Story Blox, The Island is an E-Blox building-bricks set. Users go on an adventure with Seymour

and his robot Robyn as they investigate a mysterious light in the ocean. Along the way users will

build Robyn the Robot, Glen a Wicklow Terrier, Glen Sitting, a Boat, Stairway Lights, a

Seahorse, Devyn the Devon Rex Cat, and the final build, a Morse Code Transmitter. The

included booklet, The Island: A Chapter in the E-Blox® Novelette “Earth One,” is a story that

you read along the way that has QR codes to introduce each new build. The Island

Assembly Manual takes readers step by step in building each of the 8 projects. The set

includes over 100 parts. The cost of the kit is $54.99.

Story Blox, The Island is ideal for use in the home setting. The set is intended for

ages 8 and above. This product is labeled a STREAM product which stands for Science,

Technology, Reading, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics. The main components that power

each of the 8 projects are the tin-plated blocks which safely carry electric current through a circuit from a 9V battery housed which a building block which then utilizes LED’s in other

blocks. The kit provides children with experience in the following areas:

• Robotics
• Canine Breeds
• Nautical Terms
• Marine Biology
• Metaphysics
• Laser Technology
• Architectural Weather Forecasting
• Google Navigation
• Morse Code
• Feline Breeds
• 3D Electronic Circuits
• Architecture
• Mechanics
• Vocabulary & Reading

The story is 10 pages in length. As you read the story you will research using QR codes and

build the projects. My 12-year-old daughter has had a fun time building each of the fun projects.

She is not an avid reader and so was excited that the reading part was very minimal. All my

children love building sets and so I knew that this would be a hit. My daughter loved that each of

the projects lit up! She thought that the final building project, the Morse Code was cool.

The information learned from the QR codes is highly informative. One of the QR codes was

the coordinates of a location at 54.324633, -9.637499 which took us to a map. The location was in Ireland. The QR codes take users to Wikipedia for most of the information.

Story Blox, The Island: A Chapter in the E-Blox® Novelette “Earth One” is part of the Novelette

Earth One which also includes the following chapters: The City, The Cave, The Sea & Sky, The

Moon’s Face, Thee Hard Iceberg, The Night Stars, The Creature, and The Spirit.

My daughter and her sibling enjoyed Story Blox, The Island. I would most definitely

recommend this building set to educators and parents looking for a building set that goes beyond

just building. Your child will have an interactive learning experience with Seymour and his

companions.

-Product review by Jennifer Ladewig, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, September 2020