Kapla

Kapla is a wooden block construction toy for children and adults. Each block is an identically sized and shaped piece of pine, with dimensions in the proportions 1:3:15.

Origin and characteristics

The idea behind Kapla developed around 1988, when the Netherlands art historian and antique dealer Tom van der Bruggen moved to France in search of an old castle to restore. During renovation, Vanderbruggen was inspired by the original wooden beam design of his old farmhouse and used small planks to fashion the model castle of his dreams. Those small beam planks became the game KAPLA. The name Kapla comes from the Dutch term for "small planks", Kabouter Plankjes. Kapla planks are very well known in Europe and a huge Eiffel Tower made of thousands of Kapla planks is currently exhibited in the new Cité de l'Architecture in Paris. Kapla has also shown at the Louvre and at the Children's Museum of Manhattan. Kapla building is meant to enable creativity and expression. There is no right or wrong way to build. There is no glue, no snaps, no interlocking parts - the planks are simply stacked and they remain in place thanks to gravity and creativity and imagination. The planks all come tumbling down when it's time to build again. Unlike many other wood blocks, Kapla planks are precision cut and sized in exactly one unique, distinctive shape enabling sturdy and graceful constructions of great creativity. The precision allows larger buildings to be constructed (the building in the picture needs about 800 components). Each block is a cuboid in the ratio 1:3:15, i.e. with length five times its width, and width three times its height. The length of the longest side is twelve centimeters (4.7244 inches). (The "About Kapla" page gives the dimension in inches as 0.25 x 1 x 4.5.)

The blocks are pine wood and are safe, non-toxic and certified green from renewable forests of Marine pine near the Bordeaux region of France. The planks are not varnished or treated. Colored planks are stained with non-toxic water based paints of six different hues.

Commercial availability

Kapla comes in boxes of 200, 280 or 1000 blocks. The sets include several idea books, but step-by-step construction guides are not provided to underline the open-ended nature of Kapla building. Models are available on the website but all Kapla building is successful building. Color sets come in boxes of 40 pieces.

The target market is children. In French schools and kindergartens the blocks are used as educational toys. But the extensive possibilities of the simple form have appeal to construction-minded adults. Kapla is available in specialty stores and museum stores throughout the USA.

External links

* [http://www.kapla.com Kapla, The Magic Plank]
* [http://www.kaplatoys.com Kapla Toys (U.S.A.)]
* [http://www.kapla.co.il Kapla Israel]