Alma Siedhoff-Buscher (1899-1944) studied at Berlin's Reimann art school from 1917 to 1920. In 1922, she went to the Bauhaus in Weimar, where she attended Johannes Iten's preliminary course as well as classes taught by Vassily Kandinsky and Paul Klee. She began 1923 training as a wood sculptur and created her best-known works in the same year: Alma Siedhoff-Buscher designed the children's bedroom of the "Haus am Horn" and created its furniture; the house was built in 1923 for the large Bauhaus exhibition in Weimar. Additionally, she created several designs for toys, including the ship building blocks (in a large and small version), which were manufactured until 1933. After marrying her fellow student Werner Siedhoff, she left the Bauhaus in 1927.

"Our toys (Bauhaus): the form - simple - unconfusingly clear and defined - variety and stimulation are created by the children themselves through combining, building. Thus - a sustained development." In 1925, Alma Siedhoff-Buscher used these words to describe her designs and the educational approach associated with them.

The simple, coloured building blocks are not intented to be used for reconstructing a specific model. Instead, children are encouraged to invent something new, as can be read on the box itself: "building blocks: a ship that can also be a mountain - or valley - train, a gate, an animal and much more besides. "This progressive educational approach is also apparent in the furniture that Alma Siedhoff-Buscher designed for children. Her children'stoy cupboard of 1923 consists of multiple box-shaped elements. They can be combined in different ways and are suited to every purpose while playing - whether a seat, table, shelf, box or a wheeled wagon.