The Only 5 Kinds Of Toys Your Child Needs - Reduce Toy Clutter At Home. This article showcases the facebook live video I did on this topic recently as a part of my #TuesdayLive Facebook live series.
"My child does not play with his toys!"
"My house is full of toys but hardly some get used by my child"
"My house looks like a toy shop!"
Do you resonate with these comments?
As an early childhood educator & a mommy blogger, I get to see lot of questions from parents regarding which toys to buy for their kids.
In this video below, let us understand the only 5 kinds of toys a child needs, how can we figure out which toys to declutter & maintain sanity at our home!
Share this blog among friends/communities who might be looking for any kind of help/support as far as kids & toys are concerned.
You can go through other Facebook live videos HERE & I will keep adding them in this archive and you can find them all at THIS link anytime in the future. You can also join my facebook page & group to follow the updates.
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Check out this Grimms inspired wooden Rainbow Stacker at super affordable price by My Dream Shop.
I recently bought a 7 piece rainbow stacker at super affordable price from My Dream Shop run by Surekha Jadhav. And I must say it's lovely! I opted for a wood finish instead of a colored one. Check the video for the 1st day play by my 3 year old.
I love this Waldorf inspired open ended toy! And if you do not have it in your child's toy collection, it is a must have!
Rainbow Stacker is amazing Waldorf-inspired multi used toy for toddlers, kids and even adults! The bold colors of this beautifully hand made wooden rainbow will help to boost child's imagination, creativity and provide hours of open ended play.
Benefits of Rainbow stacker:
Stimulates reasoning skills.
Spatial awareness
Problem solving skills
Enhance creativity.
Refine eye-hand co-ordination and motor skills.
Boost critical thinking and deep play.
Children learn about colors.
Nesting and stacking ability.
Uses of Rainbow Stacker
There is no right or wrong way to use a rainbow stacker hence its a unique open-ended toy for very young as well as older children. The pieces can be use together or individually as bridges, tunnels, seesaws, fences, houses, doll cradles or caves. Sometimes its just used in the background of other open-ended play. It helps to sort things practicing early maths skills. It can be used to order the arcs from smallest to largest. Challenge your child to explore force and motions with your rainbow stacker by creating a marble run or two. These are only few ways we can use rainbow stacker, actually it has boundless possibilities!!!
Colors : Waters based non-toxic colors are used in this Rainbow stacker, so it is totally safe for young ones to play.
You can buy it from the shop section of my blog HERE or directly from My Dream ShopHERE or from AmazonHERE.
I also have a complete blog post on how to play with Rainbow Stackers HERE. In that post, I have featured Rainbow Roofs from Skola Toys. Click HERE to watch.
Have you got your Rainbow Stacker yet?
Do not forget to follow "The K Junction" on Facebook page & closed Facebook group, Twitter and Instagram for day to day updates that might not always find a place on this blog. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to know more about our early learning journey, DIY & Montessori & Waldorf inspired activities for kids, kids books & toys reviews and much more!
Are you looking for an open-ended toy for your child which will grow with the child, keep him engaged for longer, enhance his creativity, imagination, spatial intelligence, dexterity & fine motor skills? Then Rainbow Roofs from Skola Toys is the right answer for you because it can entertain & engage your child right from when he is a toddler to a preschooler to a kindergartner to primary school. Read on to know in how many different & creative ways you can play with these stackers!
About Skola Rainbow Roofs
Stack, nest and arrange rainbow coloured roof shapes in various ways.
Skola Rainbow Roofs
Children explore the magic of creating different forms with this toy - a train, a sofa or a building! They like to share this toy with friends and enjoy trying to balance the uneven shapes.
Nesting the pieces in this toy helps in developing fine motor skills at a very young age. Stacking the individual pieces makes children dexterous and hones balancing skills. Playing with the toy enhances their awareness of colours in a concrete manner and various name games hone children's memory skills. Children also gain knowledge about the rainbow in the form of VIBGYOR.
