I would love to get foam building blocks for the day care! The nice ones from Discount School Supply. I have a couple questions though from those of you that have them.
1. How do you clean them?
2. Do you have problems with little ones putting them in their mouths and biting them? I am worried about teeth marks!

Please let me know. I have the solid wood blocks, but with the group I have now throwing everything and anything, I thought these might work well.

Thanks!

Reply

Ours were probably not the super nice ones. But, they ALL had bite marks in them within two weeks.

We washed them in the water table. (as an activity) When they are wet, they stick to windows, or the wipe off board. We'd put the water table outside the sliding glass door, and let the kids stick them to the window. Then, I'd wash em off, let em dry, and I put them away for another time.

Reply

I spray them with the bleach solution then run them under water to rinse.

We have put them in our water table too, they seem to dry out just fine.

Quite a few have bite marks, but that goes with the territory. If I see someone biting them, I just take them away from them (the biter) for the rest of the day. They usually catch on pretty quick.

Reply

I soak and hang. Yes, they all have bite marks. I have to replace every so often because they look horrible.

IMHO, they are disposable toys, in a mixed group of 3 and under, if you ever leave them out during a round of diaper changes...

I have the tabletop set....they even say 3 and up so I would hope they do better with an older group.

The cardboard ones did not fare that well, here, either.... They peeled those every chance possible.

Holding out hope for PVC ones in the near future.... Come on inventors...get with it.

Reply

I fill the bathtub 9after hours) with a bleach/water solution and toss the blocks in. Let them soak for a bit, stir them up a few times, and them hand them outside on the line in mesh laundry bags. I reserve these type of blocks for my 3+ crowd.

Reply

I have a mesh bag, meant for fine washables, and I fill it and put it in the washer. hang dry.
No teeth marks.

Reply

Has anyone tried using a mesh bag in the dishwasher with foam blocks? How do the blocks come out?

Reply

Bite marks for sure! I would go with cheaper ones from amazon. They aren't going to stay nice. I dunked in soap water, then clear water then bleach water and set them out to dry.

Reply

That's why I don't do the foam blocks anymore. Got trashed too easily with bite marks and I didn't like the possibility of someone biting and swallowing. I just have a really nice big set of wood and they learn not to throw. When I did have foam mats or blocks I washed (scrubbed) with hot soapy water, rinsed and air dry.

Reply

would the chemicals from the dishwasher get absorbed inside the block?
how would it get rinsed out?

Reply