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Fun Forever with Fuzzy Felt
Fuzzy Felt was first launched in 1950 and is the classic toy that many of us remember playing with when we were younger. Although it was a simple concept (a fuzzy board and felt pieces) it still remains a fantastic source of stimulation, creativity and fun for infants, toddlers, children and if were honest, adults too!
Using Fuzzy Felt can help little ones to build their skills in spatial awareness, modelling, designing and making and still inspires generation after generation. Fuzzy Felt can often help children to develop their understanding colour recognition, shapes, size, orientation, sequencing, and ordering.
With modern designs now available such sets themed upon popular television characters, animals, shapes, education and much more, it is now easy to tailor the fuzzy felts for a specific target audience.
Available from www.toysdirect.com from £8.10, Fuzzy Felt is the ideal activity for rainy days, quiet time, learning or just for fun!
Flash Family Fun
Developing speech and language can be done in so many different ways with little ones. Encouraging speech wherever and whenever possible is fundamental to building the connections between understanding and communication. One fun way in which to link familiar people and words together can be to create your own ‘Family Flash Cards’.
To make your own set of family flash cards simply take pictures of your little ones family and friends (if possible using a digital camera as images can be then be edited to be a particular shape or size). Print/ write the correct names onto the back of each image and then punch a hole into the corner of each image using a hole punch so that the pictures can be attached to a ring/ ribbon/ string. If you have access to a laminator you may wish to laminate each picture so that it is protected from spills and accidents and is more robust for rough handling.
Visual aids and Flash Cards are an excellent resource for stimulating little minds to remember and connect information together in order to verbally communicate. By keeping your flash cards around and about when playing, they can then be accessed by your child at any time for fun or educational purposes. Once your little one has mastered the names of family and friends why not continue building your ‘flash card’ collection with familiar objects, places, pets, people or even TV characters!
Try to remember that simply using flash cards once will have very little effect, repetition is important when trying to instil information into little minds. Most importantly, have fun and watch the smiles from family and friends as your little one begins to associate faces with names and make the correct connections.
Learning is Precious, Treasure your little ones development: A Guide to creating a ‘Treasure Basket’.
From an early age, your little one will begin to show preferences and choice over the items they wish to play with. In order to provide your child with a form of heuristic play which aids exploration, hand-eye coordination, refines motor skills and promotes grasp and manipulation, put together a ‘Treasure Basket’, which can be used from the time your little one is able to sit onwards.
Firstly, select an appropriate basket to fill with items, the basket should ideally be sturdy, low level and made from natural materials such as wicker or wood. Secondly, select a range of materials which differ in texture and temperature to put into the basket. The items should be made from textured rubber, leather, natural materials, wood or metal.
Here is a list of suggested items to put into your treasure basket.
Your child should never be left alone with a treasure basket, it is important to monitor your child whilst using this item. Although it may be tempting, try to sit back and allow your child the space and time to explore the items within the basket. In order to encourage complete focus upon the activity of exploration, place the basket upon a blank sheet or plain carpet.
Try to rotate and change some of the items included in the basket over time, as your child becomes older you may select more complex sensory objects.
For young infants, if your child finds it difficult to grasp items, offer them an item at a time, you may need to hold this out for your child to touch, explore and become familiar with. Where possible allow them the independence to select items for themselves.
Finally, take time with your little ones to enjoy exploration and sensory learning.
Go Looney for Ludanimo!
Ludanimo is a multi-use game, consisting of three games in total which are designed specifically for infants. Although there are three set games (see below for games) which are clearly explained in the instructions provided the blocks, dice and animals provided in the game itself are ideal for stacking, building or even rolling. The attractive pictures and colours entice infants to play and learn.
Designed by Djeco, a French based company ‘Ludanimo’ is an ideal game for 1-4 infants. The box contains two rubbery dice, 6 rubber animals, 15 beautifully decorated cardboard shapes (boxes, cylinders and triangles) and a detailed set of instructions as how to play. The three set games are:
- A circuit game (where infants can roll dice to send their animal around a circuit of blocks and whoever gets to the end first wins).
- A balancing game similar to that of jenga
- A memory game
Djeco make a wide range of games which are similar in style and vary in age suitability. Ludamino is currently not well known of in the UK, thus is unavailable from most UK based websites. However www.amazon.com sell this product for $38.99 which when converted into GBP retails at £25.57.
MBM Top Tip: Have Fun for Free with Bubbles!
It’s amazing how much you can spend on toys for infants and toddlers. Rather than wasting hard earned cash on entertainment for your little one, save yourself some pennies and soap up!
Little ones love looking at bubbles, the beautiful rainbow colours which shimmer from the bubbles in the light, the way that they pop, join together, bounce… Spend some time with your little one blowing bubbles for them to catch/ pop, its cheap, easy and FUN.
For those parents with older children try using time to encourage and inspire your child to learn. Discuss the structure of a bubble whilst at the same time having fun.
Happy Bubble Blowing from MBM!
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