Does your child like puzzles? Here is something interesting for those little hands. Montessori inspired puzzles that cover some geography🌎! These wooden toys (knobbed puzzles) are made by artisans in India.
I came across these wooden knobbed puzzles of India, Continents 🌎🌏& Countries of the world by Stuti Gupta (Wooden Toy Lovers) . Sharing them here for your benefit and if you would like to order these for your child, here is a benefit for all you awesome members of this community. This is a token of love for being here!
PRODUCT DETAILS
Continents puzzle - 399 Rs + shipping, A4 size
Countries of the world puzzle - 700 Rs + shipping, 46*30 cm
️India puzzle - 450 Rs +shipping, 30*30cm
HOW TO ORDER
You can order these puzzles directly by contacting Stuti Gupta on whatsapp 📲 9811987124.
DISCOUNT
Mention the discount code KJUNCTION & get an instant 👉 5% OFF on the prices mentioned above. Shipping is extra for all the puzzles.
PERSONAL REVIEW
These are nice to introduce the concept, names & shapes of the continents, countries & states of India. I do not own them because I already have another version of such puzzles since a year now. But these wooden ones are a better eco-friendly alternative. It has knobs so it also helps in pincer grip. It is sturdier as compared to foam based puzzles of the same type available in the market.
I would have preferred if the country & states shapes & sizes were more to scale but since this is just for representation purposes, it is not that big an issue. The child surely gets an idea about the stuff this puzzle intends to give. Some states in the India map will not have knobs because of their small size. So those pieces wont be detachable from the map board. This is a known limitation because of small size of the state, but needs a gentle mention in this review.
Overall, nice, engaging & educational puzzles. When not used with the puzzle board, for elder kids, the individual pieces of the puzzle can be used for tracing the countries or states shape & kids can color them.
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!
There are many versions of Waldorf inspired Rainbow Stackers (like Grimm's etc) available in the Indian & overseas market now but before you decide which brand to pick up, here are few pointers you should consider so that your child can make the most out of this versatile toy!
Make sure the stackers are exact semi circles, i.e. full arch. To check that, just see the smallest piece of the stacker, does it look like an exact semi circle or close to 1/3rd of a circle? To make the most of this stacker toy, it NEEDS to be exact semi circle.
Make sure that the thickness of all the pieces is at least more than 4 cms. Otherwise they will not stack nicely & tumble down irritating your child
Make sure the color of the pieces is not glaze finish and has enough friction to bear the weight while they are stacked.
Make sure that the wood used is not too light (it happen in case of mdf wood), otherwise the stacking will not be neat & stable.
Make sure the wood used is not too heavy (some kinds of woods are heavier & denser), otherwise it will be uncomfortable for little hands to handle it.
I hope these pointers are helpful to all. I find all these pointers fulfilled in these Rainbow Stackers by My Dream Shop owned by Surekha Jadhav. So sharing it here for your benefit.
Check out My Dream Shop's 7 piece Rainbow Stacker HERE.
Below are some inviting pics of the same.
Check out My Dream Shop's 12 Piece Rainbow Stacker HERE.
Below are some inviting pics of the same.
The shop also stocks natural (without color) version of these stackers. Check out all the items of My Dream Shop 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 & Waldorf inspired activities for kids, kids books & toys reviews and much more!
How To Become A Better Parent - 10 Parenting Mistakes To Avoid. This article showcases the facebook live video I did on this topic recently as a part of my #TuesdayLive Facebook live series.
To build a better next generation, we need to evolve & become a better parent too.
In most cases, there will be at least one mistake that you should be able to improve upon in your parenting journey after this talk.
Why am I so confident? Because we all are humans at the end of the day, we cannot avoid mistakes but we can definitely be conscious & aware about the way we are parenting, right?
Parenting is NOT easy & just like in any other field, there is always a scope for improvement. So in this video below, I will take you through 10 common parenting mistakes that we as parents tend to do & how we can tackle them & become a better parent. This video also serves as answers to common questions that parents ask me over emails, comments & personal messages about how to deal with typical situations with their kids. So go ahead & watch this video, you might relate to some of the scenarios I mention here.
