Are we talking about kids playing with toys, or professional engineers building serious machinery? I credit playing with Cuisenaire rods as a child for strengt

Are we talking about kids playing with toys, or professional engineers building serious machinery? I credit playing with Cuisenaire rods as a child for strengthening my mathematical intuition, but I wouldn't build my house out of them, eh? In any event, I think it's possible to have your cake and eat it too. See http://iconicmath.com/ http://iconicmath.com/ I think we can make mathematical toys. Heck Scratch is a mathematical toy, eh?