Blocks And 3d Puzzles

Unstructured play is the most beneficial type of play for toddlers and young children. Play rooms where there are a variety of  giant cardboard building blocks and other open-ended toys available allow children to choose their own toys and activities that they want to participate in.

Too much structured play may prevent your children from many self-created learning experiences and free expression.  Although children can always learn from playing real games with others, nothing beats the free time for creative play.

When children reach school age they have been known to show stress in their behavior when they have been involved in too many structured group activities.  While these activities, such as T-ball, beauty contests, dance lessons and the like are not “bad”, too much too soon may show up as physical symptoms such as stomachaches, headaches or even hair pulling in your children.

Self-initiated play either indoors or out of doors can be one of the best educational ways your children will develop social skills and muscle strength. Whether running, jumping, climbing, pulling a wagon or building a structure with toy blocks your children will develop self-esteem and his creative instincts will flourish.

Did you know that large toy blocks, such as ImagiBRICKS, help children learn social skills?  Blocks encourage children to make friends and cooperate with one another.  Large block play may very well be your child’s first experience in playing with a group.  

When a play room in your home or a preschool has enough large blocks available for multiple children to play together they will begin to interact with one another and plan activities all their own.  Block play has no rules and children are free to create activities, games and structures all their own.

Pictured above is our 24 pc set of ImagiBRICKS.  Also available in 40 piece sets and bulk quantities. See our 16 piece all large red blocks or our rainbow blocks.

It is important for your child’s early learning development that they are provided toys and crafts that involve two or more skill building activities. Lacing toys are one good example of just such educational childrens toys.

There are several important benefits in providing toddler learning toys which promote good eye-to hand coordination. These include general physical coordination as well as increased self confidence in successfully completing a task.

LacingScapes, a new lacing toy from ImagiPLAY, will provide your children ages 3 and up hours of educational play as they lace 15 creatures into the 8” X 10 “ ocean or pond background. This is an ideal toddler toy to help your children develop fine motor skills as well as problem solving skills.

Children can quietly play and increase confidence in their ability to complete a task all on their own.  These children’s toys are unique in that they are made from wood and the background and all the creatures and yarn can be safely stored in its own wooden tray.

From the head down towards their trunk the child’s development will progress and providing toys to help improve your child’s eye-hand coordination will help keep their reflexes sharp. The more your child makes use of these types of skill building activities the better they will get.

Prewar parents were resigned to accepting the risks their children took in playing out of doors on their own. Nowadays, parents are being forced to accept this same risk.

Growing up I was told, “go outside and play”.  But in today’s society parents often feel it is not safe for their children to play outside without supervision.  Children who can’t play on their own will loose opportunities for innovation and invention.

When children can play on their own they learn to relate to one another.  They will also have opportunities to resolve their own conflicts (even if fights occur to accomplish this).

Nowadays, fears about children’s physical well-being are affecting their play opportunities.  Today’s children are not allowed to play on their own to the extent they once were. Much of today’s play is in an organized form run by adults.

These organized forms of play, while altogether not bad for children, tend to rob them of many opportunities to innovate and learn from their risk-taking behavior.

Because many children have to play inside for safety reasons it is more important than ever that they have non-structured playtime and open-ended educational kids toys to play with. One of the best learning toys are toy blocks.

When children have a set of ImagiBRICKS large cardboard blocks toys they can play either by themselves or with other children. They carry the blocks around or stack them thereby gaining muscle strength and coordination skills.

Older children will work together to create various structures and gain social skills. These are also good learning toys to teach basic math skills and are easy to stack up against a wall when play is finished. 

Sets come in 16, 24 and 40 pieces. Bulk quantities are also available.  Some families prefer the Rainbow colored blocks. Available online at All I Can Imagine.

Maia is a tree pixie doll from the Amazon.  Whe you give new toy dolls, such as Maia, to your child you will be providing her educational toys that are both fun and informative. Maia is made from certified organic cotton and comes with a card that teaches your child about the Amazon Rainforest and how humans are the main cause of the loss of rainforest trees.

Rainforests have been around for millions of years–they’re the Earth’s oldest living ecosystems–they may not be around for much longer. At the present rate of destruction, all the earth’s rainforests will be gone in 30 years. And once the rainforest is destroyed, it doesn’t come back. 137 species of plants and animals become extinct every day in rainforests around the world.

