Haba product review: Cordoba and Mene Zoo

Has Haba shown up on anyone's radar?  Their toys look really nice.  They are relatively expensive compared to similar products.  Initially I was thrown by the price- around thirty euro for a set of 16 or 22 blocks.  That seems like a lot.  Sophie has a Haba pacifier chain that H's coworkers gave us when she was born.  She loves it.  She plays with it a lot. 

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In the beginning a lot of her toys were plastic but I noticed she seemed to favor the few wooden toys she had.  I decided toy get her some more wooden toys that way she'd have a nice mix of things to chose from.  I picked two of the Haba sets.  The first one is Cordoba-

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I picked this one because it has a prism, mirrors, a bell and a rattle.  The recommended age for Haba blocks is 18 months but they are made with nontoxic lacquers and paint that's ok for younger babies to chew on.  The blocks from the Cordoba set are Sophie's favorites.  She loves the different shapes, colors and textures. 

The second Haba set I got was the Mene zoo.

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This one has 22 blocks for the same price as Cordoba but without the fancy bells or prisms.  The animals are really cute but Sophie is still a little young to appreciate them.  She does like the textures, patterns and colors.

Sophie plays with the blocks by herself but I think the best thing is they can easily kill half an hour of focused play time before bath or bed time.  We sort the colors or shapes.  Bang the blocks together to make different sounds.  Pick out different animals.  My all time favorite game with these blocks is building little villages and towers for my Babyzilla to destroy.

Haba blocks are more expensive than most other block sets but they are beautiful and Sophie plays withe them every day.  I think they were worth the extra money.