Work Time (AKA Favorite Toys in the Classrooms)

We've had parents asking which toys their children like to play with in the classroom.  Here are some of the popular ones:

Snapbots.  The children love snapping these together in different combinations.

Turn & Learn Magnetic Gears.  Put them together and problem solve so all the gears turn when you manipulate just one of them.  These are played with a lot.

Every day kitchen items.  Yes, the kids love the wok, pots and pans, dishes, utensils, big spoons and whisks.  Toasters, hand mixers, realistic looking plastic foods, and empty cartons of brand name items.  Those brand name items?  Those are great for logographic skills which is part of pre-literacy.

The little LED flashlights you can get for a buck or two?  Perfect size for little hands.  Great for exploring, making patterns, and playing hide and seek.  We sometimes turn the lights down to play hide and seek with them.  Kids LOVE these!

Cash registers and pretend money are great for playing store and restaurant.  We don't worry about denominations, but count the number of coins and paper money.

MotorWorks.  It comes with a screwdriver , drill, and screws to help put together cars, planes, and motorcycles.

Counting Cakes.  Each cake has a number that corresponds with the number of holes for candles.

Not only do we have fun counting, but we work on More and Less.  We also sing Happy Birthday.....A LOT!  For some reason the kids always want us to sing Happy Birthday to them so they can blow out the candles.  It never gets to be the teachers' birthdays.  For something so simple, this is played with every day.

Old cameras from secondhand stores.  Even though most people take pictures with their smart phones, the children know that these are cameras and love playing with them.  Teachers are asked to pose and "Say CHEESE!" 

Marble Runs.  This is a great STEM toy for problem solving.  The children pull it out nearly every school day.

Plain wooden blocks.  This is another toy pulled out every day.  The children build buildings, tracks, walls, and use them to delineate space.

Regular therapy ball.  The children love to bounce and roll on it, or bounce and roll it to teachers and peers.



Stay tuned for a post about favorite books!

Blocks - more technical than you thought!

The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) posted an article in 2015 titled Ten Things Children Learn From Block Play.  Among the 10 - problem solving, mathematics, creative play, and science.  Click on the article title to see the whole thing.  It is a quick read.

Parenting Science posted an article titled Toy Blocks and Construction Toys: A Guide For The Science Minded.  This one has references and tips on how to get the most out of your block play.

The American Journal Of Play (for those of you who like research articles) has an article titled Building Blocks and Cognitive Building Blocks: Playing To Know The World Mathematically.  It includes ways on how parents can support block play and learning (play with your kids!).

Block play is a great way to build language - provided you are on the floor playing with your child. There is a lot of vocabulary from concepts (big/little, long/short, etc), prepositions (front, back, top, under, next to), Wh- questions, and more. Blocks aren't vintage toys - they are STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) toys. Our preschool kids love to play with them.  Plastic, wooden, cardboard, painted or not, blocks are fun.

All I Want For Christmas Is.....

Every year, parents ask for ideas concerning toys that promote language.  The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) blogged about this in an article titled:

10 (Non tech) Holiday Toys That Promote Language and Learning

  They aren't giving a list of specific toys, rather a list of types of toys to look for.  Blocks, books, costumes, kitchen play, etc are all great ideas.  iPads are fun, video games are fun, but they really don't promote a rich language environment.  But creative play will.

Get down on the floor and play with your child. Figure out his plan. Follow her lead.  Match your language to your child's and then expand that phrase by one extra word.  Introduce new vocabulary.  Read books together (or ask him to 'read' the book to you).

THE BIG QUESTION:  What are the favorite toys here at preschool?  

The toy train from IKEA that requires no batteries, but does require some time to set up a track.  Problem solve on how to make the track fit together all the way around.

Picture from the IKEA website

I must add here that all the cars, trucks, tractors, and busses get a lot of play as well.  Kids love things that go.

Magnet tiles.  Some of our budding architects really like these tiles.  Warning: these are more expensive than most toys.  But it sure if fun to use the colorful tiles, sticking them together to create buildings, space ships, robots.  Great toy for 3-dimensional play. Some will just stack them on top of each other - that is fun, too.

Marble runs.  The kids spend hours putting this together.  I have noticed that the different brands vary in quality.  I'm not sure what brand is the best (and Miss Jeana's marble run has been here a long time so no one remembers the brand). Look around and check ratings from other buyers. Again, lots of building involved.  I think it is fun to play with, too.

Picture from Target

Other favorite toys in both preschool rooms that the kids love:  building blocks (plastic, wooden, or giant cardboard 'bricks'.  We make roads, buildings, garages for cars, and forts.

Kitchen items.  Regular pots, plans, dishes, cups, and cooking utensils bought at the dollar store.  combine that with realistic looking pretend food, cardboard boxes that were saved from cereal or oatmeal, and empty spice containers.  These kids LOVE to pretend to cook.  We also have laminated place mats, shopping bags bought at the dollar section of Target, and menus.  The kids play 'restaurant' and are constantly cooking up some creative dishes.  Peanut butter eggs with syrup and strawberries, anyone?  Yum!

Puzzles.  Simple wooden puzzles or cardboard puzzles are fun.  And there is a big sense of accomplishment when the puzzle is done and the child says "I did it!"

Dress up clothes:  Regular grown up clothing items the teachers have collected, ties, dresses, medical scrubs, sparkly costumes, suit coats, scarves, silly hats.  They are worn for the most interesting play.  One child likes to wear the wizard costume and carry the doctor bag and stethoscope around.

Art supplies:  crayons, markers, play dough, paint paper, envelopes, stamps, stickers.  Some of our children love to create.  Getting messy is okay.

There you go.  So many fun toys and none that require a battery.