Why I Invested in a Grimms Large Stepped Pyramid
“Blocks are blocks.” I said this just recently on Instagram but if you haven’t seen that yet, there it is. There are and will be many options in the market from cheap sets to the pricey ones. Believe me when I honestly say, any blocks is better than none. Having blocks in your toolkit […]
Magnetic Tiles Review: Magnatiles vs Playmags vs Connetix Tiles
Let me first start off by saying magnetic tiles are THE number 1 played with toy in our house. If there’s only ONE toy that I can recommend for children, it would hands down be this. NO COMPARISON! They are never rotated away and have been out in our play area every single day […]
The Benefits of Working on A Vertical Surface for Children’s Development
I’m all for raising creative and independent children through play and I believe the easiest way to accomplish that is having a prepared environment in the form of open-ended toys and resources. There is so much that a good-quality open-ended toy or resource can do in terms of encouraging independent play and creativity. Children can […]
How to Encourage Independent Play With Toddlers
Parents all want children who can play independently because we just need 10 minutes to drink our coffee hot, do the chores, prepare dinner etc. But did you know that there are lots of benefits for children to engage in independent play too? These include the space for creativity to flourish, the ability to self-direct […]
Top 10 Must Have Open-Ended Toys in Our House
Following on from the previous blog post where I talked about the “No 1 toy in our house“, I’m finally putting together a post for open-ended toys to answer one of the most popular questions I get asked about play and that is “What are your favourite/best/must-have toys for kids/babies/toddlers/preschoolers?“ Now before I go ahead […]
The No. 1 Toy in Our House: 10 Ways My Kids Play With Magnetic Tiles
One of the most common messages I get on my Instagram account is “What are the favourites/most-played with/must-have toys in your house?” Well today I’m casting the spotlight on our ‘Most Played With Toy’ and sitting WAY at the top of this leader-board are our Magnetic Tiles. A Bit of Background We’ve had the […]
Play Teaches Skills That Aren’t Just Academic
Days like today, I’m so glad I always take heaps of photos of my children’s play. Tuesdays are hard days for me as the hubs work the afternoon-late night shift so basically I do the entire crazy witching hour before dinner time on my own, then dinner, bath and bedtime routine for both kids, with […]
Knowing The Child, Knowing Their Interests
I walked into the girls’ room this morning while they were playing and saw these connector manipulatives strewn across the entire floor. They were not playing with them and were engaged in something else. One rule I try to enforce in our household is if they’re done playing with an activity, it needs to be […]
PLAY IS – Learning Resilience, Perseverance and Mental Strength to Face Setbacks
So we had quite the morning today. I know this picture exudes peace and calm but the process of building the structure pictured here was nothing like it. In fact the construction in this photo was probably the fourth or fifth version of its kind before I managed to quickly snap these few shots before […]
Our Favourite Natural Wooden Building Blocks
I bought these gorgeous natural-coloured wooden blocks from Zart Art during a sale about 4 years ago. I absolutely love the look & FEEL of the raw natural finish of the blocks, the way it comes in a tray so it looks inviting for play when set up as it is, and makes packing away […]