As children start to develop focus and eye-hand coordination, they can move on to using both hands simultaneously to carry out actions or manipulate objects
Rainbow Roofs are perfect for hours & hours of open-ended & free play! This is a variation of the standard Waldorf/Steiner rainbow stacker which is widely sold by Grimm's. This is the Indian answer to Grimm's rainbow stacker and it is far cheaper than Grimm's, did you see Grimm's price tag? ;)
Having said that, the quality of the wood & the finish of the toy is not at compromising. It is made of high quality wood & the paints are non-toxic.
How To Play With Skola Rainbow Roofs
Watch this video to know how you can play in tons of different ways with the Skola Rainbow Roofs. I am sure you will get lots of ideas to include in your free play sessions.
You might want to read more articles & reviews of other Skola toys that we have HERE. Each one of them is very wisely designed & is a treasure!
Verdict
We love open-ended toys & this one was in my wishlist for long & I could finally lay hands on it & we are absolutely loving it! We make so many different patterns & designs out of it, some of them I have shared in the video above. There is no limit to the possibilities how you can play with this toy, it is only limited by your & your child's imagination. I would highly recommend this toy! #PlayItRight
I hope this post was useful for you. I would love to see how you play with your rainbow stackers in the comments below or on my social media profiles. Feel free to drop relevant links in the comments where I can happily see your ideas to use rainbow stackers!
Disclaimer : This is a sponsored post but the views shared are honest and solely mine. I believe in using the products myself before putting up the review or opinion about them here.
Do not forget to follow "The K Junction" on Facebook page & closed Facebook group, Twitter and Instagram for day to day updates that might not always find a place on this blog. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to know more about our early learning journey, DIY & Montessori-inspired activities for kids, kids books & toys reviews and much more!
I love exploring kids products that are fun, engaging & facilitate learning seamlessly. Recently I came across this brand CForCat and I happened to browse their products. In this post I am reviewing three products by this brand - Flash Cards, Organic Crayons & Busy Book. You can watch the unboxing & product closely in the videos too. These products can be used for babies, toddlers, preschoolers & kindergartners. The brand boasts of organic, eco-friendly & educational toys for developmental milestones. Find an attractive discount offer on all CForCat products at the end of each review.
About The Brand - CForCat
Ensuring an exhaustive approach to the early childhood development stage, CforCat works to familiarize parents with the developmental process of young children and its distinctions of developmental milestones and delays. They exist to provide a helping hand to parents who wish for active involvement in their child’s growth. Their dynamic facilities include activities in all nine core skill fields: social-emotional intelligence, linguistic ability, pre-mathematical ability, science, gross motor skills, fine motor skills, cognitive ability, dexterity, and creativity. Though developmental milestones and delays are a common concern, CforCat stresses the notion that each child is unique and advances at their own pace and in their own time.They seek to conceive a world of play and learning for children where they are positively engaged off-screen. CforCat also strives to leave a minimal carbon footprint while standing for sustainability in all its ventures.
To watch the unboxing, product details & how to use these flash cards in various different ways, check out this video below. Do not forget to subscribe my YouTube channel so that you do not miss any future videos!
How To Use Flash Cards - Covered exhaustively in the video above.
What I Liked
Perfect size for the small hands to hold & explore
Sturdy material
Little glossy to touch which makes it easy to flash through quickly
Alphabet cards have both uppercase & lowercase variants
Farm animals cards have shadow on the back & that makes it more engaging & versatile
Good for practicing starting & ending sounds & spellings later on
Good to use as storytelling prompts
Pretty much versatile & can be used in many different ways as the child goes through his learning journey from a baby to a kindergartner
Nicely packaged
What Could Be Improved
I would have preferred having pictures of real animals in the farm animals cards rather than the cartoonish versions that it currently has
For alphabet cards, I would have preferred the words corresponding to the letters according to phonics rules. For example, there is icecream on the I letter card & it is phonetically incorrect. Something like an igloo would have been better on the I letter card. Having said that, I would like to mention that most of the cards does have words that adhere to phonics rules
You might also want to read about early childhood brain development & my review on Quantum Cards (Flash Cards) by Brainsmith HERE.
