I purchased this for my 3.5 year old, who is in a knocking things down kind of phase. He builds things in an effort to later knock them down. I thought this toy might teach him the reverse since it requires that you stack things up and you are trying to NOT knock them down. We gave it a try this morning and so far, so good! He understood that the point was to build it and PREVENT it from falling, but it only lasted so long. Once it fell on accident he proceeded to do things to make the animals fall after putting a couple on, but it was only our first try and it's a total work in progress. I think this WILL work to teach him some patience. A great value for the price.