What an addictive and intriguing toy this Kaleidograph is! Everyone who spies it gets drawn in and they can’t put it down. I wish I had this when I was in design school. The simple, die-cut cards can be arranged in over 350 million designs. Based upon geometry in nature — the symmetries of crystals and flowers — the Kaleidograph draws from the Froebel Kindergarten system that is known to have influenced Frank Lloyd Wright, Buckminster Fuller, Piet Mondrian, and design education at the Bauhaus. Solène is already playing with this, so it seems that anyone who can move cards around is the right age! It’s available in two versions, Crystal and Flora and earned an Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Gold Seal Award in 2012. Available here.
