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Showing posts from February, 2018

Counting Toys for 2 Year Olds - More Than Just for Counting

When I was a preschool teacher many years ago I would use one toy in many different ways. This was for several reasons. One, it was economic. Two, it encouraged children to try new experiences. Three, it added variety to the play. Four, toys used in different settings enhance different skills. This is not brilliant in any manner. Children do this naturally. If you give a child a small cardboard box it may become a mouse house or a treasure chest or a boat or decorated like a flower. Many counting toys for 2 year olds can be versatile in this way. My favourite  learning toys for preschoolers  is the set of small colored plastic bears such as Skoolzy.com Counting Bears with Sorting Cups. I would put these bears on a table with a set of wooden blocks. Toddlers would soon be matching the color of the bears to the blocks. They would stack a bear on a block practicing one to one correspondence. They may even make a fort of blocks and count the bears as they are placed in the perimete

Skoolzy.com Egg Shapes and Colors Preschool Toys: Fine Motor Toys for Toddlers and More

The Skoolzy.com Egg Shapes and Colors Preschool Toys are excellent toys to enhance  fine motor toys for toddlers . The set of 12 sturdy plastic eggs pull apart to reveal colored geometric shapes within. Toddlers are challenged to match the colors and shapes to put the eggs back together. This task is not as easy as it sounds. Toddlers must grasp the shapes using two hands and twist, rotate and manipulate the shapes together using eye hand coordination. Beyond this the toddlers must recognize the colors and shapes in order to match them. This takes visual perception and planning. With the obvious educational benefits the Skooly.com Egg Shapes can also be used in a variety of activities. Place the eggs in a play kitchen setting and they will be integrated into cooking and restaurant play. Use the eggs in art activities. F ine motor skills toys for toddlers  &  counting toys for 2 year olds   will be enhanced as the children dip the shapes into paint to make prints. Pr

Wooden alphabet blocks

Wooden alphabet blocks have been around for generations. You would be hard pressed to find anyone who has not been exposed to this toy at some point. Although there are those who suggest that these blocks are in fact quite mundane, there are good reasons why they are a staple in early education settings. There are a variety of wooden alphabet blocks toys  on the market. Some are embellished with capital letters; others have upper and lower case. Some also have numbers, or pictures of itemswhich can be matched to a letter. While playing with the blocks, children are exposed to the letters of the alphabet. Blocks with the letters embossed have the added advantage of tactile experience; children will run their fingers along the form of the letters to reinforce memory. With adult support kids can match a letter to its sound and learn the first letter of words and names. They are learning early skills necessary for reading. Playing with alphabet toys for 3 year olds  &  peg

Why Choose Pegs and Pegboards for Toddlers?

With the great variety of toys available why would you choose to buy pegs and pegboards for toddlers ? Well, first because they are fun, entertaining and will amuse your child. Toddlers are attracted to the colors and multiple shapes. Good sized pegs are easy for toddlers to hold and your child will enjoy success in matching the peg to the hole in the pegboard. They will hold your child’s attention and will extend playtime. Good quality  educational toys for preschool  are good value. Made out of wood or plastic, they are designed to withstand the use and abuse by toddlers. The pegs and boards need to be sturdy and heavy duty, which means they will last a long time. Importantly they are washable and durable. Some sets allow you to add different sets of pegs to meet your child’s developmental growth; the toy grows with your child, making it very cost effective. pegboards fine motor skills  are available in a variety of styles. Some pegs come in assorted geometric shapes. Mos

Nuts and Bolts Toys for Toddlers

If you want to encourage constructive play with your child, nuts and bolts toys for toddlers are a fun and creative way to do so. A good variety of nuts, bolts, wheels blocks and cross pieces made of durable plastic gives the child the tools to create simple engineering marvels such as cars, structures and towers. Preschool learning toys  provide the opportunity for the development of multiple fine motor skills. Threading the nut onto the bolt, and twisting, screwing and unscrewing increases manual dexterity. The child uses eye – hand coordination and grasping and pincer movements. Multiple math skills are learned while playing with  best toys for 1 year old . The child will soon recognise shapes and will match the shapes while constructing. Patterns are explored when building and one to one correspondence is experienced. Basic counting is practiced and reinforced. High quality  Construction toys for 3 year olds   will ensure creative success while promoting indepe

Construction Toys for Toddlers

What is a construction toy? In my opinion any material that can be used to create another object whether it is imagined or is a replica is a construction toy. This may be as simple as using a cardboard box to make a rocket ship or it can be as grand as a gigantic remote controlled robotic gargoyle.  Construction toys for toddlers would meet this definition and would also be age appropriate to the developmental skills of toddlers. An ideal construction toys for 3 year olds is interlocking plastic bricks such as Duplo. These are the perfect size for little hands to grasp and manipulate. The bright colors encourage color recognition. They snap together with ease thus ensuring success and toddlers will persevere in their building. Toddlers can use these bricks to build their own creation or follow instructions/pictures to make a model. Both ways provide many learning opportunities. Another fun nuts and bolts construction toys is bristle blocks. These types of blocks have s

Are Counting Toys for 2 Year Olds Necessary?

