Blocks And 3d Puzzles

Phonics – How Important is This Method in Teaching Kids to Read?

It has been said that learning to read is not a natural process. As Mitford Mathews said, “Words are not like tadpoles or flowers or horses. Words are man-made…”   Many numbers of changes have been made throughout the years regarding the systems for teaching reading in an attempt to make learning to read easier.

In the one room school era spelling was considered very important and spelling bees were quite popular.  When I was in grade school in the early 1950’s I remember participating in spelling bees; and I was quite good too.

Blocks help kids learn 100 basic sight words

You will unlock endless hours of creative, safe play with kids toy blocks called ImagiBRICKS™.  These toys for toddlers will be the focus of this week’s Friday Feature.

ImagiBRICKS™ are kids building blocks and are educational kids toys designed to stimulate your children’s minds as they provide opportunities for creative, open-ended play.

MADE IN THE USA!

These giant cardboard building blocks are made right here in America. They are produced in Wisconsin where there is a large paper industry. Smart Monkey’s warehouse is near the plant where the blocks are produced. By keeping everything close, they are cutting down on the fuel needed to transport materials and providing much-needed jobs to American workers. The paper industry in our country has been struggling with many companies buying their cardboard from China. China has to import their raw materials from the U.S. or Canada to make their cardboard.

CHILDREN WHO HAVE A PHYSICAL DISABILITIES CAN PLAY WITH THESE CARDBOARD BLOCKS

The size and shape of these kids building blocks enables a caregiver to provide hand over hand assistance to a child without obstructing the child’s view.  The light weight of these cardboard blocks is beneficial to children with muscle weaknesses.  You may play catch with the toy blocks as they will not be harmed by tossing them and/or dropping them.  They are easier than a ball to catch and have no rough edges to hurt any child.  If your child can sit at a table he will still be able to do some stacking and/or sorting exercises/games.   He, too, will be able to develop eye-hand coordination and cooperative hand movements depending on his abilities.  And as with any young child he will delight in all the bright colors of this set of cardboard blocks!

These kid’s building blocks are geared for children 18 months and up and will provide open-ended play for both boys and girls.  The cardboard building blocks are available online and come in sets of 16, 24, 40 and bulk quantities.  Except for the 16 piece set which contains all large red, 12 x 6 x 3 inch building blocks all sets have three sized blocks in yellow, blue and red.

Another popular toy block sets are the Rainbow blocks which are the same size as the red blocks.  These Rainbow block sets include the red along with green, purple and orange.

Build Tall Towers with Rainbow Blocks

The 24 piece set of Rainbow blocks in on sale.

You may have been reading the articles we are posting about homeschooling and we have several more to post. However, we’d now like to talk about another choice you may not have thought about – Boarding Schools.

Boarding schools are a small part of America’s educational system and are not just for the elite or troubled students.  There are a wide range of philosophies, lifestyles and teaching modes to choose from if you would like to consider a boarding school as an alternate to public, private, and homeschooling.

Nowadays, there are schools for every need – no matter what your child’s interest or your families religious affiliation.  If you are interested in having your child in a very strict environment such as found in the military there are military schools. Is your child interested in the arts and likely to pursue a career in professional dance or music; there are art schools. Schools are available in elementary and middle school grade levels.  There are also schools for both special needs and behavioral and emotional needs.

As you can see, public schools are not our only option nowadays.  Boarding schools also offer much smaller class sizes with a ratio of 8.6 to 1 and often as low as 3 to 1 in schools specializing in children’s academic problems.

An intense academic curriculum is available in boarding schools and the majority of the educators have advanced degrees.  Evening study is also a part of the regular every day schedule.

Faculty in boarding schools lives on the campus in many cases and they are available to your children not only in class but throughout the rest of the day and each school has extracurricular programs to fit its particular culture.

Another advantage of a boarding school education is that it will give your children their first taste of independence ( in a controlled atmosphere),  getting them ready for living away from home when they go on to college.

If you are interested in finding a boarding school or learning about further options you could visit this website:  http://www.boardingschoolreview.com/researchschools.php.  It will provide you with many links to help you in your search and decision making.

Got another minute?  Browse through our website, All I Can Imagine for quality built toddler toy; a great idea for an anytime gift are ImagiBRICKS.  We sell the award-winning giant cardboard building blocks. These are kids toy blocks that are crush proof and have a drool-proof coating.

Strong ImagiBRICKS toy blocks

ImagiBRICKS giant cardboard building blocks are one of best toddler toys on the market for your children. And, here is why we can make this statement.

Creative play is of utmost importance in your babies and toddlers early lives and you want to provide them quality kids building blocks. ImagiBRICKS are the award-winning block toys your grandparents enjoyed playing with and so will your children.

These kids toy blocks are easy to assemble by simple folding and have secured fitting, smooth seams.  They are also crush proof and have a drool-proof coating.  This coating makes it easy for you to keep the blocks sanitary and clean.  You will be delighted to learn that this coating is not slippery and the blocks will stack as high as your toddlers can reach.