Buy Links
Official website of CForCat - Use this discount code "Kjunc" to avail 10% discount on all cforcat products when you buy from their website directly - www.cforcat.com.
Amazon
Product Review - Organic Crayons
To watch the unboxing, product details & look & feel of the crayons, check out this video below. Do not forget to subscribe my YouTube channel so that you do not miss any future videos!
What I Liked
The fact that they are organic. There are so many brands of crayons in the market these days but when we give our little child that piece of crayon, we often are concerned if he puts them into his mouth. These are 100% organic & non-toxic
They are made of wax from soya & palm oil & food grade colors are mixed
Nice texture while coloring. They of course do not feel the same way as normal crayons when used but I really liked this different experience
Super cute cloth bag in which they are packaged
What Could Be Improved
More range of colors. The current pack of organic crayons contains five of them
I would prefer all the primary colors to be present in the pack
Thicker crayons would be better for toddlers & preschoolers as their grip is still not fully developed
Perhaps it is a good idea to have two variants of these crayons - a pack of 6 & a pack of 12, just like any other brand in the market
You might like THIS article on open-ended art for kids & how to encourage creativity in kids at home.
Buy Links
Official website of CForCat - Use this discount code "Kjunc" to avail 10% discount on all cforcat products when you buy from their website directly - www.cforcat.com.
Amazon
Product Review - Good Habits Busy Book
To watch the unboxing & product details of this busy book, check out this video below. Do not forget to subscribe my YouTube channel so that you do not miss any future videos!
What I Liked
It has a theme that a child can relate to & hence it engages the child a lot
Children can be taught this healthy routine of bedtime using this busy book. My son repeatedly played with the teddy and put him to sleep following this routine. So he is now more willing to follow the bedtime routine for himself
The pages include various activities to develop fine motor skills
The material is all cloth so pretty much safe & sustainable
It has a wonderful look & feel to it
What Could Be Improved
Few pages have no activities as such to build a skill but it does have the thematic relevance to it. For example, pages of reading a story and saying a prayer. I would have loved if these pages also had some activities for fine motor skills
Buy Links
Official website of CForCat - Use this discount code "Kjunc" to avail 10% discount on all cforcat products when you buy from their website directly - www.cforcat.com.
Amazon
DISCOUNT COUPON CODE
Use this discount code "Kjunc" to avail 10% discount on all CForCat products when you buy from their official website directly - www.cforcat.com.
You should also check out the blog by cforcat, it has some wonderful articles about early learning & parenting.
Do not forget to follow "The K Junction" on Facebook page & closed Facebook group, Twitter and Instagram for day to day updates that might not always find a place on this blog. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to know more about our early learning journey, DIY & Montessori-inspired activities for kids, kids books & toys reviews and much more!
"Success is a journey, not a destination. The doing is often more important than the outcome."
This quote holds true for everyone in life, whether they are adults or children. How we get to a destination is very important. Similarly, when children set out to learn a certain “something”, the journey to learn that is critical. Skola Learning Journeys are therefore designed to be informative and intuitive for kids. Experience these journeys as they open up new avenues in your child’s learning abilities.
When little children are taught alphabets for instance, how did they go about learning them?
Was it rote learning? A for apple, B for ball?
Did they experience anything hands-on?
Did they touch and feel the alphabets?
Did they learn that apple starts with a sound that the alphabet 'A' makes or just memorized that A is for apple?
Did they just memorize a fact that c-a-t is cat or learnt why it is so? And whether this was done in a hands-on & age appropriate way?
Was the learning child-led or forced upon?
