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Category: Play Ideas

  1. Family Games

    Posted on

    Games for all of the Family

    by Laura @one.wild.family.life

    We love games in our house, they are a great way to come together and spend some time in each others company with no distractions and a common interest. There is such a great selection of games on the market, so finding something a little different can be a challenge. The Wooden Play Den have a great selection of games from Small Foot who have created a really tactile and beautiful range of games. It’s also the perfect time of year to invest in a game or two as the days are wetter, and the nights longer. They are also amazing gifts for Christmas.

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  2. Travel Toys

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    Travel Toys

    It is that time of year again when we will be embarking on the summer holidays from school. Whether its a flight, train or car journey we will be travelling for day trips and the need to entertainment is required! My two are not great travellers, we listen to podcasts and stories but having a few compact and interesting toys really help.

    Here are a few suggestions of toys that are great for taking out and about: 

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  3. Autumn Treasures

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    Autumn Treasures

    by Laura @one.wild.family.life

    Autumn is the season of nature’s bounty: so many natural treasures can be observed and collected at this time of year. It’s the perfect time of year to get out and about and discover the changing world around us. It can be really fun to get your little ones to join you on an adventure into nature this time of year, I often find they are super little spotters, always looking for something to fill their pockets. Conkers and acorns are a real favourite for my two to collect – we love using them to aid in learning too, counting and sorting are great activities to do.

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  4. S.T.E.A.M Toys

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    S.T.E.A.M Toys

    What is S.T.E.A.M? 

    S.T.E.A.M is an educational approach which uses, Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics. 

    The Wooden PlayDen stock an amazing selection of toys and resources which lend themselves to support the S.T.E.A.M approach to learning, which covers science, technology, engineering, arts and maths. The advantages of learning in this way include encouraging children to evaluate and problem solve, it encourages discussion develops real life practical skills and curious thinking, all through hands on learning experiences.

    It’s fairly easy to introduce S.T.E.A.M learning into your children lives, here are some examples:

    Science – grab a selection of gem stones and rocks, a magnifying glass and some ID cards. Explore them together and put them into different categories based on texture, colour, size etc.

    Technology – Coding is great fun for little ones, the Yellow Door penguin stones and coding activities are a great way to introduce this topic. The stones are so tactile and combines with the laminated activity cards provides a fun way of learning.

    Engineering – Blocks! An essential part of any toy collection, build and create to your hearts content. Build tunnels and bridges, houses and roads!

    Arts – The sensory boards are a great addition to your arts and crafts collection, add in some felt balls, or loose parts, the Tickit Treasures are perfect for this. You then have some mess free creativity on your hands. You could always add some play dough and tools too, which could lead to pattern making, colour sorting and creative thinking..

    Maths – One of our favourite games is play dough squashing. Make however many balls of dough you would like your little one to count up to and as you count together squash each ball. This is also a fun way to introduce addition, subtraction, multiplication and division in this way.

    The Wooden Play Den also stock some great S.T.E.A.M kits to complete and discover with your children, Hape Magnetic Science Lab, which is loved by my 5 year old. It includes 7 different experiments, and links to an app to explain the science if you need. Within the same range is the Three Experiment Kit, which has 3 great experiments introducing engineering, force and movement. The great thing about these 2 kits is they are completely compatible and you can use the parts to create your own experiments, the opportunities are endless, and its great watching your child create freely. The kits include nuts and bolts, magnets, string and wooden posts with holes in – no end of engineering and science learning opportunities.

    The other Hape Kit we love is Flexi Sticks. This is a fabulous kit for creating shapes, buildings, rockets…well anything really. A range of bamboo sticks of varying length, and silicone connectors in a variety of shapes leads to some creative construction. Instructions are included to make a diamond, a ball and a wheel which gives learning and skills leading to no end of building opportunities.

    S.T.E.A.M defiantly initially seemed like quite a daunting style of play and learning to me, but when I broke it down I realised there are plenty of opportunities to encourage this type of learning with the amazing resources we already have from The Wooden Play Den.

    S.T.E.A.M Toys

     

    The Wooden Play Den stock an amazing selection of toys and resources which lend themselves to support the S.T.E.A.M approach to learning, which covers science, technology, engineering, arts and maths. The advantages of learning in this way include encouraging children to evaluate and problem solve, it encourages discussion develops real life practical skills and curious thinking, all through hands on learning experiences.

    It’s fairly easy to introduce S.T.E.A.M learning into your children lives, here are some examples:

    Science – grab a selection of gem stones and rocks, a magnifying glass and some ID cards. Explore them together and put them into different categories based on texture, colour, size etc.

    Technology – Coding is great fun for little ones, the Yellow Door penguin stones and coding activities are a great way to introduce this topic. The stones are so tactile and combines with the laminated activity cards provides a fun way of learning.

    Engineering – Blocks! An essential part of any toy collection, build and create to your hearts content. Build tunnels and bridges, houses and roads!

    Arts – The sensory boards are a great addition to your arts and crafts collection, add in some felt balls, or loose parts, the Tickit Treasures are perfect for this. You then have some mess free creativity on your hands. You could always add some play dough and tools too, which could lead to pattern making, colour sorting and creative thinking..

    Maths – One of our favourite games is play dough squashing. Make however many balls of dough you would like your little one to count up to and as you count together squash each ball. This is also a fun way to introduce addition, subtraction, multiplication and division in this way.

    The Wooden Play Den also stock some great S.T.E.A.M kits to complete and discover with your children, Hape Magnetic Science Lab, which is loved by my 5 year old. It includes 7 different experiments, and links to an app to explain the science if you need. Within the same range is the Three Experiment Kit, which has 3 great experiments introducing engineering, force and movement. The great thing about these 2 kits is they are completely compatible and you can use the parts to create your own experiments, the opportunities are endless, and its great watching your child create freely. The kits include nuts and bolts, magnets, string and wooden posts with holes in – no end of engineering and science learning opportunities.

    The other Hape Kit we love is Flexi Sticks. This is a fabulous kit for creating shapes, buildings, rockets…well anything really. A range of bamboo sticks of varying length, and silicone connectors in a variety of shapes leads to some creative construction. Instructions are included to make a diamond, a ball and a wheel which gives learning and skills leading to no end of building opportunities.

    S.T.E.A.M defiantly initially seemed like quite a daunting style of play and learning to me, but when I broke it down I realised there are plenty of opportunities to encourage this type of learning with the amazing resources we already have from The Wooden Play Den.

  5. Nature Play - Birds

    Posted on

    Birds – one theme, lots of ways.

    Written by Laura @ one.wild.family.life

    I love having a theme to stick to and inspire play and reading throughout the week. I don’t do an activity on it every day, but two or three play set ups a week pulled together with some reading works for me and my little ones. This week we’ve looked at Birds, here’s what we did, and some other ideas too.

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