Grimms Rainbow World - Must Have Building Toys

I’m sure you’ve seen how much we love the Grimms Wooden Rainbow (if not, check out this article all about Rainbows). It’s an incredibly imaginative building tool, and one we think has years and years of play value.

A customer reached out and asked “What if you already have the rainbow? What would you recommend as the next step?”

This is a great question, and one we field regularly in our brick and mortar store in Vancouver.

So, what if you already have the rainbow? Let us show you our favourite next steps for Grimms Wooden Toys. We’ll talk about each suggestion and then show you a bunch of examples of them working together in different combinations so you can decide for yourself what the best next step for your family is.

Our Favourite Grimms Sets to Add On If You Already Have a Large Rainbow

Semi Circles

We talk about these in the Rainbow article, because in our opinion it’s the most logical add-on to the rainbow for most people. Adding the semi circles brings in a lot more imaginative play options, from creating wooden skyscraper like buildings to making little rooms as a flexible “dollhouse”. They’re also instrumental if you’re going to get into ball runs with the rainbow (generally with the addition of the Building Boards).

Large Stepped Pyramid (LSP)

In all honesty, I thought the hype surrounding the Large Stepped Pyramid was a little overblown online at first. We just couldn’t keep them in stock, so we only recently brought a set home to play with ourselves now that production has somewhat caught up with the demand.

I’m eating my words now, because I have to say these are now my new favourite block set at home (and in our window displays). They’re so vibrant and beautiful and the large scale makes a lot of big building projects possible. Our other perennial block set at home is the natural Haba starter blocks, and the LSP is similar in its large scale but in a variety of rich hues.

We’ve been loving the LSP to make an instant city of skyscrapers pulsing with colour and stacking with the Rainbow and Building Boards (see below) to make all kinds of worlds for figures to frolic in.

Building Boards

Another toy that at first glance seems a bit underwhelming. I mean, the building boards just wooden slats, right? Yes, that’s right, but somehow they magically transform into slides, bridges, walls, roofs, tracks for ball runs and a million other things the second you free them from their packaging. A diving board? Why not?

The simplicity of their design turns out to be their superpower, because it can be so many things depending on what you’re building. It’s like a pinch of salt in a soup - it just brings more out of all the other ingredients. Adding the building boards to the Rainbow World adds a whole new dimension of play.

Other Blocks

Don’t feel it needs to be an all Grimms show! Well made, open ended toys usually work well together, so you can build an inspiring toy box with all kinds of toys. Here are some examples of the Building Boards, Semi Circles and Rainbow with an array of blocks to show you can build whatever kind world you want.

These three photos above are the Building Boards , large natural rainbow, and pastel semi circles with the Haba Starter Blocks which are available in sets of 26 (starter), 60 (large), and 102 (extra large).

Here are the Building Boards with Magic Wood’s Tree Blocks (available in Small and Large). We love the vibrant pops of colour the Building Boards bring to the earthy Tree Blocks.

And here are the Building Boards with the regular Grimms blocks. These are a much smaller scale than the Large Stepped Pyramid so it’s a completely different build. These blocks come in sets of 30 or sets of 60.

Figures

We have a lot of figures at our house since our son has always gravitated towards them. So, in our home, the whole point of creating all these cool lands is almost always to have a magical place for figures to explore.

Our favourites with the Rainbow World are Grapat nins (at home we have the Carla set, the Summer set, and the dark nins in warm and cool colours, as well as the Together set, and Stick Gnomes). You can get lovely peg dolls from Grimms as well, but I like the variety of options from Grapat. We also use our smaller Holztiger figures, Wooden Caterpillar figures, Maileg mice, Schleich figures, and Ambrosius dolls.

Grapat

We love the addition of Grapat trees, honeycombs, and more to the Rainbow World. They easily add a new layer of fun to small world play. Whenever we create a scene with a rainbow and all these loose parts, the riot of colour never fails to send my spirits soaring high. It’s like seeing a meadow of wildflowers on a hike - the colours just sing.

One of my favourite things about any of the toys above is that they are not for one particular age group. A 3 year old can get in on this (especially with a parent helper) and we have a whole crew of parents obsessed with building ball runs so there really isn’t an upper age limit. Young at heart is the only requirement.

This makes the whole Rainbow building and construction world perfect for families who want to play together. A family can build a town together and each contribute something special to the creation. They can troubleshoot building a ball run and then revel in their success when the balls careen down the track. Or they can make their own balancing game and squeal when someone knocks it down.

There’s a famous saying (which we’re huge believers in!) that “the family that eats together, stays together”. We think it’s equally true to say “the family that plays together, stays together.”

Quality time spent working together to create something joyful? Yes please. More please.

Check out the Grimms Rainbow World Here!