eeboo patchwork

 i was looking for some eeboo games for my toddler on amazon and stumbled across this patchwork design tiles game. well, it's more like a creativity activity than a game because you just design with it rather than compete to complete anything. i ordered it and have to say i think this is the coolest game for any quilter's child, or quilter of any age, for that matter.

ever since it came out of the shipping package, my littlest girls have been dying to get their hands on it, but i told them mom needed to photograph it first. oh, the agony of suspense! (yes, i did enjoy that a little bit. there is way too much instant gratification in the world today.)

 there are 64 hst tiles, doublesided, with patchwork designs on each. the box bottom makes a tray that's designed to hold 32 tiles in a 4x4 block pattern. each tile has up to three different fabric in various shapes on it. this is what it looked like when i pulled the lid off. there are florals and plaids, as well as some solids. i think the manufacturer must have photographed actual fabrics, even the solids, because you can see the threads on each tile. however, unlike fabric, these are nice and thick particle board triangles that are quite sturdy and can withstand lots of handling without any stretching or distortion.

 when i removed the top layer of tiles, i found this configuration awaiting. all of these were solids (obviously) and contained a quarter circle design.

 i flipped each of those tiles over and got this configuration. so much fun already and i haven't even designed my own pattern yet.

 as best i can tell on initial inspection, there are four types of block styles: 1) large quarter cirlce design in two colors, 2) solid colored/single print hst, 3) two orange peel segments plus a background fabric, either both orange peels the same or different, 4) just one orange peel segment along an edge and a background fabric. i'm sure there are traditional names for each of these, i just don't know them.

with 64 tiles, each doublesided, that means there are quite a lot, almost endless, possiblities for design here. it's rather dizzying to consider.

 the inside of the box lid had some starter samples to get the creative juices flowing. i'm thinking this is not only a wonderful exercise in creativity for the kids, but for an adult as well. messing around with these tiles will likely inspire all sorts of ideas for quilting. wouldn't it be refreshing to pick this up when you're in a creativity slump and just play, no commitments?

the girls finally got to break into the tiles. not only were they so excited (yay! we get to make quilts!), they played nice and divided them up so they could both play at the same time. no one said you had to use the box tray. i suppose you could say they were thinking outside the box already.

to keep it interesting, i'm only letting them use these tiles when i'm actually quilting. that should help the value of the game stay high and give me some uninterrupted time to quilt as well. win-win!

and then it'll be my turn to play.

for the record, we own several eeboo games and highly recommend them all.

 my favorites might be "i never forget a face," an international memory game, the good manners flashcards, and united states bingo. but then again, they're all good!

i have several versions of matching games, both regular and toddle-sized. all products are high quality, very durable, and beautifully illustrated, often by well-known children's illustrators such as melissa sweet and dan yaccarino. they are wonderful for encouraging critical thinking and/or creativity.

and for the further record, this is not a sponsored post or affiliate link. although it probably should be because i'm pretty sure every quilter i know is going to want those patchwork design tiles!