Gakken Toys

History

The history of Gakken started in Tokyo in 1946 as part of Japan’s post-war nation-building efforts. The idea was to rebuild the country starting from educating the young. Gakken believes the key to strengthening a nation starts with the young, impressionable minds which will contribute to national development in the future.

Hideto Furuoka – the founder and educator – worked on a conviction of a sincere appreciation and gratitude to society. His motivating factor comes from his mother’s selfless love and family devotion in raising him under extreme conditions of poverty.

Company

Gakken Holdings Co., Ltd. was founded and established as an educational publishing company, educating young minds through science, via mediums such as books, magazines, and other practical utilities.

Since its start, education has been used as criteria for its work, and with that central goal in mind, Gakken has published books and magazines in areas of entertainment, hobbies, and cultural interests.  

Gakken’s publishing materials mimic the ever-changing lifestyle needs of its readers. Not limited to only publishing, the Company has been expanding its scope of business in developing teaching materials, tools and educational toys for preschools, kindergartens, and high schools. 

The company is further enhancing its teaching tools by creating unique environments called Gakken Classrooms which are both learning centers and places of preparatory schools development. These Classrooms utilize all its teaching tools and publications to the fullest capacity. 

Gakken’s core commitments to all aspects of publication have led to its embrace of digitization. They have been a leader of print publication and are now proactively committed to leveraging this opportunity fully by digitizing the vast amount of contents it possesses and by challenging new ICT trends in education. Gakken is holding its strong status as The Company for Education and has already made a big step by transforming into a multi-level contents creation enterprise. Supported by its corporate spirit of the Creative Challenge, Gakken remains unchanged to its foundations.​

Gakken’s pledge is to realize a new growth starting from each of its employees and holding a solid commitment to perform its corporate goals and challenges thoroughly.

Gakken wish to take this opportunity to thank you, the customer, for your continued support and encouragement, and invite you to join them in looking forward towards the Creation of a New Gakken.

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Gakken Playability

Gakken Blocks Playability is what sets it apart from other block toys. It allows your child to create horizontally, vertically and diagonally by stacking, laying, plugging a block into or tucking a block between. It hones their spatial awareness in three-dimensional ideation and promotes hand-eye coordination, creativity and imagination.

LaQ Blocks and Gakken

As part of its expansion to educational toys, Gakken introduced the Gakken Blocks to the Japanese market in the late 50’s; one of its most popular and recognized toys.

LaQ Blocks is proud to partner and represent these educational block toys, available in four sizes to the US market: Starter Set; Basic Set; Builder Set; and the Master Set with 150 pieces ideal for school or family activities.