Identifying patterns – and making our own – is at the heart of learning. Help your child to master this skill and she will be on the road to reading, writing and confidence with numbers. And, best of all, it can all be done through play. What is a pattern? What makes patterns such a …
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There is construction play – and then there is junk modelling. Junk modelling is by far the most creative and challenging type of construction play for young children. Toys like Lego and wooden blocks are excellent and rightly popular – but their strength is also their greatest weakness. Regular sizes and straight lines make construction …
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Parlour games are great for sharing the fun. So many of today’s toys and games are played alone, especially electronic ones. Parlour games involve family time, shared experiences, interaction that is frivolous and without agenda. If you ever feel like all you do is hurry your children along from A to B, then spend five …
Colour is one of the first attributes children notice about anything. It’s something children pay attention to early on. The more colour names a child knows, the better equipped they will be in the nuances of description and visual expression. Artists tend to notice more about the world than most people because they look more …
Does your child enjoy making up stories? Does she pretend to be you, using toys and other props to imitate adults? This is dramatic play, one of the four types of play. You can read about the others here: What is dramatic play? Children imitate what they see. They watch you washing the dishes then …
Do you have a sixth sense? The answer is: Yes, we all do! No, you may not be able to predict what people are thinking but we all have a lesser-known sense, the vestibular sense. We are all familiar with the five senses of taste, smell, sight, hearing and touch but the vestibular sense is an …
The vestibular sense | Balance activities for children Read More »
What’s so special about puzzles? Why are they such a perennial classic, a winning gift that every child is happy to receive? They are the antithesis of open-ended play, the approach that we champion here at 100 Toys. And yet they have a unique magic that captivates children for long stretches of time. What’s their secret? …
When you notice your child deeply engrossed in her own world, playing on her own, you’re witnessing the magic of solitary play. Far from being an indicator of loneliness or exclusion, solitary play is a critical stage in your child’s developmental journey, filled with self-discovery, imagination, and creativity. The six stages of play Mildred Parten …
While we don’t want to encourage parents to wilfully put your child in dangerous situations, we do also believe that children who are allowed to assess and take their own risks make more confident, curious learners, who can confront their fears and understand they are in control of their own destiny. So much of the …
As children approach school age they begin to participate in cooperative play. This is the final stage of the six stages of play and the most sophisticated. It’s the kind of play you get when children play together, assigning roles and agreeing the rules of the game, however arbitrary they may be. You will find …