Awesome Preschool Learning Toys

I fell in love with these wooden pieces for making letters after seeing them on The Write Start. They can be purchased at Handwriting Without Tears, where they are described as follows;

• The Wood Pieces Set and activities help children develop fine motor, social, vocabulary and letter formation skills.

• Fun Wood Piece activities teach basic letter size, shape, and position concepts.

• Set includes 26 pieces: 8 big lines, 6 big curves, 6 little lines, 6 little curves.

When I was teaching 5-7 year olds these would have been invaluable as there are many children who need a tactile experience to reinforce learning of what are quite abstract concepts such as letter formation. Making letters with playdough, lego on base boards or by drawing with a stick in the sand are similar learning tools.

I also love and am saving up to buy Immy some tree blocks which are available at Honeybee Toys. They are available both with bark and barkless.

We had two sets at the child care centre I previously ran and they were well loved by the children for their wonderful open-ended possibilities. Their irregularities challenge the child’s thinking when buildng (as opposed to the more regular shapes of normal building blocks).

Here is an example of a completed sculpture (by a 3 year old girl). Loving the river stone detailing!