Nanoblock facts for kids
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| Type | Construction set |
|---|---|
| Company | Kawada |
| Country | Japan |
| Availability | 2008–present |
Nanoblock (Japanese: ナノブロック, Hepburn: Nanoburokku) is a super cool line of building toys, a bit like tiny Lego bricks! It's made by a Japanese toy company called Kawada, which is based in Tokyo, Japan.
Contents
The Story of Nanoblock
Nanoblock first came out in Japan in 2008, created by the company Kawada. These tiny bricks quickly became popular. Other companies helped to sell Nanoblock in different countries. For example, Schylling sells them in the United States. By 2012, you could find Nanoblock sets in 31 countries around the world!
Nanoblock has also won some awesome awards.
- In 2010, a big Nanoblock set of Neuschwanstein Castle won an award in Japan for its amazing design.
- The very next year, in 2011, a Nanoblock model of the Tokyo Skytree won a top prize at the Japan Toy Awards.
- In 2012, Nanoblock won another special award for being a great brand.
What Can You Build?
Nanoblock has many different sets you can build. Some are original designs, and others are based on popular characters or famous places.
Original Designs
Kawada makes four main types of original Nanoblock sets:
- The Miniature Collection series lets you build tiny animals, musical instruments, and even fun Christmas themes. These sets usually have about 80 to 150 pieces.
- The Sights to See series includes models of famous world landmarks and important buildings. These sets are a bit bigger, with 200 to 600 bricks.
- The Advanced Hobby series also features famous buildings and landmarks, but on a much larger scale. These sets are huge, with more than 2,000 pieces! The biggest one is the deluxe edition of Neuschwanstein Castle, which has a massive 5,800 pieces.
- There's also a series made for girls, with themes like weddings and birthdays.
Licensed Sets
Nanoblock has teamed up with many popular brands to create special sets. You can find sets based on:
- The Adventures of Tintin
- Pokémon characters
- Shaun the Sheep
- Sanrio characters like Cinnamoroll, Hello Kitty, KeroKeroKeroppi, and My Melody.
There are even special Disney character sets sold only at the Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea theme parks! In 2013, Nanoblock made two sets based on Capcom's Mega Man video game for its 25th anniversary. In 2015, four sets were released based on characters from the Street Fighter video game, including Ryu, Chun-Li, Guile, and Dhalsim. Also in 2015, the camera company Nikon worked with Kawada to make a Nanoblock model of their classic Nikon F camera.
How Nanoblocks Are Designed
Nanoblocks look a lot like Lego bricks, but they are much, much smaller! The tiniest Nanoblock brick is only 4 mm by 4 mm by 3 mm. That's super tiny! These bricks are actually one-eighth the size of Kawada's other building toy line, Diablock.
The bottom of Nanoblock bricks is a bit different from Lego bricks. Instead of hollow tubes, they use a special design called a "double-ridged backing system" to connect. The bricks are made from strong ABS plastic. There are eleven different types of Nanoblock pieces, from a single tiny stud to a larger 8x2 brick.
Most Nanoblock sets also include a few extra pieces, just in case you lose one!
