Archive for the 'Toy Blocks' Category
All three astronauts, Neil Armstrong, Jim Lovell and Jim Irwin agreed they could not see the Great Wall in China from the moon. But, over 41.8 million foreign visitors to China saw this great structure in 2004.
Tourism to the Great Wall increased because of President Nixon’s visit to China in 1972 and with this increase in tourism sections of the Wall were restored. The Chinese government recognized the Wall as a unifying symbol of their nation after the death of Mao Zedong.
The men who designed this wall once were kids themselves and I wonder if they had building block toys to play with. You may have a future engineer in your family right now. Someday he/she may design and build a new wonder of the world. Help his/her creativity bloom with cardboard building blocks. The set pictured has both construction cinder blocks and timber blocks. Schools can order bulk quantity building block toys.
Promoting open-ended play time for your children with building block toys will be one of the best ways to enhance their learning and increase their fine motor skills.
There is a legend, that a helpful dragon traced out the course of the Great Wall for the workforce and the builders subsequently followed the tracks of the dragon ( Jan, Michael. 2001. The Great Wall of China. New York, NY: Abberville Publishing Group) but more likely is the fact that it was probably men who were once children playing with blocks.
The Great Wall has often been compared to a dragon. In China, the dragon is a protective divinity and is synonymous with springtime and vital energy. The Chinese believed the earth was filled with dragons which gave shape to the mountains and formed the sinew of the land.
During the Ming dynasty, nearly one million soldiers were said to defend the Great Wall from “barbarians” and non-Chinese.
The manpower to build the Great Wall came from frontier guards, peasants, unemployed intellectuals, disgraced noblemen, and convicts. In fact, there existed a special penalty during the Qin and Han dynasties under which convicted criminals were made to work on the Wall.
Before the Ming dynasty, the wall was built with rammed earth, adobe, and stone. About 70% is made from rammed earth and adobe. Bricks were used after the Ming dynasty.
The Chinese invented the wheelbarrow and used it extensively in building the Great Wall.
A section of the Great Wall in the Gansu province may disappear in the next 20 years due to erosion.
The information for this article came from: http://facts.randomhistory.com/2009/04/18_great-wall.html. See this website for more information and read their Reference section for the books where these facts came from.
Is your school providing large toy blocks for your children to play with? Every classroom should include plenty of blocks for their preschoolers and also provide a safe place for block play.
Giant cardboard wall building blocks are one of the best creative learning tools teachers can give their children. Ideally, there should be enough room for the structures children have built to remain standing so that the children are able to go back and continue building at a later time.
Provide children with a three-sided classroom area, appropriate for noisy activity, out of the way of other classroom traffic, and thirdly, big enough so the children’s structures can remain standing. Children will be proud of the structures that they create with their own imaginations and will love telling you about them.
Block play are one of the best open-ended toddler learning toys and offers limitless possibilities for children to create, learn spatial awareness, develop math skills and use their imaginations.
When the toy blocks structures do need to be taken down storing them on eye-level shelves or stacking them against a wall will help you provide space for other activities. Giant cardboard building blocks should be organized neatly so that children are invited to use them independently.
When you want quality built wall building blocks that will hold up for many years and are safe for children to stand on you will want to check out ImagiBRICKS by Smart Monkey Toys. Manufactured in Wisconsin from at least 50% recycled materials these crush-proof kids building block toys are available in bulk quantities for your school classrooms.
It has been said that “complex block-play is linked with advanced math skills in later life”. Toddlers as young as two years old should have several sets of toy blocks to play with.
Whether your child has foam blocks, cardboard blocks or wooden blocks to play with he will have a toy that will provide him open-ended play time. They will be able to create their own structures into their own play scenarios.
A set of blocks can help your child develop such things as language skills, social skills, creative problem-solving skills, spatial skills as well as motor and hand-eye coordination.
