Teaching With Games, Puzzles and Toys
Play time is essential to every child’s growth just like any adult that needs to unwind. The word play can be understood in countless different ways but in a child’s mind, the word play is synonymous to puzzles, imaginary friends, games and toys. This is the time of the day when they are most alive and their imagination is at its peak. This is the reason why every school has designated a play time for children. And parents at home should not under estimate the power of play time for their children when they decided to homeschool them. Now parents and teachers are taking advantage of play time to inject learning while they are at play.
Parents should not be in hurry to let their children grow up for this is the only time where they can enjoy playing with their children. Make sure that play time is family time so your child can associate this not as a task but a time to enjoy. There are many educational games and toys that you can use to stimulate the brain and motor skills of your children. These educational materials may look simple to adults but it can be a great help for children in learning math, art, language and the entire learning spectrum. So here are the some of the toys and games that you can use to educational purposes.
Puzzles and Word Games – Easy to use and inexpensive, puzzles and word games can keep your child’s mind working overtime for it improves vocabulary, spelling, problem solving and enhance pattern recognition skills. This is a great activity to learn English as well as to practice other languages. Playing with puzzles can be the best brain workout your child can have for it keeps the brain mentally active, it banishes boredom and improve memory.
Legos – Building blocks are one of the most effective educational toys. This is a perfect toy to strengthen family bonding as you teach your child to create something and help them identify colors as they are building them. Other building blocks have pictures in them where parents can use to help their children identify animals and shapes. When playing alone children can benefit from their play narratives as it improve literary and motor skills. Parents can be extra creative by sticking some words in the Lego bricks and let them try to create short sentences, a great activity for imaginative and sensory play.
Clay – Playing with clay is a perfect child workout by simply manipulating it your child developed their small and large muscles. They can squeeze, pound, poke and hit it, and 100% of the time they will enjoy it. It also improves the eye and hand coordination, plus it can help increase the child’s attention span. A perfect material for kids to learn that every action has its own consequences and for them to realize it is a great deal. Like the clay, the child’s brain is also taking in shape as they mold it into something.
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