Undoubtedly, each route of learning creates a different type of learner, and certainly a route that is hands-on, inviting, involving and enriching would create the wisest & confident learners because their journey has been most meaningful and enriching, gaining something at each step of the way.
For young children, true happiness comes from doing an activity, not completing it and finding an answer. Their focus is always clearly on the process and not the outcome.
Learning is always joyful & purposeful when it is led by the child himself & he voluntarily engage in some activity. So it is our job to give them a prepared environment with age appropriate materials so that they enjoy their journey of learning in all the areas with greater zeal & enjoy arriving at the answers on their own.
We adults have different journeys running simultaneously in our lives like journey of a parent, a professional, a daughter etc and every journey teaches us something different. Similarly a child is into multiple learning journeys at any point in time. A child may be perhaps -
Learning to count objects
Becoming familiar with the sounds in a word
Starting to use his finer muscles of hand
Becoming aware of the colors in nature
Every child is unique in the way they start and move through these journeys. Learning is never a single occurrence, learning even one single concept involves a series of steps.
Every Skola journey takes children systematically through a series of experiences that are incrementally challenging enabling them to discover and learn something new at each stage. Every stage is facilitated by a toy, playing with which, will allow children to challenge themselves in an interesting way.
An example of a learning journey through counting is:
Do not forget to follow us on Facebook page & closed Facebook group, Twitter and Instagram for day to day updates that might not always find a place on this blog. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to know more about our early learning journey, DIY & Montessori-inspired activities for kids, kids books & toys reviews and much more!
For children, in the early stages of child development, play is life, and toys form an essential part of early learning. Toy shops are filled with countless options to choose from. Let us see what is wrong with today's trend in toys. I will also share some tips on what qualities or characteristics to look for while buying the next toy for your child. Here is your ultimate guide for choosing right kind of age & developmentally appropriate toys for children that will help your child blossom with creativity & intelligence.
Children are constantly exploring their world. And play is something that is their right & necessity. We parents often tend to buy lots of toys from the market assuming they will keep our kids engaged for long but does this happen actually? Major percentage of the toys are used just couple of times & then the child never ever looks at them unless some other child is trying to play with that toy. What could be the reason? Aren't the toys engaging enough? Aren't they attractive enough? What is the root cause of this behavior?
What Could Be Wrong In A Toy?
Passive - Something like a "press and make noise" or "press & lights flashing" kind of toy are passive. There is not much a child can do with such toy. Surely he will be excited when he gets hold of it initially but after few days, he will not be interested in listening to that same noise again & again.
Flashy Lights Or Colors - This is over stimulating & overwhelming for the child. In long run, it is not advisable to play in an over stimulating environment. It can lead to fussy, hyperactive or clingy kids in future.
Gender-Biased Toys - Kitchen sets & dolls can be enjoyed by boys & cars can be enjoyed by girls equally. Adults try to enforce gender on toys, not kids. Give your child freedom & opportunity to play with all kinds of toys.
Non-Imaginative - A toy may not be giving enough opportunity to be imaginative to a child. It might be too straightforward perhaps that it does not interest the child. Pretend play sets are great for imaginative plays.
Too Much Detailing - You have a building blocks set in the market of various kinds like train building blocks, house building blocks, amusement park building blocks. Too much detailing in a toy restricts the child to use his own imagination. Let the blocks be plain simple generic blocks & let the child come up with his interpretations on his own.
Not Open-Ended - Open ended toys captivate the young audience for longer for the simple reason that kids can put in & give shape & form to their never ending imagination using such toys.
Not Helping In Development - Toys should be helping a child in some sense, be it motor skills or emotional intelligence or anything else.
Non-Immersive - Is your child immersed during his play with a specific toy or is he too distracted while he plays? That can give you an idea if this toy is going to last for long or not.
Non-Natural Materials - Toys made of natural materials like wood, wool, cloth etc are better for kids as well as environment. They provide a rich sensory experience to children and of course they are long-lasting.