Why Is the Rainforest In Danger?
When you think of the rainforest, you probably think of monkeys, jungle plants, big snakes, and lots of rain. You may not think about oil, copper, and gold, but these are found in the rainforest, too! Companies from many different countries are interested in removing things like oil, copper, and gold from the rainforest and selling them in other parts of the world. The wood from certain types of trees in the rainforest, like mahogany, is also very valuable. When these natural resources are removed from the rainforest, companies often destroy or damage the water, soil, plants, and animals there.

Learn more about the Rainforest and the dangers it is facing at: http://www.pbs.org/journeyintoamazonia/teacher_act.html.  The above information is from this website and offers simple steps for students, schools, and families to help be a Amazon activist.

Some ways you can help are listed such as:

• avoid buying products made from “exotic woods” that grow in the rainforest. These include Mahogany, Teak, Rosewood, Sitka Spruce, and Western Red Cedar.
• use recycled paper (or tree-free paper made from cotton, straw, or other substances)
• recycle paper goods at home and at school

Maia has two sisters – Kayla, a Marsh Pixie doll from the Florida Everglades and Anyu, an Ice Pixie soft doll from the North Pole.  These girl dolls are sold separately as well as in a set of three at a discounted small bulk price.

Your child will love playing with her new soft toy dolls and parents and educators can use her to teach about how her homeland in the Florida Everglades is being threatened by water pollution. Your new doll will come with a card that teaches children more about water pollution.

New from ImagiPLAY our girls dolls are packaged in 100% post consumer recycled cardboard. Ages 3+.  Delightful to play with,  Kayla is a girl doll and is made from certified ORGANIC cotton fabric and non-toxic water based dyes.
 

Organic Cotton – So, Just What Does That Mean?

• Cotton is one of the world’s dirtiest crops – although it covers only 2.5% of the world’s cultivated land, it uses 16% of the world’s insecticides!
• It takes almost one third pound of fertilizer to grown just 1 pound of cotton (about 1 t-shirt)?
• Synthetic fertilizers are considered the most detrimental to the environment.
• Cotton seed and field trash, where many pesticide residues have been detected, is usually sold for animal feed and traces of common cotton pesticides have been found in cows milk

 According to Lynda Grose of the Sustainable Cotton Project at: http://www.sustainablecotton.org/ cotton is considered one of the most chemically dependent crops in the world, conventional cotton uses 10 percent of all agricultural chemicals and 25 percent of the world’s insecticides—in the U.S., one-third of a pound of chemicals are needed just to grow enough conventional cotton for a regular T-shirt. “Organic cotton is a solution to the problem of chemical use in conventional cotton.”

Organic cotton crops, on the other hand, are kept healthy with a number of natural methods that help control weeds and pests. According to the Organic Consumers Association’s Clothes for a Change Program at http://www.organicconsumers.org/clothes/background.cfm., these methods include mechanical or hand-weeding, crop rotation, planting several crops together (intercropping), use of mulches, adjusting planting dates and densities of crops, and introducing beneficial predator insects.

Kayla has two sisters, Anyu, an Ice Pixie soft doll from the North Pole and Maia, a Tree Pixie Doll from the Amazon Rainforest.  These dolls are sold separately as well as in a set of three at a discounted small bulk price.

Toys that become labeled as “classic toys” are most often your wooden kids toys. Rollercoaster toys, otherwise known as wire and bead maze toys, are educational learning toys for kids 2 up.

Our pretty frog could be one of those educational toys you take everywhere. Our bead and maze toys are sized to fit in a stroller or your child’s car seat and are perfect manipulative toys and games for play-on-the-go!

Easy to carry around when you travel or go on vacation these brightly colored, non toxic toys are a great toy to take on vacations and when you take your family camping. 

Parents and teachers in preschools agree that wire bead and maze toys are one of their favorite toys. Because there are no loose parts they are safe for your children to play with limited supervision.

Pediatricians, sports centers, health clubs and anyone else who has a waiting room or playroom for children waiting for their parents will find these toys indispensible.

These wooden toys also come in varieties such as Apple Tree, Kitty, Bear and Flower. Kids love the bright colors and the feel of the wood.

See our complete line of wild animal wood puzzles.  All our children’s wooden toys are back in stock and ready for your Christmas shopping!

This 1” chunky brown bear and cub is a great 3d wooden puzzle for kids 3 up.  Did you notice that the cub is a separate piece; so you get two toys in one!

Did you know brown bears come in different sizes and shades?  A bear can be light cream color and all shades up through an almost black color.  It was thought that 86 different kinds of grizzly bears and brown bears existed in North America.  Today, scientists agree that there is only one species of brown bear with a lot of variations!  Bears in northwestern North America are called Kodiak, or Alaskan brown bears.