Toy blocks and other construction toys are among the best developmental toys that money can buy. An investment in quality wooden kids toys can’t be over emphasized. One such kids toy is Toy Store in a Box, by ImagiPLAY.
ImagiPLAY’s owner believes that the single most important toy a child can have is a set of blocks. Every block set they manufacture us multi-functional and is designed to inspire hours of imaginative play.
Toy Store in a Box is the ultimate developmental toy for ages 2 up. There are 28 stacking/nesting boxes of various sizes and they all fit into one another. They all stack in such a way that they can be stored in the largest block, the green, 9” x 9” cube.
Kids will love the feel of the wood and the bright colors, red, yellow, blue and green. This is one wooden kids toys you must see!
Because of the continuing decline in literacy rates some educators are suggesting parents begin teaching their children to read at an early age. But, not all children are ready at the same age.
In past years it was thought that children should probably begin learning to read at about six years of age. But this opinion is being re-thought and educators are thinking that if a child starts to learn to read at an earlier age they may learn to read better.
There is a wide diversity in each child’s individual learning speeds and styles. A child’s interests and temperament also play a major role in helping parents decide when it is best to begin teaching their child to read.
It is important that children see their parents reading; it is also important to read to your child every day. By doing so parents will learn if their child is intrigued by the new ideas in the stories that are read to them. Parents need to pay attention to learn if their child exhibits a genuine interest in the stories they are reading.
If you find your child is showing interest in the stories and the new ideas then he/she is probably ready to begin learning to read. It is a fact that some four year olds can’t wait to begin reading, yet other children as old as eight are not developmentally ready.
Each child is unique and spending time with him/her will help a parent know how to proceed. Even before you introduce a book to your child there is a toddler learning toy, Little Reader Blocks, that your child can play with – and during play, begin to recognize the first 100 basic sight words. These toy blocks are available on our website, All I Can Imagine.
You will get the following 3″cube cardboard building blocks:
3 green noun blocks (18 nouns)
5 blue verb blocks (30 verbs)
5 red pronoun blocks (30 pronouns)
3 yellow adjective blocks (18 adjectives)
2 white preposition blocks (12 prepositions)
If you are a teacher or run a day care center and order three or more sets let us know you read about the Little Reader Blocks on our Blog and you will receive a discounted price.
Camping usually is a great family fun idea-when you want a sure-fire way to bond with your kids take them camping. You will be creating life-long memories.
Kids can help set up the tent and unload the car and can be trusted to remain nearby without continual supervision. They can help collect wood for your fire and help with the cooking (and clean up).
One important thing to remember when you are packing for your trip; each person must have his/her own flashlight. How else can you make shadows on the tent? And a flashlight will direct the way to the outhouse late at night.
A great evening ritual will be looking for different kinds of insects that they can find. They might even catch frogs and minnows near the lakes and streams. You could let them examine these creatures and return them unharmed to the wild. Also, carry bug jars, nets, and buckets.
Make sure you always have a camera on hand; camping can be a comedy of errors with kids. You can also let your kids carry their own cameras through their travels each day.
You will want to bring a few simple toys with you for quiet time. A set of Backyard Buddy Blocks is a great idea for kids 18 months and up. See these children’s wooden toys on our website, All I Can Imagine.
For more camping fun ideas visit: http://www.greatdad.com/tertiary/72/35/camping-with-kids.html
This farm animal can see almost 360 degrees and can see colors too! And, the cow can smell up to 5 miles away.
Cows can live up to 25 years. Cows have four stomachs, and no two cows have the same pattern or spots. An adult male cow is called a bull and an adult female is called a cow. Cows eat corn, hay, barley, beet pulp, grass and wheat.
You can read about other farm animals and find neat craft ideas at this website: http://kiddyhouse.com/Farm/
See a neat set of wood blocks, manufactured by ImagiPLAY. These wood blocks are fun kids toys to help teach about six farm animals. These blocks are called 
Buddy Blocks and are a safe Color Matching and Puzzle Toy.
