Playing Is Educational

Play Parachutes come with or without handles and a variety of different sizes. 

We recommend that your play parachute has handles, because it is easy for kids to hold on to the handle as the parachute waves in the air.

To select the size of the play parachute depends on two factors:

1) What is the area that you have to use the play parachute?

2) What is quantity of people that you want to us the play parachute at a time? 

The 6 foot play parachute has 8 handles that works great for 3 to 4 people at a time.

The 12 foot play parachute has 12 handles that will accomidate from 4 to 6 people.

The 20 foot play parachute will accomidate with its 16 handles - 6 to 8 people.

A 24 foot play parachute has 20 handles and is great for 8 to 10 people.

When selecting a play parachute, for durability purposes, select a high quality nylon parachute that is double stitched.  We recommend that you always store your parachute in a carry/storage bag.  (Never use the play parachute for a sunshade or exposed to the sunlight for an extend time period.  Nylon detoriorates very quickly in direct sunlight.) 

With the use of parachute games, through cooperative group play, a play parachute will help build upper-body strengthening and muscle tone.  Parachute play also will help develop perceptual, cognitive, motor, social, and academic skills.

Young children enjoy rhythmical and musical activities; older people find it enjoyable and challenging by tossing a ball with the play parachute and moving as a team to catch it.

Parachute Games:

Wave:  This is like the wave at a football stadium.  One child starts out by raising his arms up or down in the air and the next child then follows the motion of the child before him.

Running by Numbers:  Run underneath and switch places with the other playmates.  Provide a number of the locations on the parachute, then call out the number.  This parachute game is a pleasure for all ages.

Parachute Tag:  Everyone lifts the parachute over their head.  Call out the child’s name and they need to skip, hop, or crawl to the other side.  The challenge is to make it to the other side before the parachute comes down and tags them. 

Bouncing Balls:  Hold the parachute tight at about chest level with 2 or 3 foam balls.  Have 3 or 4 children get underneath the parachute and then they need to try to knock the balls off while the children holding the chute need to try to keep them on.

Get a play parachute and get the health benefits of play parachute games. 

Dramatic play should be a primary part of every child’s early childhood activities.  This pretend play encourages a child to explore and expand his imagination by allowing him to invent and create his own scenarios.

As a child explores various ways to play, he will increase his problem solving skills, langauge skills, vocabulary skills, and story telling skills. 

Dramatic play also promotes a child’s willingness to cooperate and share with others, which will increase his communication skills and other social skills.

Dramatic play is only limited to a child’s imagination, and little children have very big imaginations.

Children learn through play.  As the toddler grows into the young child his interest widens.  More and more, educational kids games will interest him.  Puzzles and simple crafts will catch his attention and he will spend longer hours working on them.  Even at this age, the child will still need parent supervision but clearly, he is on his way to discovering independence.

Educational games for kids are bonding moments, with the parent, sibling or friend.  They are obviously using their minds when putting together a puzzle but there are benefits that are not immediately apparent. The game appears to be simple, yet experts say that they nevertheless require conceptual and social skills. Dealing with a playmate, for example, can be stressful at this stage.  Suffice it to say that even the simplest of games can be a learning experience.

Unit blocks are the #1 must have early childhood toys because they are  imagination-building educational toys that are fun, creative, and educational.  When boys and girls build castles, villages, bridges, or  towering buildings, they are also building their imagination and fine motor skills.

Unit Blocks Marble Run, created by Guidecraft, provides for the combination of fun and lessons of marble runs with the traditions and educational foundations of unit block play.  They will be a instant classroom and home favorite.

This set can be expanded easily by integrating it with traditional classroom unit blocks.

We have all grown up with the familiar blocks called Lego!  These educational toys allowed us to increase our imagination and fine motor skills; building castles with towers and imagining who was in the castle made up part of our daily activity.

But, where did they come from?

In 1932, Ole Kirk Christiansen, a master carpenter and joiner, established a small business in the village of Billund in Denmark where he manufactured stepladders, ironing boards and wooden toys.  Then, in 1934, the company adopted the name LEGO for their products, formed from the Danish words “LEg GOdt” or “play well”.  Ironically, they later realized that in Latin the word means “I study” or “I put together”.