There are several brown bear subspecies found in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and possibly Northwest Africa, but they are all smaller than their North American relatives.  Read more about the brown bear at San Diego Zoo’s website where I found the above information.  Go here: http://www.sandiegozoo.org/animalbytes/t-brown_bear.html.

These toys sell out quickly so remember to shop early for your children’s wooden toys!

It is believed that this popular wooden children’s toy, the rocking horse, made its first appearance in the 17^th century.  The rocking horse was used to help children begin to learn to ride a horse.

The Middle Ages is when others believe that the concept of the rocking horse began.  Did you know that Knights that were in training would often construct horses to practice jousting?

It is said that Queen Victoria was the woman responsible for making the rocking horse famous when she gave this toddler toy to her children. At first, only the wealthy could afford these state-of-the-art toys. They were hand crafted in small numbers until the industrial age hit and mass production made the rocking horse available to the public.

You can introduce your toddlers to the rocking horse by providing them a ColorMeUp Rocking Horse puzzle/craft kit.  This is a splinter-proof 3d wooden puzzle that doubles as a craft kit.  When you get your child this puzzle it comes with a pallet of paint and a paint brush.

See our entire collection of 3d puzzles to paint at All I Can Imagine.  Selections include the rocking horse, an cute hoot owl, pretty lion, butterfly, two bunnies and a wonderful wood train.

Parents and educators will enjoy giving our large alphabet 3d wooden puzzle to their toddlers. This is a unique toddler toy manufactured by ImagiPLAY.

Kids love dinosaurs and having dinosaur toys in their collection of wood puzzles will open up teaching opportunities about this fascinating creature. This toy measures 13” x 5” and has twenty-six pieces, one for each letter of the alphabet. 

Made from splinter-proof wood and painted with non-toxic paints this is a safe toy for your children.

Did you know that scientists believe this powerful predator could eat up to 500 pounds (230 kilograms) of meat in one bite. Fossils of T. rex prey, including Triceratops and Edmontosaurus, suggest T. rex crushed and broke bones as it ate, and broken bones have been found in its dung.

Tyrannosaurus rex, according to what I have read, lived in forested river valleys in North America during the late Cretaceous period. It became extinct about 65 million years ago in the Cretaceous-Tertiary mass extinction.

More than 90 percent of all organisms that have ever lived on Earth are extinct. As new species evolve to fit ever changing ecological niches, older species fade away. But the rate of extinction is far from constant. At least a handful of times in the last 500 million years, 50 to more than 90 percent of all species on Earth have disappeared in a geological blink of the eye.

Read more on this wonderful website:

http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/prehistoric-world/mass-extinction/

Your child can have more fun by building his own T. rex.  This site gives you all you need including cut outs and supply lists. By collecting things from around the house you will have the supplies you need to make a fun dinosaur craft project.  Go to this website to get your craft project: http://www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/Trexcutout.shtml

Like the hawk or an eagle, they may look like a typical day-flying predator, but their special adaptations will allow an owl to find prey under the night covering. Owls have large eyes and can collect all available light during the darkest hours.

Their sensitive ears can hear the tiniest scampering sound of prey and their soft wings make them silent stalkers of the night.  Owls are a group of birds known for their distinct calls, nocturnal habits, and silent flight.

You may not know that Owls are unable to move their eyes within their sockets to a great extent, which means they must turn their entire head to see in a different direction. Because owls have forward-facing eyes, they have well-developed binocular vision.

Owls create a wide variety of sounds or vocalizations. The familiar hoot is usually a territorial declaration, though not all species are able to hoot. Other sounds owls might make include screeches, hisses, and screams.

You can read more about this animal at this website where I found this information: http://animals.about.com/od/owl1/a/tenthingsowls.htm

Surprise your child with new 3d wood puzzles by ImagiPLAY.  This Colorado based company has been designing and manufacturing safe wooden children’s toys for ten years and closely monitors their design and production. All of their wood puzzles are naturally safe, not only for your children but for your children’s planet.

Our Owl is a natural wood puzzle measuring 4.25” x 6” and comes with a pallet of paint and a paint brush. Children three and up will enjoy learning about owls and have even more fun when they get to paint their very own owl from their new paint kit.

This “ColorMeUP Owl” is 1-1/2” thick and will easily stand up on your child’s bookcase or dresser.  Other puzzles in this collection include a cute lion, set of two bunnies, pretty butterfly, wood train and a rocking horse.  Available online at All I Can Imagine.