Children learn to count during every day experiences. Parents and caregivers teach toddlers to count when they are placing “one, two, three” cheerios in a bowl. Together the child and adult will count the stairs as they climb up or down.  2 year olds learn to count when their parents recite nursery rhymes (“one, two, buckle my shoe”) or read number story books. Grandparents sing “the ants go marching one by one….”.With so many opportunities to learn to count why do you need to provide countingtoys for 2 year olds ? Learning to count by rote or memory, as shown in the above examples, is a first and very important step in acknowledging that numbers exist.  However it is very different from understanding numbers;numerals must be related to mathematical concepts. A child who can recite numbers doesn’tnecessarily know what they actually mean. best toys for 2 year old boys  build on the recognition of numbers in vocabulary and relay this to the foundations of math concepts. A bas

How Counting Toys Help Toddlers Learn Simple Math

Many parents are looking for ways to teach their toddler about simple mathematics. Creative teaching tools or interactive approaches will help your child become aware of numbers and learn how to do basic adding and subtracting. One of the best ways to do this is to provide some early math development and educational toys for toddlers and preschoolers . These games and toys are fun to play with and have the added benefit of introducing concepts of math into game play; kids can learn as they play with these counting toys. Construction Sets For Toddlers provide the foundation for understanding math concepts. Numerical literacyat this age comes through being exposed to perceptions such as sorting, categorizing, measurement, evaluation and pattern detection, which good counting toys offer. Additional benefits of counting toys are the development of fine motor skills, eye-hand coordination, vocabulary and creative play. There are many such math learning toys available, and

How toys can help toddlers learn counting

Every child learns differently but all children can benefit from learning through play. Some say that understanding the concepts of arithmetic is more complex and more important than learning numbers by rote or repetition. Parents can make learning math for their toddlers a fun filled activity with the help of counting toys for 2 year olds . Available in different designs and functions these educational toys for preschool  are suitable for all kids including those with special needs. Through play toddlers learn to sort, match and categorize. This leads to the understanding of counting and the skills of addition and subtraction. Let’s see howthese toys can help your kid in learning counting. 1# Counting bears &  Pegs and Pegboards for Toddlers   with cups This attractive and durable set of plastic bears and cups encourages toddlers to match by color. While doing so, toddlers also practice sorting, while improving eye– hand coordination and fine motor skills. With

A Toy Or Activity Is Merely An Opportunity For Teachable Moments

My favorite example of this is the colorful large beads that young children string on thick cords. I actually remember enjoying this activity as a child; my children played with them; I provided them for my preschool students and now my daughter uses them. Stringing beads are a classic for teaching fine motor control and dexterity. But they offer so much more! There is the opportunity for children to practice math skills by educational toys for preschool . They can simply count the beads as each one is strung on the cord, then move on to addition skills – add one more and you have two. They can learn to sequence – one red bead, one blue bead; big bead, bigger bead, biggest. They can sort them into groupings – by colour, by shape, by size. Think of all the words to practice or add to the child’s vocabulary, from the basic “small, smaller, smallest” to shape words such as “cylinder, square, cube”, and all the way to concepts such as “sequencing" or "alternating”.

Lacing for Toddlers-Why Is It Important

Lacing can strengthen fine motor skills and improve hand-eye coordination in toddlers and preschoolers. They are great preschool learning toys to take with you to keep your child busy in the car. They don’t require batteries, they don’t use light, and they are silent. But toddler lacing isn't only a fun activity that toddlers enjoy. Lacing helps toddlers learn important cognitive and fine motor skills when they play with them. By manipulating the string in and out of the holes, the child strengthens his or her dexterity, the pincer grasp, and hand-eye coordination. Pincer grip in particularly is vital for writing skills. As they slowly work their way across the lacing card with their ribbon, they learn to build patience and perseverance. It is a lesson in patience because it takes a lot of effort for little fingers to grasp the tip of the ribbon. Sometimes this activity can be frustrating for them when the string falls out of the hole before they can grab it with the