ImagiBRICKS giant cardboard building blocks are not only strong, they are lightweight. Young children and toddlers enjoy carrying these blocks around and as they get older will begin to build simple structures.  As they get a little older they will have fun (and build even more muscle strength) when they begin to build their mighty towers. Knocking down their towers will be a quiet activity (cardboard blocks do not make noise) except for the squeals of delight by your children.

Spatial awareness, beginning math, recognizing different sizes and colors, and opened ended play with no rules (except for the ones they, themselves make up) make building block toys one of the most desired educational toy parents, daycare centers, play zones, museums, and homes will provide their children.

When shopping for these kids building blocks you will find a variety of sets available online. When you find some that sell for half the price they will not be the toy blocks we are describing here, in this article. ImagiBRICKS cardboard building blocks are stronger and crush proof while the less expensive blocks are not.

The giant cardboard blocks in this article are made in the USA and manufactured from 50% recycled materials and this will conclude giving you all the information you will need to know about ImagiBRICKS and did not know who to ask.

It’s not uncommon for people to think of homeschooling families as those with a stay at home parent, most often the mother. However, this isn’t necessarily always the case. It is actually possible to work outside of the home and home school too.

However, many mothers feel as if they have to choose to either, home school and stay home or to work and send their kids to public schools. In fact, you may be one of these women. If you are considering homeschooling and currently have a job away from home, know that it’s possible to do both. Below are a few tips to help.

1. Change Your Perspective – The majority of those who think about homeschooling think that it has to work just like the public school system, as far as time is concerned. Many people feel that homeschooling will take all day and needs to be done during the morning to mid-afternoon, but this isn’t the case. In fact, you’ll be surprised to learn that homeschooling often takes less time than traditional schooling.

How? First of all, you don’t have to wait for children to arrive as they are already there and secondly, you aren’t going to be teaching large numbers of children – just your own. Therefore, homeschooling works much quicker than traditional education does. In fact, it can actually be done in under an hour each day!

2. Choose Your Curriculum Wisely – Not all homeschooling curriculum is hard to understand and complicated. Therefore, if you want to work outside the home and home school also, then you should look for curriculums that present information in an easy-to-understand way. For example, look for a curriculum that has short lessons that don’t take up a lot of time. Also, be willing to consider a curriculum that doesn’t teach “lessons.”

Part two of this article will be posted on June 6th – watch for it!

Got another minute?  Check out our giant cardboard building blocks.  These kids toy blocks will allow your children to play creatively and gain muscle strength.  Did you know that kids learn basic math skills when playing with building block toys?

Giant cardboard building blocks are a good investment because children will continue to use the blocks toys as they grow. Infants and toddlers enjoy simply touching and gripping larger blocks.

 As toddlers, children develop more muscle control and are able to combine toy blocks, stack them, or line them up. Two-year-olds may demonstrate their first attempts at building structures such as simple walls and towers, and show the beginnings of creative play.

Around the age of three, children learn how to balance and fit the individual toys blocks together to build sturdier towers, then bridges and enclosures. Three and four year olds begin to recognize designs and patterns and colors so their towers and buildings becoming works of art.

In kindergarten and early primary grades, kids toy blocks allow children to recreate structures, cities and landscapes from everyday life. Stackable toy blocks are one of the best educational kids toys you can provide you children.

ImagiBRICKS kids building blocks are crush-proof! When you order ImagiBRICKS blocks toys you will get the best cardboard building blocks for preschool children on the market! Order your giant building blocks toys today. Made in the U.S.A.

Unschooling – This is also a form of alternative education. However, those who unschool don’t follow a curriculum, but instead take cues from their children regarding how, when and what to teach them.

The majority of parents who choose to enlist the help of alternative education want to give their children more opportunities, better education and more individual attention. Therefore, as parents continue to grow unhappy with the public school system, alternative education will continue to rise.

Here are some ideas others have used in beginning to unschool their children:

1. When they were worried about answering people’s concerns that we were taking their son out of school, they memorized, “We’re going to try this and see how it goes.”
2. When they wanted to respond to their children without bossiness but still tell them their concerns, they memorized, “I’m not sure about this, but let’s think about it together.”

Here is an excerpt from Sandra Dodd’s unschooling website:

What would you tell your pre-unschooling self?
Sarah Anderson-Thimmes

Back in the day, these are the things I would have told my brand new unschooling self:

Kids want to learn. They just do. Get the heck out of the way, and leave an interesting trail behind you.

If a child is happily playing a computer game or watching TV for the *entire* time that that child would have been in school, that child is infinitely better off than if she was unhappily at school.

The main goal is raising happy kids. Everything else is a bonus.

Worry and guilt are pretty much wasted emotions. Act from right now.

This is the second part of the first article I posted on March 25th. There will be twelve main articles we will be posting.  You may receive the titles of all twelve articles and purchase them individually or as a set by writing us.