Exposure To Screens/Gadgets - We can certainly avoid the various so-called educational apps that claim to teach colors, shapes and the likes to toddlers. Exposing kids below 2 years to screen is dangerous and can get highly addictive. There is enough research about the ill-effects of screens & gadgets.
Battery Operated - In most cases, battery operated toys are passive, they entertain the child and the child just sits and watches or listens. The focus should be what a child can do with a toy, not what the toy can do for the child.
Too Many Toys - Steiner Waldorf educationalists have long recognized the positive effects of taking away excess toys from children and replacing them with simpler, more natural playthings to stimulate creative play.
How To Choose Right Toys For Your Child
So next time you buy a toy for your child, do a quick check with this checklist. Whether the toy -
stimulates the child's senses correctly
is made of natural material
is open-ended / imaginative / interactive
meets any kind of learning objective in an age appropriate manner
enhances motor skills and/or emotional intelligence
is non-toxic & safe as per the age of the child
If you look at Skola Toys, they have a great collection of such toys. They believe that play leads to exploration, exploration leads to discovery and discovery leads to learning. Skola toys stimulate the child’s senses by opening up a fascinating world of colours, shapes, numbers, alphabets, science, geography and more. Watch out for more details on Skola toys in my subsequent posts.
At the end, I would like to say that "less is more" for a child. Even if you have tons of toys at home, keep out just a few of them outside so that there is less to choose from for your child.
Do not forget to follow us on Facebook page & closed Facebook group, Twitter and Instagram for day to day updates that might not always find a place on this blog. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to know more about our early learning journey, DIY & Montessori-inspired activities for kids, kids books & toys reviews and much more!
Do you have music instruments in your child's toy collection? If not, then you should seriously consider adding few instruments today!
My 26-month-old son surprised everyone with his self-discovered beat pattern and that motivated me to share with everyone so many benefits of music instruments, specially percussion, in early childhood! Being a singer & musician myself, I cannot be happier to see the beat sense developing so beautifully in my son :)
Check out this video to know some awesome benefits of introducing music instruments to your child!
I am an ardent Montessori follower & by now you must have known that I follow Montessori (combined with other philosophies) with my son at home. We do Montessori inspired activities at home, we have a Montessori shelf where I keep his activities & he absolutely loves his shelf. We do have some Montessori materials at home & I am always on a look out for Montessori inspired toys.
What exactly is meant by Montessori inspired toys? Or What makes a toy a Montessori material?
Made up natural materials like wood, glass, ceramic etc
Simple looking with no flashing lights, buzzers or whistles
Realistic looking, for example, no cartoon characters printed
Have "control of error" - Self-correcting nature of the toys which means that if the child has put anything in a wrong way in a certain toy, he will himself be able to notice that due to the self-correcting nature of the toy.
Fosters independent play
Has a specific purpose for the child, for example, it may work on the child's fine motor skills, dexterity, sensory inputs, language, gross motor skills, life skills, cognitive skills, creativity, science, maths skills etc.
I just want to take this opportunity to share with you a great brand that I recently found, which makes Montessori inspired wooden toys - SKOLA TOYS.
The team at Skola Toys believe that play leads to exploration, exploration leads to discovery and discovery leads to learning. Toys like these stimulate the child's senses by opening up a fascinating world of colours, shapes, numbers, alphabets, science, geography & more! Skola Toys are designed for children between 0 & 8 years, and are self-correcting that enable children to learn independently without adult intervention. They have specific learning objectives that are achieved through a natural process of playing - that constitutes their unique Skola Learning Grid.
Skola Toys are made of wood that have a natural appeal to a child & result in the child being engaged with the toy for long periods of time. The paints used are child-safe too.
I have these two Skola Toys that we love - Stacking Gears & Snowflake Threading Toy. You can watch the detailed review of both of them in the videos below.
Do not forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel for more such videos on toys & books recommendation & review, Montessori inspired activities & parenting.
