Animal’s building blocks Advent Calendar

Animal’s Building Blocks Advent Calendar 2026: 24 brick-built animals

The Animal’s Building Blocks Advent Calendar 2026 opens a new door every day from 1 to 24 December, and behind each one sits a piece or a small set of interlocking blocks. Put the full 24 doors together and the bricks build one large dragon and one large elephant; keep them apart and the same pieces make a handful of smaller creatures instead. A playmat and a printed instruction manual come in the box, so there is a surface to build on and a guide to follow from the first morning.

It is a brick-and-hands calendar, plainly. No screen, no app, no batteries. That makes it a quieter pick than the noisy, light-up toys that tend to fill December, and a neat fit for children aged roughly 4 and up who are past putting small parts in their mouths.

What’s inside the Animal’s Building Blocks calendar

Each of the 24 windows holds building blocks: some days a single piece, some days a short set that clips to what came before. By Christmas Eve you have the full count of parts, plus the playmat and the manual that shipped on day one. The design is built around sets of 12 pieces, and that is the clever part, because the same 12 can become one big animal or several little ones depending on which instructions you follow.

There is no chocolate, no sticker sheet and no filler here, which is the point: it is blocks for kids, start to finish. The full day-by-day breakdown sits in the SPOILER tab.

Is the Animal’s Building Blocks calendar worth the money?

The maker hasn’t published a stated contents value, so there is no RRP-per-piece claim to lean on. What you can weigh is the play after Christmas, and that is where a building set earns its keep: the dragon and the elephant come apart and rebuild into mini animals, so the box does not go in a drawer on 25 December the way a chocolate calendar does. Against a £5 novelty calendar it costs more; against a branded 24-brick set it lands in the mid-range, and it keeps working as a toy well into January.

How it compares with the 2025 edition

This is a like-for-like return: the 2026 Animal’s Building Blocks calendar carries the same 24 blocks, the same playmat and the same instruction manual as last year, with the identical build (the big dragon and elephant, or the mini-animal variants). Nothing has been added or dropped from the box. The one change worth flagging is the price, so the sensible move is to check this year’s figure against what you paid or saw in 2025 before buying.

Our verdict on the Animal’s Building Blocks calendar

What wins me over is honesty: it says 24 blocks and a build, and that is exactly what turns up, with no padding. Children who already like clipping pieces together will happily work through a door a day, and the rebuildable dragon and elephant mean the toy survives Boxing Day.

Where it is weaker is anyone hoping for a wow moment: there are no lights, no sounds and no collectible characters, and no stated value to brag about either. As one reviewer in my inbox put it, ‘it’s the calendar that’s still being played with in January’. That is the fair way to read it, a toy you keep rather than a treat you eat.

• Not for a child who wants a surprise character or a screen-based gadget each day.
• Worth it for a hands-on 4-to-8-year-old who likes sorting and stacking, and for parents who want a December toy that lasts.

Other versions:

• Animal’s Building Blocks Advent Calendar (24 blocks, playmat and instructions)

Discount code and delivery:

• Discount code: none available at the time of writing.
• Delivery: as listed by the retailer at checkout.

Find all the advent calendars on offer here.

Where to buy the Animal’s Building Blocks Advent Calendar

The Animal’s Building Blocks Advent Calendar is sold on Amazon, at £19.99 for the 2026 edition. No discount code applies right now. Compare the latest offers at the top of this page before you order.