Colorful animals make our wooden kids toys a great puzzle for boys and girls age 18 months and up. Kids learn to match colors and animals.
Each four piece block set forms six different puzzles featuring colorful animals. When choosing our Farm Buddy Blocks set two of the animals you will get are a pink pig and a brown and white cow. (We also have sets of backyard animals and jungle animals.)
You will provide your children a world of fun learning and creative building opportunities when you give them giant toy blocks. Children learn through play and blocks are one of the best toddler learning toys on the market.
When children reach for, pick up, stack, or fit blocks together, they build strength in their fingers and hands, and increase eye-hand coordination. Around two, children begin to figure out which shapes will fit where, and get a head start on understanding different perspectives — skills that will help them to read maps and follow directions later on.
Cardboard building blocks help kindergarten and primary grade children develop skills in design, representation, balance and stability.
ImagiBRICKS™ are the award winning toy blocks your parents used to play with and are available in various quantities. You can get a set as small as 16 pieces in all red, 40 pieces in three colors and sizes all the way up to bullk quantity blocks. See all our other sets at All I Can Imagine.
Our toddler learning toys come with a drool-proof coating and are crush-proof.
One thing toddlers love to do is jump. To keep them off the furniture you could place large pillows on your floor; or, if you have an old mattress that is even better.
Go for walks on different types of surfaces. Walking on grass, gravel, or sand and uneven surfaces will not only challenge their balance it will help muscles develop.
If you have stairs let them practice climbing up and down when you are watching and standing close by. If you do not have stairs it is a good idea to have a set of giant cardboard building blocks called ImagiBRICKS.
These toy blocks can be stood on without crushing. You can place them around the room in a maze like formation and have your children walk around them as well as step up on top of them. They will learn to balance, step up and down and use a variety of muscles while having a great time playing.
Of course, as with any set of building blocks they will stack them up and knock them down. They will carry them around and put them in wagons. All this play is open-ended and will allow for many hours of creative play to help build confidence and self-esteem.
You will be providing your toddlers and young children with one of the best toddler learning toys on the market when you provide them with a set of ImagiBRICKS.
Your grandparents had ImagiBRICKS™ toy blocks when they were growing up. You won’t find them in stores but they still can be purchased online.
Parents, educators and doctors all recommend giant building blocks for toddlers and if you want the award-winning toy blocks you will have to pay a little more. Be careful when shopping in toy stores and on line, there are imitations that look like ImagiBRICKS™ and they have the same “brick design”, but they are not as strong and would crush if your child stood on them.
Toddlers and young children love to build tall towers and knock them down. They also love to carry things around. Because ImagiBRICKS™ are both strong and lightweight your toddler will build muscle strength by building structures as well as lifting and carrying the blocks.
As toddler learning toys, these giant building blocks also help teach math concepts and spatial awareness. Try a starter set of 16 pieces or our popular 40 piece set that includes three sizes of blocks, large red, medium blue and small yellow.
You can teach your child a love of learning by example. Although your toddler will take up a lot of your attention, you can still sit quietly while she plays nearby and read a newspaper or magazine.
She may become curious and want to see what you are reading, or she may want to copy you by sitting down with her own magazine or book and trying to read also. The more your children see you reading the better.
One of the best toddler learning toys you will own is a set of Little Reader Blocks. These toy blocks are imprinted with over 100 of the first sight words your children will have to know. Your children can play with them as blocks but more importantly they will learn individual words and how to form simple, short sentences.
Many games can be played with Little Reader Blocks and you will be surprised at how quickly your children will take out these blocks and play with them by themselves. While you are reading you might point to a word in your child’s book and then have them find the word from their toy blocks. It is a good idea to pull several blocks out of the set, including the one you want them to identify, so they don’t get frustrated when they can’t quickly find the word from the twenty piece set.