Blocks And 3d Puzzles

You will find many wooden kids toys on the market today, especially if you shop online. Children’s wooden toys are made with quality craftsmanship in small family businesses as well as mass produced by large companies.

A natural made material, wood can be recycled and often wood blocks and indoor play sets are made from recycled materials. Wooden toys are more durable and children have always been more attracted to a wooden toy. When you teach your children to properly care for their children’s wooden toys they could possibly last their entire childhood and even be kept and passed down to their children.

When you see a room full of toys and children you may easily notice they gravitate to the toddler learning toys that are made of wood.  Wood toys make us feel nostalgic. Wood is comforting and is one of the reasons they are worthy enough to be passed on from one generation to the next.

A Day at the Zoo Wooden Play Set

Wood toys remain a sensible choice for toddler toys and will keep your children busy playing for hours on end.  Play is an essential part of all kid’s learning and emotional development. A wood toy is most often a toy that comes with no rules.  Whether a truck, a doll house, a miniature farm animal set, or a play set such A Day at the Zoo children will be encouraged to learn by touching and exploring.

Parents and educators can utilize a child’s play time as an educational lesson as they ask open ended question pertaining to their play activities.  The individual play pieces can be used in other make up games or incorporated in other games.

When you visit our website All I Can Imagine you may notice some changes.  Many of the wooden toys have been discontinued and are no longer available.  ImagiPLAY has been purchased by BeginAgain Toys, an eco-toy company based in Fort Collins, Colorado.  This company is going to be offering many of the ImagiPLAY toys you are used to seeing online and they also plan on updating several of the current designs for release in 2012.

Updates will be provided on our website and this BLOG as they come available.

Christmas will be here before you know it; shop early!

Apple Tree Wooden Bead Maze toy

You will be reading today about a favorite kid’s toy that has been a classic for over twenty years. Today’s Friday Feature products are the wire bead maze toys. They have been acclaimed to be one of the most fun educational toys in today’s market.

Also known as a rollercoaster toy, these wooden kid’s toys provide your young children a three-dimensional manipulative experience in the perceptual, motor, and language areas and is one of the most sought after toy for both kids and parents alike. Giving your young toddler a simple bead maze toy offers him or her more than just hours of delightful entertainment, it will help improve your children’s motor skills as well as cognition, detection and language.

From small wire toys to medium sized cubes (with a variety of other toys included) to large, complex bead maze toy tables, many types of bead mazes exist today. Engaging children of all ages maze toys have retained their popularity. With Christmas coming up these toddler learning toys are sure to be found on many parents and educators shopping lists.

And, as with any child’s toy parents will want to select a wire maze toy which is appropriate for the age of their children. One manufacturer of this popular wooden toy is ImagiPLAY. This company, located in Colorado, provides safe educational children’s toys painted with non-toxic paints.

If you are seeking your child’s first maze toy ImagiPLAY’s products are a good place to start as they carry a line of smaller sized bead mazes that are approximately 4 inches.  Their brightly colored selections include: green frog, brown bear, white kitty with black spots, a flower and an apple tree have been sized to fit in a stroller or your child’s car seat for great fun-as-you-go. This is a riveting toy and will keep children happy and occupied while you are busy driving.

Rollercoaster bead maze toys provide children the opportunity to slide colorful beads along wires that arch and loop interestingly around one another. Even older children and an adult can get interested in playing. This is a riveting toy that not only delights children but captivates their attention as soon as they are exposed to any sized maze toy that is age appropriate.

You will enjoy watching your child fall in love with his wire maze toy; watch him or her follow the colorful beads up and then down, and around the many gently and curves that spiral every which way. As your child moves the wood beads he can begin to count and spin each bead.  He can learn the difference between the colors and you could make a game of having him or her count the red beads, then the yellow beads and so on.

This is a great toddler toy for free play, hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills, and more. This is why you will often find a maze toy of one size or another in waiting rooms such as your dentist’s office, pediatrician’s office, racquet club, spa, or your accountant’s office.

Parents and educators will feel a sense of security as they leave children alone with one of these delightful toddler toys because there are no loose parts to swallow. The smaller models can easily and safely travel with you when you go on both short or long trips and then they can be taken inside so your children may continue to be entertained throughout the day, afternoon and into the evening.

Children love figuring out the path of the beads from beginning to end.  This wire bead maze toy offers a level of early learning complexity to play. Another important benefit is the strengthening of hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills obtained in the play process.

This concludes the first Friday Feature Article. Our series will continue through November with a new toy category each Friday.  Read our Press Release.

This term, “Nature Deficit Disorder” may be a new disorder you have not heard of.  If your child does not get outside enough and is not exposed to nature preserves and forests or parks he may be at risk.

Electronic games, computer games and other toys children have nowadays (that were not even invented while I was a child) can easily take up too much of your children’s time.  When was the last time you and your family went out to a nature preserve and spent the day exploring different trees and critters?