Share this blog among friends/communities who might be looking for any kind of help/support as far as parenting is 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.
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!
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.
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!
Have you been eyeing upon expensive international brand toys for your kids & not able to justify a purchase because they are so expensive? Are you planning to buy new toys for your kids & thinking how to declutter the old ones? Are you a kind of parent who is constantly on a look out for sustainability, even when it comes to toys? Then this Online Toy Library Rentoys is the answer for you! And if the collection of this library was not awesome enough, I am sharing with you an irresistible deal for your subscriptions that you can order from Rentoys!
I recently discovered this awesome toy library Rentoys that has some really beautiful, engaging, expensive, international brands' toys for kids that they RENT out. I absolutely fell in love with their collection!!! I had wanted to buy so many of those toys but they are so expensive & hence I could not justify buying for personal use.
I have ordered my first toy rental box from Rentoys & eagerly waiting for Jr. Rainbow Blocks, Tegu wooden magnetic blocks & Dado cubes! All of these are open-ended toys and my son loves such building blocks & comes up with so many different interpretations everytime!
A video review of the box will be on my YouTube channel super soon! Stay tuned & subscribe to my channel HERE.
And guess what!?! I have An Irresistible Offer
You can get 15% OFF on your first Rentoys box if you use this coupon code "KJUNCTION" , without quotes & all caps.
Visit rentoys.in today & start adding your favorite toys into your wishlist!
Need More Reasons Why To Go For Rentoys?
The excitement of a new toy box arriving every month gives me a high as a mom, lol! A child will certainly be thrilled!
Smart educational toys are very costly and can go for ₹5000+ a piece. Now, parents may not feel the heat if buying toys were a one-time expense. However, this is hardly the case.
Renting a toy saves money! Rentoys has almost all the toys that are super expensive otherwise from brands mentioned below & not affordable for middle class families like mine.
Decluttering is done on the go! You do not tend to store the toys that are no more relevant to the child. You save a lot of storage space!
Sustainability issues are addressed. The toys are reused by so many children. We leave lesser carbon footprint on Mother Earth.
The collection of toys is just amazing! The variety, quality, brands everything is superb! Spoilt for choice!
Customer service is amazing! I had some issue with adding toys to my wishlist & they were super quick to revert! They even called me saying one toy from the three toys that I chose, will be available after two days so they are sending the available two toys right away & will send the third one after two days. I mean why would someone call me up for this, but they did! This shows their commitment & service for the customers!
Check out this video to know why people love Rentoys!
Rentoys is a toy rental service focusing on educational and award-winning toys. We deliver and pickup toys from your doorsteps, anywhere in India.
Rentoys is founded by parents having years of experience of managing kids. Been there, done that. They understand how children's early experiences - the bonds they form with their parents and their first learning experiences - deeply affect their physical, cognitive, emotional, and social development. This is why they are on a mission to help parents optimize their investments in the early years of children's lives to ensure children's future success.
All the toys at Rentoys are selected keeping in mind what they call "open-endedness" which they measure by asking questions such as in how many ways the toy can be played with, is there any rule book, and does the toy force the kids to think/create on his/her own.
Check out their toys collection HERE. They deliver all over India. Do not forget to use the coupon code I shared above in this post to avail the discount!
Confused about their working? Click HERE to know how it works. And your FAQs are answered HERE.
Subscription Box Pricing
It starts with Rs 599 per month where you get premium educational toys worth at least Rs 5000 in a box! There are other plans as well, you can visit the pricing pageHERE for all the details. If you are concerned about damage of toys from the library, THIS link might answer your questions.
Do let me know in comments below what all you have ordered from Rentoys, I would love to know!
Disclaimer : This is a sponsored post but the views shared are honest and solely mine. I believe in using the products/service 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!
STEM is an acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. STEM toys encourage kids to learn more about these different subjects by applying each to the real world. They make education exciting for kids and help to develop key skills. STEM toys focus on creativity and problem solving skills and present clear goals which help kids to learn while having fun. If you are wondering which STEM toys to present to your toddler, preschooler or kindergartner, here are some awesome Science, Engineering & Maths toy recommendations for the little scientists.
What Are STEM Toys?
