Playing Is Educational

Is there a child anywhere in the world who doesn’t go nuts over blocks? My kindergartener loves Imagicbricks giant building blocks which she first encountered in her classroom. The multi-colored cardboard blocks are lightweight and easy for my daughter and her friends to build large, haphazard creations. When it’s time to clean up, the blocks are simply stacked in the corner.

Seeing how much our daughter loved the child building blocks, my husband and I decided to buy some for the home. They’re a fantastic way for her and her friends to practice social interaction and teamwork by working to build their forts and castles. I’ve also noticed that my daughter’s motor skills have improved from playing with the blocks. Safety is never a worry because the blocks are so light that it’s nearly impossible to use them for harm.

Children, especially babies and toddlers, are still developing their gross motor skills as well as fine motor skills. Gross motor skills involve bigger movements like jumping, running, or going up and down the stairs. Fine motor skills, on the other hand, make use of finer movements particularly of the hands. These include writing, tying the shoelaces, or stringing beads together.

Some kids develop these skills faster than others do. The use of different educational toys, such as baby building blocks, can improve a child’s small motor skills. Wooden blocks are particularly encouraged, especially by educators. Children can create so many things with blocks; playing with these wooden toys also help children develop their imaginations.

When it comes to buying toys for toddlers, some people are okay with just giving them the latest in TV-related action figures, thinking that it won’t harm kids. While this is somewhat true, simply giving a child a toy robot or a vapid doll isn’t challenging their development or imagination.

There are some great online resources that carry appropriate toddler educational toys, such as child building blocks, which are able to combine fun with learning.  Kids will be able to pick up on games, learn their shapes or alphabet and all the while have a good time without compromising any part of their psyche.

Given that our world is progressing at a rapid clip from a technological standpoint, it’s important to give young children every advantage possible. That means exposing them to multimedia from an early age. Educational DVDs and computer games are widely available, and there’s no question that they have a considerably beneficial impact.

Still, there’s something to be said for good, old-fashioned games that require kids to interact with the real world. Baby building blocks present kids with limitless creative possibilities the likes of which cannot be duplicated on a computer screen. Young architects can learn rudimentary lessons on physics and spatial relations simply through trial and error.

Do you want to provide your child with an educational toy that will increase eye-hand coordination along with shape and color recognition?  If so, we would like to recommend a shape sorting pounder.

As your child hammers away on the pegs of this shape sorting pounder, he will increase his eye-hand coordination and fine motor skills.  While hammering, you can help increase his color and shape recognition by repeating the name of the color or shape of the peg that he is hammering.  Take turns, ask him to tell you the color or shape that he wants you to hammer.

Guidecraft Magneatos are award-winning magnetic construction toys that allow children to experience the fun and mystery of magnet play, while at the same time build their imagination and motor skills. 

Magneatos magnetic playsets are packed with large magnetic pieces that are kid-friendly,  easy to handle, and safe to play with, yet these magnetic construction sets are more challenging then standard blocks and stacking toys.

How Magneatos Work:

A set of Magneatos comes with two basic pieces: magnetic balls and magnetic rods. The balls make a joint that can connect two rods. Put three or four rods together and you’ve got the base for a bridge, tower, or anything else that your imagination can come up with.

Award Winning Toy:

Guidecraft Magneatos won the prestigious Oppenheim Toy Award in 2005 and 2006, and also won its SNAP, Special Needs Adaptable Product, both years.  They were also featured in Money magazine and on the Today Show on NBC.

Magnetic play has never been so easy and fun, so if your child is ready for something more advanced than their ABC blocks, take a look at Magneatos.

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.

It is a well known fact that block play increases a toddler’s eye and hand coordination. Also, playing with toy building blocks encourages logical thinking and increases a toddler’s awareness of the space around him. Having building blocks as part of a toddler’s toys promotes appropriate social behavior. In addition, a toddler learns to share and build with parents, siblings, and other playmates. Language skills have also been discovered to greatly improve by playing with building blocks. This takes place when the child is encouraged to speak about what he or she is building.

Toddler building blocks are available in different kinds. You can use a set that has number and alphabets to initiate your child’s learning process. The child can be taught to be familiar with numbers and alphabets by choosing between two blocks. The child can also learn to distinguish alphabets and numbers by picking out a particular number or letter that has been asked for. In addition to these educational activities, these blocks can also be used just as plain toddler toys. The blocks can be stacked up to form a tower and then a ball can be used to knock the tower down.

Sometimes we need to look at things like a young child.  Early in  childhood development, a child begins to see things that we think are very basic, in a very complex way.

They don’t know about shapes, colors, and designs.  Everything is new and exciting to them in a very complex way.  In their early learning, a child begins to learn about shapes and patterns like circles, squares, rectangles, and triangles, and explore how they can fit together to make different shapes.  A house is a square and a triangle, a bus is a rectangle and two circles, and a flower is a circle and triangles for the leaf petals.

Using pattern blocks as a hands-on early childhood activity will help teach a child sorting, classifying, and ordering, in an entertaining way.  Children will love to play with pattern blocks to design and build things.  During their play, they will develop their visual perception, early geometry, logical thinking, and problem solving skills.

Encourage your child to explore and play with pattern blocks today!

This classic game makes a great addition to any party or playground activity! 

Ring Toss Games are fun and educational games that can be played indoors or outdoors by a wide range of age groups.

They can be played by one person or by a group.  When played in a group setting, your child can learn about taking turns. 

Younger children can stand closer for success (Ring Drop) and as their eye-hand coordinination improves, spread the posts further apart to create a more challenging game.  This will also help them develop their wrist movement skills.  

Your child can practice his or her counting skills through scoring.