Kids and nature just naturally go together but if your children play too many computer games they may never find the excitement of seeing a frog or a worm or a pretty red cardinal.  Studies suggest that interacting with nature can help children develop their five senses and diminish emotional problems as well as attention deficit disorders.

Getting out in nature is also a great way for family bonding. There will be less time spent saying “no” and you can just have fun together with no strict planned agenda.  This is better for everyone’s emotional being (even stressed out moms). 

You could also plan a day out that would be consistent with some school subject or lesson your child is involved in.  Or, your child may have shown some interest in something he saw in a book and you can find a museum or park where you can let him see something firsthand.

If you live in Atlanta:  Autrey Mill Nature Preserve and Heritage Center in Alpharetta has a 46 acre nature preserve and 2 miles of hiking trails.  In Palmetto, Cochran Mill Nature Center has a log cabin and 50 wooden acres.  Gainesville’s Elachee Nature Science Center is at the entrance to 1,400 acres of woods and is the first designated nature center in Georgia.

It is 90 plus degrees and too hot to go outside; but, still I began thinking about Christmas shopping as I picked up a few items yesterday afternoon while I was at my favorite dollar store.

Christmas shopping can be fun, profitable, and best of all, stress-free. Stay with me here; picture this. You have just discovered you have some “unscheduled time”, time to yourself and no one needs anything and you do not have to go anywhere – it can happen!

Because there is no rush and no time constraints, boot up your computer and have some fun shopping for some new children’s wooden toys either for your kids, grandkids, or extended family and friends kids.

Parents who shop early as in July, August or September have more time to explore toddler learning toys on various websites and locate wood blocks, indoor playsets and other wooden kid’s toys which you will most likely not find in retail stores.

Take your time; it is fun to meander around different online toy stores and your feet won’t begin to hurt! Think about the excitement on Christmas morning when your toddlers open up that special gift, that unique toddler toy no one else on your block has yet to provide their kids.

Maybe you will select an African Safari indoor playset, or a dinosaur puzzle playset

Each dinosaur is an individual toy.

 found at All I Can Imagine. Or you might begin getting your child (or add to a previous) set of ImagiBRICKS, giant cardboard building blocks.

Because you have chosen to shop early you will not have to worry about delivery issues that often occur in December when you wait to shop. Shopping will also be fun because you will enjoy browsing around different stores and not have to think: “I’ve got to find a nice toy today, I waited until the last minute, again, with no idea of what I want to get.

Take your time shopping for your toddler’s toys; it is only July and it is too hot to go outside. If you find a toy that is on sale so much the better.  Shopping on line is profitable even if you do not find a toy that is on sale because you saved on gas, buying a drink when driving from store to store and you were able to eat from you own refrigerator.

Yes, Christmas shopping can be fun, profitable, and best of all, stress-free and you will feel proud of yourself for being so smart to shop early!

Children, after the age of about three, will have developed pretty good language skills as well as a reasonable amount of motor skills.  Although some exposure to computer programs can be educational as well as fun will you be providing your three year with a computer?

If you decide to do so you will want to be sure the programs on the compute are age appropriate.  And, of course, you will have to decide ahead of time just how much computer time you will be allowing your child.  Setting time limits right from the beginning will cause fewer problems as the children grow and want to spend more and more time in front of the computer.

When selecting computer programs you could ask yourself, is this really necessary? Will the program fit in with your educational goals for your child? The program may seem fun but can it also be used as teaching tool?

Computers and the available programs may be enticing, but there is nothing an infant or young child cannot learn from other sources such as books and games.  You probably do not want your child to prefer to be glued to a computer screen rather than sitting in your lap looking at a picture book together.

You can create more memories with one-on-one personal time interacting with your child. What better way to bond than with individual attention given your precious child. Not only will you get to know your child better you will have more control in teaching him the values and lessons you want him to learn.

Providing your children quality wooden kids toys will enhance his creative play time. There are many unique and fun toddler learning toys on the market today that will give your child the experiences he needs for building eye hand coordination, social skills and other benefits.

Besides reading or playing a game you could sit on the floor with a pretty puzzle play set (pictured) and engage in creative, fun play. With the many animal figures, each a separate puzzle piece, you will have easy opportunities to teach your child about many different animals.

Have your child trace several different animals, cut them out, and color them.  You could make magnets out of them, or even a mobile.  Your child may likely come up with some ideas of his own.

So if you do decide to get your three year old a computer remember to also incorporate plenty of educationsl wood toys for most of his other play time.

Swimming Lessons: All children love to swim and toddlers, for the most part, are no different. However, swimming can be dangerous for little ones who don’t know how to swim. Drowning incidents are reported every year from all over the world and generally occur because the child didn’t know how to swim. So, not only are swimming lessons fun for toddlers, they are extremely important and one activity all toddlers should do every year.