STEM is not just about learning Science, Technology, Engineering or Maths, it is about a combination of any of these four areas that when combined, produces more logical thinkers and creates adults who can be ahead in their lives, not just in jobs that are related to science and technology, but in other domains too. In other words, it helps in creating innovators and doers, rather then just followers.
STEM learning actually starts at the age of 7 but the foundations are laid in the very early years of a child's life. Playing with STEM toys from an early age, whether it’s science toys, engineering toys, math toys or technology toys, can have a lasting impact on a child’s thought process and approach to problem-solving and creative thinking, no matter what vocation they land up in.
I do not want to say that STEM toys will make kids into future inventors, programmers, or poets. Boiled down to the basics, STEM toys tend to emphasize creativity, logic, problem solving, and experimentation. Great STEM toys don’t instruct kids, but engage them. These toys are open-ended, adaptive, flexible, provocative, and, most importantly, fun.
The Rise Of STEM Toys
STEM education in schools is now as much a part of the curriculum as English or social studies. There have been some variations like STEAM (“A” for art because creativity is a must in life to excel) and STREAM (“R” for reading because it is one of the foundations in child's learning). This STEM movement is also picking up with parents at home as they try to give exposure of STEM toys to their kids to teach these critical concepts during early years.
STEM toys are fun & facilitate real play. And that is what a child needs at the end of the day - PLAY. Play is the work of the child & it is through play, children explore & figure out the world around them. Play is also very important for their skills like gross motor, fine motor, cognitive, social & emotional. STEM toys help support this philosophy.
What To Look For In STEM Toys & Awesome Skola Toys Recommendations
STEM toys need not be fancy all the time. According to child development experts, you should look for these qualities while buying STEM toys -
Interactive- It could be a toy to assemble body parts to form an animal figure like this Nesting Hen toy or a simple car set up like Cascade Car toy. The process of building or creating something, taking it apart and rebuilding it in a new way, can facilitate deeper learning and brain development.
Nesting Hen - To balance unevenly sized and weighted eggs in creative ways on the hen. Children get a chance to think of creative ways to balance eggs on the back of the hen. This augments fine motor skills and improves dimension awareness, thus developing their concentration levels. By balancing the eggs, children achieve greater dexterity. Nesting the pieces in this toy helps in developing fine motor skills. It is a simple activity that helps children focus on sizes and dimensions of objects leading to effective spatial analysis. Stacking uneven and distinct objects helps children understand the correlation between sizes and weights. Pairing, size gradation and name games enhance children's awareness of shapes as a property of objects. One can do nesting, name games, gradation, patterns, balancing, abstract pairing & lot more with this toy.
Cascade Cars - To track the movement of the cars as they cascade down the stepped slopes. By letting one or more cars roll down from one slope to another, children learn to focus on moving objects and track the movement. Following the movement of the car improves visual tracking among children, which is essential for improving their reading skills and abilities while playing any physical sport. This toy also leads to awareness of motion and movement as children watch and analyse the movements of the cars as they roll down the slopes. As they push the cars further or hold them back, they understand the impact of their actions on the speed, motion and time factors of the cars. As children begin to develop their visual tracking skills, they get ready to understand the cause and effect phenomenon.
Child-Led - Even the greatest STEM toys in the world won’t be of much value to your child if he has not interest in that particular area of learning at that point in time. One should observe the child & understand their sensitive period of learning & see what types of toys and activities your child gravitates to and follow their lead. For example, if your child loves blocks, stock up on basic wooden building blocks or construction toys like Mosaic Nuts & Bolts, which teach basic engineering concepts.
Wooden Building Blocks - 50 wooden coloured blocks of different shapes and sizes to build fascinating structures. This toy happens to be one of the most creative toys that children of all ages can enjoy. These colorful, wooden blocks grab their attention, making children imaginative as well as logical while building different shapes and objects. Constructing with different shapes to form new shapes, sorting, classifying and pairing enhances children's understanding of geometry and creativity. Constructing with wooden blocks of varying geometric shapes, is fantastic for developing fine motor skills. By applying their knowledge of shapes, children get a better understanding of how shapes can have multiple dimensions and numeral values associated with them.
