Educational toys for preschoolers

There is a lot of toys on the market today that claims to be educational in the hopes to sell more toys. But are they truly necessary or even educational?

We as a family do not believe in screen time as an educational tool. Children that use screens are less likely to love reading and their imagination will be dumb down.

As a teacher I have seen this many times over. But on the flip side the children that love reading is also the independent learners that are eager to learn and do not only academically thrive but also in other aspects of life.

Therefor I want my children to foremost be good readers that have a love for reading and then be able to use their imagination for play, even without toys.

So to encourage reading my husband made me a "bookshelf" similar to the one below so that the children will have access to books all the time.
 

For children 0-3 years old I do recommend an open space for them to play and open ended toys that stimulates their imagination.

1) Blocks
 Duplo is a great toy that kids of all ages love. Wooden blocks is so easy to make and kids can make it in to any thing they want.

2) Puzzles and fine motor skill- games
Chunky wooden puzzles are great for little hands and are a lot of fun to play with.

Any wooden toys that are used for fine motor skill practice are a great tool.
Stacker toys

3) Sorting toys
You can use a shape sorter or small to large or sort by colour, they will all serve the same purpose: to practice visual discrimination and fine motor skills.


4) Musical toys
Not the kind of toys that makes music for the child but toys that the child uses to make music.

 

5) Movement toys
Toys that the child can manipulate to move. Think toys like balls, wooden cars, trains and helicopters.




What educational toys do you love?

Bible Curriculum Gr R (Kindergarten) 2019

My son (3 yo) will start Gr. R in 2019 and I am busy gathering his curriculum. I am using a lot of different books and not a set curriculum from one source. This is what I plan on using for our Bible curriculum.

Every morning we read from this illustrated Children's Bible: (Afrikaans version)

 

It is a very nice Bible for children that follow the books in the Bible from Genesis through to Revelations. I do not like a Bible that only cover the most popular stories.

We then go on to discuss the story using these Bible cards for memory.

These cards can be used for a lot of games as well.

The last thing I like to have for Bible is writing verses or word from the Bible.
I got this book to start with our writing and seen that my son will only be 3 I don't expect his writing to be perfect but it is a fun way to practice our writing as well.



These books are available in lots of other languages and are only R20 each. (not even $2).

For now this will be the books we will be using for Bible.
Next up I will show you what we plan on using for Math.

What is your favourite resource for Bible?