Soccer: Most people think that soccer is a sport that is for older children, but it is actually one of the only sports available that children as young as 3 can participate in. Even most T-Ball programs require children to be at least 4 before they can play. This is why soccer is one of the best fun summer activities available for toddlers.

When it is too hot to go outside, or maybe even raining you will want to have on hand new 3d natural wooden puzzles to give your children.  Natural wood puzzles by ImagiPLAY are safe wooden kids toys and include a free pallet of paint.  Choose from several animals and discover our abc and number puzzles also.  Visit All I Can Imagine today!

Look for Quality – Just because a particular curriculum comes with a lot of  books and materials, does not mean that it’s better. You need to place more emphasis on your children’s learning style than how much comes with various curriculums.

If you are thinking that the curriculum of a public school will be superior to what your child would receive at home you may be surprised to learn that some of the books in schools have been found to have complicated illustrations and irrelevant photos that detracted students from learning the subject at hand.

Finding the best home school curriculum that fits the needs of your individual student is extremely important. School books and materials are available in several tried and true complete packages. Some can even be tailored to cover a large set of needs. This will mean a curriculum for home school that takes into account the abilities of a student as well as the specific learning objectives or interests.

If you’re lookig for a more religion/bible based education being provided then a Christian homeschool program may be right for you and your family. Some families are interested in Christian based education and as such, have turned to homeschooling.

 Homeschool Supercenter can help your children get Bible based education that will be consistent with this goal regardless of the denomination of your faith.  Here is the website for Homeschool Supercenter.

  Christian home school curriculum, Sonlight Curriculum provides quality, literature-rich K-12 and related educational products, resources, and programs. Their desire is to instill in children a life-long love of learning, preparing them to engage new ideas in order to make a positive difference in the world. Sonlight selects engaging books and readers that cover topics such as Bible, history, language arts, handwriting, math, science, and more.

 Donna Young’s website is wonderful and she has printable fraction manipulatives. I like that hers have the fraction, percentage, and decimal form on each of the pie slices.

You should also consider the fact that you may be able to make your own learning materials and not have to purchase them. For example, you may be able to make your own manipulatives instead of buying them.

***Selling your used curriculum is a great way to get some money to reinvest into the next school year.

Visit our toys website, All I Can Imagine and see our unique puzzle playsets. Choose from three wonderful topics, sea life, rainforest and dinosaur. These wooden kids toys will make a perfect addition to your toddler learning toys and will help you create interesting and fun lessons for homeschoolers.

 You can find many brightly colored candy items to put in your child’s Easter basket; they are in every store I visit.  There are also several sizes of stuffed animals that are really cute and it would be difficult to pick just the right one.

But, how about a special surprise for your toddler such as 3d wooden puzzles?  ImagiPLAY manufacturers safe wooden kids toys that are educational in nature and splinter proof.

This bunny we have pictured here comes with a free pallet of paint. It can, of course be kept natural but if your child wants to paint it he will have his own paint brush and watercolor paint, and with a little help (if needed) from a parent he can create something he can show off and be proud to display. Here is a sample of the painted bunnies.

You can teach your kids about dinosaurs anytime of the year and you do not have to wait until October. Even though October is the International Dinosaur month your kids will love learning about the fascinating world of dinosaurs anytime of the year.

Delve into the fascinating prehistoric world to learn all about these large, extinct reptiles from the Mesozoic era. You can easily find many references online that will provide your students with interesting facts about the Stegosaurus, T-Rex, and Triceratops. You’ll also find drawing activities and lessons for math and social studies to incorporate dinosaur activities across your curriculum.

 One place to start is at this teacher resourse website.  Here you will find many teacher resources for helping teach your kids about dinosaurs.  Learn how to Dye Dinosaur Eggs – great for grades 1-3. (Click the back button when you are done visiting this website to return to this blog post.)

Or get a Tyrannosaurus Rex Cut-Out (at the above link) and have your students color, cut out, and assemble Tyrannosaurus Rex. Appropriate for grade levels Pre-K – 3.

Visit a museum.  If you live in New York City take you family to the American Museum of Natural History and find out how a 60-foot dinosaur live, breathe, eat, and move. An upcoming, exciting exhibition will feature cutting-edge research about super-sized sauropods-including the giant Mamenchisaurus, one of the largest animals to ever walk the Earth-and offers new insights into how their colossal bodies functioned. Opens April 16, 2011.

 Gather you kids around the computer and click on this link for a preview of this amazing exhibition. 

 Another idea, on a smaller scale, is to provide your children a dinosaur toy.  At All I Can Imagine we provide wooden kids toys by ImagiPLAY.  These unique toddler learning toys will enhance your lesson plans.  See our dinosaur puzzle playset with 13 individual animal figures to help with your children’s lessons.

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 toddler learning 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.