Blocks And 3d Puzzles

It is not too early to think about Christmas gifts.  Sales are easy to find even though it is not yet fall.

You will make a big hit with your kids with educational computer games such as this musical computer game for Windows and Mac computers.  With Christian games such as a guitar your kids can sing along with such artists as

             12 Stones, Bride, Caedmons Call, Casting Crowns and Chris Tomlin (just to name a few on the list).

Grab the guitar and play along with top Christian bands!  Shred those riffs or blast the bass…you add a unique sound to the solid Christian rock. But watch out: if you can’t keep up, the artists will take a break and stop the music.  Crank it up and try again – you’ll soon be rockin’ with the best while praising the Lord! 

Main game works with one player or buy the combo pack to play two players at the same time!!  Works on Windows and Mac Computers.

Except for card games and dominos’ I do not remember my parents playing with me.  Now that I am an adult I am thinking this may have not been so bad for me.

When you think about it, when kids play alone or with siblings they are encouraged to use their own imaginations and develop independent thinking.  Because we had to play by ourselves as children we had to learn to be resourceful because no one else was going to provide our entertainment.

As playing is every child’s first priority it really is not pure entertainment, but it is also an integral part of a child’s mental and emotional growth and gives them time to enhance their ability to think and communicate with others.

Even so, it is a good idea to incorporate family games into your routine and introduce your children to Bible board games at an early age.  This is a great way to teach your children to take turns,  to play by the rules and that it is not so important if they win but how well they play together.

Jonah VeggieTales – The overboard adventure game is pictured above and is for ages 3 up. Spin the spinner and follow Jonah’s path to Nineveh! Inspired by Jonah - a VeggieTales Movie.

Toddlers age 2- 3 years old are becoming more creative and enjoy role playing activities. Providing them giant cardboard building blocks at this age is recommended by doctors and educators.

When children are given building block toys they get to play without any rules. Several age groups of boys and girls can have their imaginations run wild as they plan, build, play and knock down the blocks and begin all over again.

Children’s self esteem will be enhanced by playing with these educational children’s toys and it is wise to supply them with as many giant building blocks as you are able.  It is also a good idea to find out if your child’s day care center has a supply of giant building block toys.

While your children are young it is important to provide them many educational kids toys.  By doing so you will reap the harvest of a child who is well-developed emotionally and is smarter than others his age.

As your children grow older their choices of toys will begin to change and they will want to include family games and Bible card games that involve rules.  Therefore it is important to have age appropriate games in your home that the whole family can sit down and play together.

Even though lots of games are just for fun you can also include educational Bible games such as games that teach Bible characters and Old and New Testament History.

Back in the 1950’s I grew up playing Chutes and Ladders and Mr. Potato Head, but nowadays parents also have the Veggie Tales and Hermie  and Friends series of games as well as early American history, human anatomy and geography games. Pictured above is a popular Veggie Tales game, “Don’t Sink the Ship”,  that encourages communication and conversation.

For some families, just getting everyone to sit down to dinner at the same time for a solid half-hour is like pulling teeth. It’s not that they don’t appreciate each other’s company, just that everyone has a hectic schedule that can’t be easily coordinated. A daughter might have soccer practice on the same night that dad has to work late at the office. But what if – just for one night a week – everyone in the family made a commitment to spending quality time together?

Family games serve to focus everyone’s attention in one direction, but the game isn’t as important as the bonding experience. Families with younger children might want to give Super Scrabble a whirl as it encourages the development of vocabulary and logical thinking. Just don’t pay any heed to dad when he insists that he let somebody else win. Board games just might not be his strong suit.

Physicians, educators and parents are ever aware of the popularity of giant cardboard blocks.  Kids of various age groups can play together making large blocks one of the best educational children’s toys on the market.

Kids building blocks, such as ImagiBRICKS, bring many benefits to your children as they play and work together to design, build, knock down and re-build.  It is especially important to supply children in day care centers and preschools with as many giant cardboard blocks as you have room for.

Besides increasing your children’s attention span and level of concentration children will develop perceptual, motor, and memory skills.