In 1947, the LEGO company dedicated itself to the toy business and purchased a plastic injection-molding machine for making toys.  Up to this point there were no LEGO bricks as we know them today.  The factory produced approximately 200 different varieties of plastic and wooden toys - but the predecessor of the familiar brick was created under the name of Automatic Binding Bricks; they were available only in Denmark at this time. 

By 1951, the plastic toys accounted for half of the company’s orders, signaling the subtle shift from the familiar wooden toys to the new and more popular plastic. Because of this, the Automatic Binding Bricks were renamed “LEGO Mursten” or “LEGO Bricks” - the familiar term we all know them by today.

Eventually the “LEGO System of Play” was released, allowing an owner of a LEGO System to expand and create without a strict set of guidelines to follow.

In 1967, LEGO released the DUPLO brand - a larger version of the familiar block but for children under five years old. In 1969, DUPLO was released internationally and took off like a rocket as parents everywhere take advantage of the opportunity to let their children play with the safe and creative early childhood toy.

Today, LEGO remains a family business, with grandson Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen currently at the helm.   LEGO has sold over 200 million sets in over 100 countries.
 
LEGO sets are used for early learning activities everywhere.  LEGO Sets range from Community Building Sets to Wild Animal Sets and even Fire Rescue and Hospital Sets. 

You invested into a wooden outdoor play structure to enhance your child’s life.  To keep your child safe and to maintain your investment, we suggest that you perform the following maintenance to your wooden play structure:

1)  To keep your wooden outdoor play structure looking good for years to come, you should apply a stain or apply a waterproof coating on it every 1 - 2 years to prevent water penetration.  ( This applies to all wooden play structures.  It does not matter if the play structure is pine, redwood, or cedar. )

2)  Inspect the wood framing for any splinters, large cracks,  rough spots, sharp edges, or decay that may occur due to wear and usage.  If required, you should sand them down, and then stain and waterproof the areas.

3)  Inspect for any deterioration or corrosion on structural components that are in contact with the ground.

4)  If your wooden outdoor play structure requires ground footing supports - make sure that they are not exposed.  If they are, back fill the area with sand or bark mulch.

5)  During the regular usage season, twice a month, make sure the your play structure is safe for your child.  Inspect all the nuts and bolts to assure that they are not missing, loose, or exposed.  ( Tighten if needed. )  It is particularly important to to check and tighten all bolts at the beginning of the season. 

6)  Check the swing elements, swings, chains, and slides monthly for wear, cracks or deterioration.  Inspect for any rust or chipped paint on any of the metal components.  Replace these parts at the first sign of deterioration.

7)  Inspect for any missing or damaged equipment components such as handrails, guide rails, and swing seats.

8)  Add sand or bark mulch to any worn or low areas beneath your wood play structure.  ( If is recommended to have at least 5″ of loose-fill surfacing in a playground area.  See: Consumers Product Safety Commission at cpsc.gov for more information on protective ground surfacing.)

9)  If you live in an area where the temperature drops below 32 degrees Fahrenheit or if the play structure is not going to be used, remove the swings and canopies to prolong the life of those items.

When you invest in a wooden play structure, you are making an investment in your child’s early childhood development by increasing her self-confidence, social skills, imagination, physical strength, and muscle coordination development. 

Self-Confidence:  At the beginning, your child will not know how to maneuver around a wooden play structure.  As he learns how to climb the ladders, slide down the slide, or swing on the swing,  she will increase her own self-confidence.

Social Skills:  A wooden play structure will provide a wonderful location for your child to increase his social skills and build life-long lasting friendships.  Your child can learn how to interact with her siblings, friends, or neighbors playing at his play structure, by sharing the swing or taking turns sliding down the slide.  They can plan their next imaginative adventures, tell stories, and play games in their own private fort deck areas. 

Imagination Development:  As your child plays with her steering wheel, telescope, and periscope on his outdoor play structure,  she can let  imagination run wild.  They can pretend that they are climbing a mountain, sailing a big ship, or flying to the moon.

Muscle Coordination and Physical Strength Development:  When your child plays on the climbing ladders or rock wall of the wooden play structure, your child will increase his balance, muscle coordination, and physical strength.

The key to investing in a wooden play structure is to make it a one time investment.  Make your investing decision as if your child is 10 years old.  Invest into a play structure large enough for your child to grow into, not out of.  That way you don’t have to purchase different playsets as your child gets older.

