The Chunk Is Better Than the Nugget, Actually
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We got theNuggetin January 2021 when my older son, Augie, was almost2 years old. Since then, it’s been a constant in our lives. We’ve made our fair share of forts with its friendly foam pieces, but these days, we primarily use it for seating. The thicker, firmer base used to reside in Augie’s room at the base of his toddler bed, where we would do story time and where my husband would accidentally fall asleep most nights because it’s so soporific. Now, it has moved over to our3-year-oldSolomon’s room, occupying the same function. The two triangles make nice backrests. The thinner cushion is tucked behind the sofa in the living room.
It’s called the Play Couch, but for us it’s just a couch — an extra spot on which to lounge or lay. The real action happens on the Chunk, Nugget’s newest product, which launched last spring. Marketed as “the world’s first play ottoman,” it’s exactly that: a big, round footstool comprising the main doughnut-like “hoop,” two inner stacking “pucks,” and a soft pad that goes over everything like a lid. All of it comes apart, and the kids go wild for it. Every time we host a playdate, grown-ups and children alike gravitate toward it like it were some kind of beacon of imaginative possibility.
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The thing is, it’s large. It’s 33 inches across and a little over 14 inches in height. It takes up a lot of real estate. Its scale practically invites you to do something with it. I got it in blossom, a salmon-y pink, for the purpose of adding a little color to the living room, where it has taken up residence. In its nested state, it sits next to my big white reading chair and acts as an actual ottoman. I love putting my feet up on the Chunk. It also makes a good extra coffee-table situation. The smaller discs can work as floor cushions. With a little engineering, you can even turn it into a chair. And I like looking at its oversize shape.
For the kids, however, it is something else. It turns into a hamster wheel they can roll themselves in or a theoretical ball pit (or pit filled with stuffies). It’s an ideal hide-and-seek spot, as long as they don’t mind being covered by one of the pucks or the top pad for a couple of minutes. Playing “the floor is lava” and setting up elaborate obstacle courses incorporating the Nugget plus every couch cushion and throw pillow in their sight line are givens. At Augie’ssixth-birthday party, the little girls were screeching with delight and throwing themselves onto the pieces and pushing each other in the wheel and getting so hyped that a couple of parents had to intervene lest they ended up hurting themselves or each other.
When play is over, you simply stack up the pieces, which, I should note, fit together so snugly, and turn it back into an ottoman — or a secondary side table, or just an extra place to sit.
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