Teaching kids about the value of human diversity is key to instilling a sense of acceptance and tolerance within future generations. That’s the line of thinking behind the design of a new set of building blocks that are shaped like abstract people and painted with a diverse range of skin tone colors.
Designed by Los Angeles-based designer Kazuya Washio, the racially inclusive set is named The Blockspeople Society and intends to cultivate children’s imagination while providing an opportunity to learn about diversity and inclusivity from an early age.
Resembling a small person, each building block features differently shaped human hands and feet — and there’s even a small dog — so kids can stack them together in creative ways or arrange them to create human-like scenarios. Each piece is also assigned a different color to represent everyone in society. In this way, the set intends to look like a microcosm of our real society.
In addition to boosting creativity, Washio also wanted The Blockspeople Society to contain enable kids to naturally learn about society and human relationships through play. Through the various ways of stacking, the designer hopes that children learn how different races can support one another and mix together to create one big shape, giving a deeper meaning to the toy set.
Washio uses a 3D printer to create human-like blocks. Each piece is then polished by hand and painted with acrylic paint in reference to the full spectrum of human skin color tones.
Image source: Kazuya Washio Design