Mosaic Nuts & Bolts - It is a smart toy that combines high dexterity with creativity. The fact that it uses equilateral triangles & rhombuses to create patterns inherently increases the understanding of geometric construction. There is no "prescribed outcomes". The child is free to innovate and create patterns. A practical life toy that uses nut and bolt mechanisms to create a whole range of designs.
Open-Ended - Whether a simple set of building blocks or a multipurpose step tower for stacking, counting, sorting & gradation, or a rainbow stacker, the list of open-ended toys is endless. Toys that can be played with, disassembled, reassembled, and interacted with in a variety of ways are enjoyed by kids of all ages because they work with such toys differently. All this help kids to enhance thrier creativity, exploration, and a deeper understanding of rules, patterns, logic, and how things work.
Rainbow Roofs (Stack & Nest) - Stack, nest and arrange rainbow coloured roof shapes in various ways.Children explore the magic of creating different forms with this toy - a train, a sofa or a building! 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.
Step Tower - Stack the step tower to learn ordinal numbers through quantity, dimensions & colours. The toy is a beautiful stacking tower that uses colours, width and height to form different steps ranging from numbers 1 to 10. Stacking these steps help children connect dimensions with quantity. This toy also enhances thinking ability and encourages creative exploration. Step Tower helps children develop ordinal counting skills. It also assists the child in getting a deeper understanding of the correlation between dimensions and sizes of objects and quantities. This toy hence successfully fuses the understanding of sensorial properties of colour and size with numbers.
Toys With Direct STEM Aim - Some STEM toys have a direct aim such as Maths concepts but the key here is toys are supposed to be played. So make sure you choose a toy that teaches the concepts in a playful,creative & engaging manner and not in the rote way.
Peg & Add- Add numbers between 0 and 10 using coloured pegs on wooden decagons. A self-correcting toy, Peg and Add, forms the perfect link between numerals, object counting and addition. Children can add numbers between 0 and 10 using pegs and no matter what combinations they try, they will always find the right answer. It also helps them read addition problems in an equation format. Using pegs makes the abstract arithmetic procedure of addition very concrete, making children enjoy it as they soak it in completely.
Skip Counting Tshirts - Skip count miniature t-shirts sequentially by hanging them to dry on a pole. As children begin playing with this toy, they build a strong foundation of number patterns and sequences, thanks to the numbered T-shirts. Children associate better with an everyday task of drying clothes and enjoy hanging T-shirts with certain fixed patterns on the rod. The geometric symbols help them learn how numbers can be skipped in a pattern, setting a firm base for multiplication.
Scroll & Multiply - Scroll perpendicular mats to slot pegs in rows and columns for multiplication. Children uncover more arithmetic secrets with this toy. As they scroll away the screens based on the rows and columns, they learn to count and add values based on the pegs fitted in the empty slots, which in turn helps them learn multiplication. The toy also exposes them to the numerous multiplication combinations that can be created and helps build logical reasoning. Multiplication is an abstract concept that most children do not visualize but learn by rote. Multiplication by counting and adding gives the child a clear understanding that multiplication is repeat addition. Using pegs for counting and to learn multiplication involves fine motor skills and ensures higher accuracy of results, simultaneously enhancing their writing skills and pincer grip. Children can also use the toy to learn division with the help of physical cues. Performing multiplication and division with this toy helps them understand that the arithmetic processes are the opposite of each other.
Skola toys helps in preparing a child for STEM learning. Skola’s ultimate aim is to improve fine motor skills which certainly helps in engineering, but more importantly using fingers helps children think clearly and enhances concentration and cognitive ability which is a direct STEM requirement.
As discussed above, cascade cars toy helps a child to understand cause and effect. This is where a child is exposed to science. It helps a child to register concepts, process and comprehend them.
Colour Wheels toy encourages children to use fingers to rotate wheels and then find the matching colours which involves examination, observation analysis and discovery. You can watch the unboxing & review of Color wheels toy in this video below.
To summarize, these common principles of exploration, open-ended play, analysis, discovery, examination, and most importantly the presence of the PLAY element is true for all Skola Toys and hence creates thinkers, innovators & doers in the long run!
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!
