Playing Is Educational

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.

Keep your child actively playing with this Fun-A-Saurus!

This 5 piece puzzle-like play structure can be assembled and disassembled to allow your child to have hours of fun. 

They can assemble all 5 pieces together and create a dinosaur-like character (like Puff the Magic Dragon) and they could imagine riding it to mystical places. 

They can attach the head and tail pieces to one center piece to create a sitting rocker! 

The 3 middle pieces can be assembled to create a ring (measures 34″ outside diameter and 22″ inside diameter) that can be used for other creative play activities or for your child to sit in. 

Construction Grid Blocks are heavy-duty low maintenance construction blocks that are perfect for young builders to use either indoors or outdoors.  These 12″ durable blocks are just right for your child’s hands and attach easily together allowing them to imagine and build their own castles and tunnels.

After the construction is done, they can have hours of fun playing with their own creations.

Everyday there are opportunities to teach your children the general concepts of math.  From the time they are an infants, we can begin teaching math by using counting activities.  These activities can include story telling like one little piggy, two little piggy … to counting their blocks as we play with them.

Children do not always grasp the concepts of math immediately.  Show them why and how math works.  For example: When having a pizza dinner or sharing a dessert with your family you can teach fractions to your children.  Start out with whole item (in this example = 1 pizza), then start dividing the pizza into portions to share with the family.  Discuss how much is being used or how much is left over.

As they learn the concepts of math, they will increase their deductive reasoning skills and learn that math is fun.

There are also many educational math board games available that can be used to teach mathematics.

Your children will love to learn about basic mechanical concepts by playing with Gears! Gears! Gears!  These early childhood toys will provide your children with hours of entertainment as they increase their color skills, small moter skills, and eye-hand coordination.  

In the early years of a child, it is essential for them to learn their ABCs and phonics.  This will help them with the vocabulary and reading skills that are required to strive in their later years of school, college, and with their careers.

Sometimes the problem for children trying to learn their ABCs is that they lose interest.  We, as parents and teachers, need to be creative in the ways we teach them so that they don’t even realize they are learning.

There are many early childhood toys and products that can be used.  These products can range from electronic toys like the Alphabet Pal or Spin & Sing Alphabet Zoo to other develpmental toys like the EZ as ABC Purple Pebble Activity Set, Alphabet puzzles or board games like the Dr. Seuss ABC Game.

Whatever method you select to help your child learn their ABCs, realize that it is an essential part of their education and will help them for a lifetime.

So make it as fun as possible and enjoy yourself!

2008 will be a year to remember.  As the economy has turned against all of us financially this year, we all have to become wise about our money and purchasing decisions.  It is important to teach your child about financial responsibility.  When your child is young, teach him about the value of coins and dollars.  Teach him the math that goes along with the value: 10 pennies = 1 dime; 10 dimes = 1 dollar; etc… 

Pretend play store at your home.  Use groceries out of your cupboards or use pretend plastic foods, boxes, and cans.  Teach them about buying decisions and what is a good value and ones that are not.  You can be the cashier and your child can be the purchaser; allow him to pay for the groceries with play money.

Your child will learn the value of money and how to make buying decisions, which will be important in his future.  

In a world full of electronic gadgets like TV, electronic hand-held games, and computers, sometimes us adults forget how important it is to allow our children to play with other educational toys.  Maybe we don’t even imagine how an ordinary toy is more then just entertainment.  For example, what is your first thought of when you hear of a lacing activity?  Did you just yawn? 

Well, lacing activities are very educational to your child.  By providing your child with a lacing activity, your child will increase his/her development skills like: hand-eye coordination; fine motor skills; and problem solving.  

Not only that, allowing your child to play with lacing activities can also help your child to learn about geometric shapes, colors, animals, and even the alphabet.  Check them out for yourself!

As winter approaches, children need indoor play activities that are fun and educational.  We recommend parachute games.  Playing parachute games encourages cooperative play.  Children will learn how to share and take turns. 

While playing with a parachute, children can increase strength in their shoulders, arms, and hands.  It will help with their sense of rhythm and also improve their language skills, perceptual motor skills, and listening skills.

When children work together they can make playing with a parachute fun!  Incorporate songs, rhymes, and movement activities to energize them.

Activities to play:

1) Play see-saw/tug-of-war while sitting down

2) Make waves with the parachute

3) Ball Roll – make the ball roll into the hole in the center of the parachute

4) Parachute Tag – call out a child’s name and have him run under the parachute before it comes down

5) Chute Ball – Place the ball on the parachute and throw the ball as high in the air as you can