales. While the educational intent is a complete waste of plastic, the potential for widespread, floor-skittering mayhem is, I must admit, somewhat promising.
Key Features
- Math skills (one-to-one correspondence, counting to 100, skip counting, Comparison, Making 10, Nonstandardized measurements, Grouping, Addition, Subtraction, Graphing), Color identification, Shape identification, Patterning, Matching, Fine motor skills, Eye-hand coordination, Motor planning
- School Readiness for Kids : Promote school readiness with activities that support math skills including counting, addition, and subtraction. Great for homeschool or classroom activity!
- Montessori Materials Math : Cubes easily snap together on all sides of each cube with geometric shape cutouts for more complex patterning activities
- Counters for Kids Math: There's magic to be found in new math skills, which help kids understand the world around them and lay down a solid foundation in science, engineering, and other STEM skills, school supplies,teacher supplies!
- NUMBERBLOCKS TOYS: MathLink Cubes feature geometric shape cutouts for visual and tactile STEM learning.
- There's magic to be found in new math skills, which help kids understand the world around them and lay down a solid foundation in science, engineering, and other STEM skills!
- GIVE THE GIFT OF LEARNING: Whether you’re shopping for holidays, birthdays, or just because, toys from Learning Resources help you discover new learning fun every time you give a gift! Ideal gift for Halloween, Christmas, Stocking Stuffers, Easter Baskets or even for Homeschool.
A Tale from Pete the Cat
I was observing from my perch on the velvet armchair as the Small Human engaged in what it considered "play." On the floor, a long, serpentine structure was taking shape. It was a wall, of sorts, built from those offensively bright plastic cubes. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple. A rainbow of mediocrity, repeating in a sequence so predictable it offended my very soul. The human called it a "pattern." I called it a creative desert. This was not a toy; it was an instrument of aesthetic torture. My descent from the chair was a fluid, silent declaration of intent. I padded over to the so-called creation for a closer look. The plastic felt cheap beneath my discriminating paws, and the cubes connected with a flimsy click that spoke of impermanence. I peered at the little geometric cutouts on their faces—circles, squares, pentagons—tiny, pointless windows into nothingness. The entire structure was an affront to good taste, a monument to mindless conformity. It lacked passion. It lacked danger. It lacked, in a word, *me*. The Small Human was inevitably distracted by a passing dust mote and toddled off, leaving the artistic abomination unattended. My moment had arrived. I was not here to merely destroy; any common feline could do that. I was here to improve, to elevate, to deconstruct the mundane and reveal the beautiful chaos beneath. The wall featured a crude archway, a pathetic attempt at architectural flair. At its keystone was a single, defiant orange cube. That was the weak point. That was the soul of the piece, waiting to be liberated. With the delicate precision of a watchmaker, I extended a single, perfect claw. I hooked it neatly into the pentagonal cutout of the orange block. A gentle, calculated tug was all it took. The keystone slid free. For a moment, there was a beautiful, dramatic pause before the arch sagged, folded, and the entire wall collapsed in a glorious, clattering cascade. The cubes scattered across the Persian rug in a random, abstract spray of color. Now *that* was a masterpiece. A commentary on entropy. A triumph of instinct over order. The cubes themselves are merely crude blocks of plastic, but as a medium for expressing my superior artistic vision, they have proven surprisingly useful.