You can explore more of these awesome Skola Toys on their website HERE. They also have a Facebook Page that you can follow HERE. You can also get an exclusive discount of 15% on all Skola Toys (for a limited period only). Just visit my facebook group HERE & the pinned post has the discount code. You need to use that code when you shop from their website HERE directly.
I hope you found this post useful. I will be posting more about Montessori materials in the future. Until then, Happy Parenting :)
A traditional Chinese puzzle made of a square divided into seven pieces (one parallelogram, one square and five triangles) that can be arranged to match particular designs. Arranged correctly, the shapes can be fitted together as a large square, rectangle, or triangle. They can also be arranged in a variety of complex shapes.
The relationship among the pieces enables them to fit together to form many figures and arrangements. However, the tangram is more than a seven piece square. When it comes to tangrams, the challenge is to arrange the pieces to form additional shapes. The seven pieces can be arranged to make anything form a rabbit, to the alphabet, to a person. "The tangram is the opposite of a jigsaw puzzle. Instead of fitting the pieces together in only one way, the seven tangram pieces can be arranged to make a great number of different figures" (Bohning, G., et al., 1997, p. 4).
Objective
The objective of the puzzle is to form a specific shape (given only an outline or silhouette) using all seven pieces, which may not overlap. Over 6500 different tangram problems have been created from 19th century texts alone, and the current number is ever-growing.
How To Play With Tangram?
There are many ways to play with tangrams. The simplest way is to let kids create their own complex shapes. But traditionally, tangrams are treated as puzzles. The player is shown a target shape (in outline, or silhouette only) and then asked to recreate that shape using the seven pieces. There are tons of tangram patterns on the internet, something of THIS kind.
Rules Of Tangram
All seven pieces must be used.
All pieces must be flat.
All pieces must touch.
No pieces may overlap.
Pieces may be rotated and/or flipped to form the desired shape.
Why & How Is It Useful For Kids? (Starting From Toddler Stage)
It is very important that children explore with a hands-on, minds-on attack in a problem solving environment. Tangrams promote this idea through open-ended explorations. Through tangrams they are involved in manipulating and problem solving. Children are naturally curious so trying to solve a puzzle involving tangrams is going to provoke their curiousity and therefore be interesting so they will be engaged in what they are doing.
They help kids learn geometric terms and develop stronger problem solving skills.
They might help children perform better in general mathematics.
Tangrams help children develop mathematical concepts of fractions, spatial awareness, geometry, area, and perimeter.
By using tangram shapes, children learn the relationships between shapes.
Children learn that three basic shapes, the triangle, square, and parallelogram, can fit together to form many other shapes and figures.
Tangrams also helps to hone spatial rotation skills
Tangram helps to acquire a precise vocabulary for manipulating shapes (e.g., “flip," “rotate")
How To Introduce Tangram To Toddlers
I first introduced tangram to my son when he turned 2 years (20 days back). This is the time he had started showing a lot of interest in puzzles of every kind and building blocks. So he is in a sensitive period of enjoying open-ended play & logic/reasoning based activities. After exploring the pieces for quite some time in an open ended & free play manner, he has now learnt how to make a square using all 7 pieces.
Here is a quick video of my son making a square using tangram -
The next step is to make different kinds of patterns using tangram. I am going to arrange the pieces myself first based on the patterns floating around the net & then take pictures of the same. Print them out & present them to my son to replicate the patterns. I know there are so many printables already but the colors of the tangram pieces might be different in different printables & I do not want to confuse my son while he is arranging the puzzle. After he has solved such puzzles, I may introduce him to making the patterns by watching the just the outline/silhoutte. But this requires a lot more skill, so lets see when he is ready for it.
Where To Buy Tangram From
There are so many varieties of tangrams available in the market today, ranging from wooden to cardboard to magnetic one. Listing some of them below. I personally got it from a closed facebook group Ionica's Toys.