Before you leave our blog why not spend a minute looking through our kids toy blocks? We provide parents and educators crush proof, award winning ImagiBRICKS made right here in the USA.  Our giant cardboard building blocks are manufactured from 50% recycled materials and are both strong and lightweight.

Blocks are one of the best educational toys you will be buying for your toddlers and come in a variety of materials.  Three of the choices I can think of are foam, wood and cardboard and we will briefly discuss each one today.

Actually, I could not find much information regarding foam blocks.  I did learn some claim to be surface washable and come in various sizes including large triangle blocks.  As with any blocks they can assist in your child’s fundamental positive growth.  Foam blocks have easy-to-grip, textured foam pieces and would be appropriate for one year olds. 

I found no information about how durable they are and if they had non toxic paints to color the foam.  Some did claim to have flame-retardant fabric covers for easy cleaning. 

WOODEN BLOCKS

Your toddlers and preschoolers will love to play with alphabet wood toy blocks which have numbers, alphabets or pictures printed on them. Although most blocks are commonly used for stacking activities, children can always mix these children wooden blocks with other kind of blocks and use them together to create a structure.

I have read that there are two sizes of ABC building blocks for kids: the ones sized around 1 inch, and the bigger ones (1.75 inches). The bigger ones may be more stable and versatile.

If you have a toddler, it is important to get an ABC wooden block set painted with non toxic and good quality paint. So that when they chew the cubes, the paint won’t come off. It’s also important to get the ones which have smooth edges.

When your child reaches a preschooler age, she will also be ready to play with unit blocks, or wooden building blocks which have different kind of shapes including prism, pyramid, cubes and long cylinder.

Archiquest is said to be the most educational architectural block set available and is most suitable for older kindergartner or school-age children.  These blocks are known to be beautifully painted and have different shapes and prints.

Lincoln Log and Frontier Log blocks are said to be popular wooden building toys for children and especially interesting since, as the name implies, your child will be able to build different kinds of log cabin using these child building logs.

If you have school-age children who think that wooden building block is no more their cups of tea as it’s getting too easy, then get a set of plank building blocks. These children’s wooden blocks are made of planks and children are expected to build a structure from those planks. They are undoubtedly very educational and are sometimes found in children’s museums or schools.

CARDBOARD BLOCKS

They are simple and loads of fun, and, if you get ImagiBRICKS, exceptionaly durable for rough housing and creative play. The boys like to build things to kick down, build forts, castles, ramps, steps, etc…they are great for the imagination. Girls  love to build “houses” and play with her dolls…just about anything a kid can think of to build, and they are light and easy to carry around.

Giant cardboard building blocks made by Smart Monkey Toys are called ImagiBRICKS and are the award winning kids building blocks your grandparents played with.  They are crush proof and now come with a drool-resistant coating.  Even with this coating they are not slippery and stack as high as your child can reach.

Kids love to stack these blocks and knock them down and they are a favorite of parents because they are a quite toy and won’t wake the baby when your toddlers knock them down.  Giant blocks are also great for helping your kids build muscle strength as they carry them from place to place and spend hours on end building and creating new structures.

Three choices, foam, wood and cardboard blocks; each has their own purpose and advantage and you will most likely be purchasing any or all three choices as your children grow.

Comments from parents and teachers about your favorite blocks will gladly be posted!

Toddler age children can be expected to be able to put on his/her own clothes. With help, they will be able to brush their own teeth, combine words, know over 50 words and use pronouns such as I, me, you and mine.

When children reach toddler age they will know their body parts, walk up and down stairs, kick a ball, jump up, and throw a ball over his head. His/her speech should be half understandable.

It is important to be aware of children’s stages of development so that you may better provide them age appropriate toys to help them along in their development.

Because toddlers can stack 4-6 blocks it is now time to provide them toy blocks.  We have pictured for you a set of giant cardboard building blocks that will help your children get started in building muscle tone.

These ImagiBRICKS, as they are called, have a drool proof coating and are crush proof.  Children can stand on them, carry them around and stack them.  And, because children love knocking down their stacked blocks these are the ideal toys as there are no sharp edges to harm them.

Smart Monkey Toys manufacturers these safe toddler toys from 50% recycled cardboard.  Visit All I Can Imagine, our website, to see all the other varieties of blocks for your boys and girls.

Keeping toddlers active is an important part of their development; specifically, their muscle development.  When your child has muscles that are on the loose, floppy side you may want to follow the link that we are providing in this post.

One of our readers asked the question “how fast can I see muscle definition”, in reply to our blog post  “Build, Jump, Crash – Fun with Blocks Toys”.  We thought many of our other readers may be interested in the answer so we are directing you all to a great website that may answer this question.

On this web page you will learn just what “low muscle tone” means and what you can do about it.  Toddlers need to build their muscular strength as well as their agility and this is why open ended toys that keep children moving around are so important.

Carrying around giant cardboard building blocks is one fun, safe game for young children. After  you read more at: http://www.babycenter.com/404_what-is-low-muscle-tone-and-what-does-it-mean_12189.bc why not visit our website and see all our ImagiBRICKS toy blocks.