Playing with toy building blocks help build up self-esteem as there is no wrong way to build.  And by creating, exploring and constructing in different ways children are doing hands-on problem solving and becoming divergent thinkers.

Earth friendly materials and ethical labor led ImagiPLAY to produce toys that are naturally safe not only for children but for our children’s planet. The sustainable woods they use in all their educational children’s toys are made from preservative free wood and always from plantations or managed forests.

This year showed an increase in eco-friendly wooden kids toys including their new line of wooden board games and push pull toys, which included the award-winning blue dog mentioned in a previous blog post.

Instead of depleting resources, the materials ImagiPLAY uses for their wood toys contributes to the health of our planet while growing,  by exhaling oxygen and inhaling carbon dioxide, and are replanted after harvest.  In addition, they plant over 5,000 trees a year in developing nations through Trees for the Future.

The image with this article is of a new eco-balancing wood game sold online and viewable when clicking the link in this blog post.

Wooden kids toys such as the rocking horse continue to be very popular nowadays.  Providing your children with quality built wooden children’s toys will instill in them the love for the feel and smell of wood toys.

Rocking horses in the USA

There was no doubt that British rocking horses or, more accurately, English rocking horses led the world. Ironically though, it was an American who was responsible for one of the most significant advances in design: in 1877, P.J. Marqua of Cincinatti, Ohio, patented the safety stand.

Hitherto, all rocking horses had been mounted on bow rockers. Marqua’s design responded to both safety and practical concerns. The safety or swinger stand, on the other hand, provided a fixed static frame on which the rocking horse swung on swing irons.

English makers quickly saw the potential for this new style of rocking horse and London solicitor Herbert Haddon was granted a British patent in 1880. Over the next 30 years, the rocking horse on a safety stand rapidly became the preferred form.

Today, rocking horse makers like The Kensington Rocking Horse Company do offer traditional rocking horses on bow rockers. This style of rocking horse does have an undeniable elegance.

Manufactured by ImagiPLAY, you can find this quality built rocking horse wood puzzles online.

The Bible tells us that God promised never to flood the earth again. As His sign he sent us rainbows.

Just a couple of weeks ago I looked up into the sky and saw a complete half-moon shaped rainbow; no clouds or buildings blocked any of the sight.  Usually we get to see only partial rainbows so I considered seeing a full one quite a treat.

As usual, seeing the rainbow made me think of the Flood and how God saved Noah and his family as well as a pair of all animals on earth.  The story of Noah may be one of your kid’s favorite Bible stories and having an Ark on hand might heighten the excitement of the story.

Colorful, handcrafted wood play sets make ideal educational kids toys for home, schools and Sunday schools.  Make from plantation-grown rubberwood, an environmentally friendly hardwood, ImagiPLAY’s line of indoor play sets include an 18″ x 10″ x 6″ Noah’s Ark.

Their wood play set includes 14 unique, chunky animals and all the animals store inside the Ark.  Kids love the bright red and green colors of the Ark as well as the cows, elephants, pigs, horses and more.

Having a visual aide such as this will help impress on young children the significance of the story of the Flood and will open up lively discussions for  invigorating lessons they will long remember.

Wolves are beautiful animals and will make an exciting subject to teach your children.  There is much information online to inform you about wolves such as the threats common to wolves – as stated below:

The most common cause of death for wolves is conflict with people over livestock losses. While wolf predation on livestock is fairly uncommon, wolves that do prey on them are often killed to protect the livestock. Defenders is working with livestock owners to develop non-lethal methods to reduce the chances of a wolf attacking livestock. These methods include fencing livestock, lighting, alarm systems and removing dead or dying livestock that may attract carnivores like wolves.

You may be interested to know that on May 4, 2009 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service removed the northern Rockies gray wolf from the endangered list. Although the regional population has rebounded to more than 1,600 wolves, the federal delisting plan allows 2/3 of current wolf population to be killed – down to only 450 wolves region wide.

Defenders of Wildlife and other conservation groups are challenging the delisting decision in court and seeking to restore endangered species protections for wolves in the northern Rockies until a sustainable delisting plan is adopted.

The wolf 3d wood puzzle shown above will make an exciting addition to your classroom lessions. Available online