This is the first article in series of articles that will provide you the information that you should consider when purchasing a Wooden Outdoor Play Structure.  We will also provide you information regarding playground safety and installation safety tips.

This first article will provide you an overview of some of the general information that you should consider and these topics will be discussed in larger detail in our future articles.  If you have any other questions or suggestions, please e-mail us at customerservice@playingiseducational.com or submit a comment pertaining to this blog.

Let’s start out by discussing why you should even consider purchasing a Wooden Play Structure. 

1. A wooden play structure is an investment in your child.  We live in a world where technology has over-taken our children’s lives, with computers, ipods, and hand-held games.  Children have become less physically active.  Purchasing a wooden play structure will be an investment in your child’s physical development, social development, and imagination skills.
2. If you purchase a wooden play structure you will also be investing in your family’s togetherness and family fun.  Your wooden outdoor play structure will become a elegant gathering spot to visit your friends and family as the children play. 
3. You will also be investing into your home and yard because your wooden play structure will become the focus of your backyard landscape for years, and even generations, to come.

Now that know why you should invest into a wooden outdoor play structure, what else should you consider?

You need to determine what wooden play structure is going to be right for you and your child.

1. Determine where you are going to place your new outdoor play structure. 
2. What size do you want the wooden outdoor play structure?  (Allow additional room around the wooden play structure as a safety zone - for your child’s safety.  This will be discussed in a later article.)
3. What activities/features would your child enjoy?  (You may choose different features depending on your child’s age level.)
4. What kind of wood do you want to use for your outdoor play structure? (Premium Pine or Redwood)
5. Consider maintenance and safety features of the wooden play structure.
6. How easy are the instructions to install your new play structure?
7. What warranties come with your wooden play structure?

Other very important factors to consider are safety zones around the play structure and installation safety tips.  We want your child to have a nice, safe area to play in and avoid getting hurt.  (Did you know that each year, more than 200,000 children go to U.S. hospital emergency rooms because of injuries on playground equipment and about 50,000 of those are from home playgrounds.) 

All these topics will be discussed in detail in our later articles.  Make sure you add us to your feeds or add us to your favorites to receive these articles.  Once again, if you have any questions, comments, or additional topics you would like to have us address either respond to our blog in the comments area or e-mail us at customerservice@playingiseducational.com. 

The key to teaching counting to your child is to make counting entertaining. 

Start teaching your child about numbers and counting in their early childhood activities.  They can begin learning how to count in their everyday play, long before they even realize that they are being taught.  You must be interactive when you play with your child.    These techniques can even work long before your child can talk.  

Here are some everyday play activities that you can do to help teach counting skills.  

Playing with Blocks - Childrens Educational Toys:

When you are playing blocks, count them as your stack them together.  You child will be entertained, because they will 9 times out of 10, knock the stack down.  Smile and say, “oh no”, and then stack them together again as you are count them.

Ask your child to hand you some blocks and as they do - count them.

Sort out the blocks by color, shape, design, or size.  Count how many of each you have.        

As your child advances, alternate who stack the blocks together.  You can place the first block and count 1, then have your child stack the next block and count 2, etc…

You may even find things like flash cards, dominoes, or a wooden bead abacuses with beads that are different colors and shapes, very useful to teach your child their counting skills.

Around Your Home, Store, or Restaurant Games - Arithmetic Games

As you dress your child, count their fingers, toes, arms, legs, eyes, etc…  Count the buttons or snaps on their clothes.

As they eat their favorite foods - grapes, pepperoni, french fries - you can count how many they ate.   

Count the stairs as you walk up and down them.

When you are at the store, count the number of products that you put into the cart.  Tell your child that you need three boxes of cereal and count them as they load them into the cart.

Singing and Counting

Children love singing and dancing around.  Use songs to help your child learn about counting and arithmetic skills.  Start out by singing songs like: “5 Little Monkeys Jumping in the Bed” and then move into other musical tunes.  There are many CD’s or DVD’s that are focused on math skills like counting, addition, and subtraction.  Listen to them at least once a day.

As mentioned earlier, the key to teaching counting to your child is to make counting entertaining.  This can be achieved by using these early childhood activities and arithmetic games.  Remember to count out loud to them when they are young, and to do these activities thoughout the day to reinforce these mathematics and counting skills.