Jonathan M. Guberman

Why teach your child the alphabet with boring images of ponies and apples when you could introduce your younglings to all the coolest geek icons in science, video games, movies, comics, and more? That's exactly what Canada-based nerd dad Jonathan M. Guberman thought when he created these geektastic alphabet blocks.

The 36 blocks -- which include the English alphabet, plus numbers -- use geeky icons and characters like Ada Lovelace and Zelda to teach the alphabet and numbers.

"Shortly before my son was born I decided to make a set of alphabet blocks decorated with things that his mother and I were looking forward to sharing with him," Guberman wrote on his blog. "I started work, and then he was born. Now, coming up on his first birthday, I've finally finished."

Guberman laser-engraved his favorite geeky images of X-Wings, Glados, 1-Up, Indiana Jones, Batgirl, the Star Trek Enterprise, icosahedron dice, Q*bert, unicorns, Yoshi, a figure-8 knot, K-9, Johnny 5, Lord of the Rings, zombies, witches, a soldering iron and the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, just to name a few, onto pre-made wooden blocks.

"The only real rule I followed in choosing subjects was trying to maintain an even gender balance," Guberman wrote on his blog. "I'm thrilled with how the blocks came out. I was a bit worried about some of the more detailed pictures, and while a few didn't really come out well (like the X-Men), many of the others look pretty great. Check out the feathers on the dodo, or the grooves in the vinyl!"

"It was annoying babysitting the laser for hours, but it was very much worth it," Guberman added. "The hardest part was having to cut certain images because there wasn't enough space. I guess it's incentive to have another kid so I have an excuse to make another set."

Jonathan M. Guberman

The full set of alphabet blocks can be seen on Guberman's Flickr set here.