Over the next couple of weeks, we're focusing on educational gifts for children. If you're looking for products that are not just mindless entertainment, but rather help your child to learn and grow, we have some great recommendations for you! Our Educational Gift series will highlight a variety of fun, educational toys that your children will be guaranteed to enjoy. To make it easier for you, we'll have a list of "quick stats" at the beginning highlighting the product and the age for which they are best suited.
Name: PBS KIDS Toys
Subject(s): math, science, fine motor skills
Brief Description: A new toy line created specifically for preschoolers to extend off-screen learning.
Price: $1.99
Ages: Preschool, Elementary
PBS KIDS has partnered with Tuesday Morning to offer a new line of age-appropriate preschool toys and games. AND most of them come with bilingual packaging!
All of them are designed to encourage imaginative play through role-playing or a hands-on activity. I've included brief descriptions of the new toys below.
Fine Motor Skills
Perhaps my favorite toy in the line is The Build, Repair, Play Carpenter's Set. It comes with a larger than usual assortment of wooden tools that all fit perfectly inside a wooden box that opens in a tri-fold manner to display the contents. Your children will have a great time putting on their imaginary hard hats and exploring the world of carpentry. (Fine motor skills, role playing, imaginative play)
Along the same lines is the Exploration Blocks: Neighborhood set. The 40-piece set builds problem solving and critical thinking skills as your child puts the pieces together to design their own original neighborhoods, cities, and towns. I love that it features PBS KIDS' animated hosts, Dash and Dot. (Fine motor skill and hand-eye coordination development, creative expression)
The Catch of the Day Fishing Game may actually be the most sought after toy in your home. My kids got it out at our Thanksgiving Dinner and they had to fight the adults for a turn. The game develops hand-to-eye coordination skills as your child uses small wooden fishing rods to catch the fish (or boot or treasure chest!) using magnetic force and hang them on the wooden pegs. (Fine motor skill and hand-eye coordination development)
Math
The Travel Card Games and Dominoes sets are easy to transport and fun to play. They are colorful versions of the favorite children's games. The Dominoes come in a wooden storage box for easy storage.
Science
And as a homeschooling mom, I absolutely love the science-based activity kits. There are three: the Growing Gators Activity Kit, Test Tube Adventures, and Snow Explosions. We've already broken open Growing Gators and performed our experiments, keeping records of our results. My son has been begging to open the Snow Explosions kit, so I'm sure that will go on our schedule for school this week!
The line is scheduled to launch with exclusive prices at Tuesday Morning stores tomorrow, Tuesday, December 4th, but you can already find a few of them online at Tuesday Morning's website.
