Interlocking brick plants - Afromontane forest

My daughters love forests and their interlocking building bricks (have to tiptoe around any brand infringements there), in that order… probably. While they love their sets, one of their wishes is to build a large forest for their characters to live in. hey also love birding, they naturally want these forests to be accurate representations of the environments where they would find their favourite birds.

So, we sat down and studied the plants native to those biomes and began designing building brick styled and compatible flora that they could add to their games. This first (and still growing) collection is based on the Afromontane forests found in Southern and Eastern Africa.

These ecosystems feature lush, wet forests, narrow-leaved plants like ferns and cycads, vines, and slow-growing trees like Yellowwood. This also means my daughters have been able to enjoy creating their own small birds, such as Kingfishers, Turacos, and Narina Trogons, from their existing brick sets.

We've tried to base the models as closely as possible on the original trees and shrubs, but a bit of stylistic interpretation helps to make them feel congruous with the brick style. As always, ease of print and material usage are central design considerations, so all of the models so far are printable in ABS without the need for supports.

This is a growing project, which will see more plants and structures added (Yellowwood trees and vines) as well as other distinct biomes, such as Bushveld and Mangrove.