To begin playing, take the blocks off the poles. At first I was worried she would fall over and hurt herself on these exposed poles. Next, the poles fell off, which then exposes this clear glue which my child wants to chew on.Just like the sorting cube I bought with this, the colored paint chips off. The square is 2 shapes which fit to be a square. Seems like a good advanced concept, but mostly concerned of the sharp edges. So those were put away.I should have bought one of the plastic versions of this. The paint would not have chipped off. And maybe the poles would have been attached to the base rather than adhered with toxic glue.