Stuff Parents Need

Easing the chaos in the nest, one find at a time.

Letter Construction Activity Set Review and GIVEAWAY!!!

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One important concept of the Montessori philosophy of learning is that children require true hands-on experiences with everything. They need to be able to engage many different senses when learning a concept. When it comes to learning pre-writing skills, children not only look at letter, but they trace them and they touch them. This is critical to the mind mapping taking place in their heads!

Learning Resources has an excellent resource that can give children that hands on experience that they need as they prepare to learn to read. Check out the Letter Construction Activity Set! It comes with a variety of pieces that children can use to literally build the alphabet. There are instruction cards that show children the materials needed to make upper case and lower case versions of each letter. This product helps children with hand-eye coordination, problem solving, and of course, letter recognition. I absolutely love it. If you are a teacher, know that there are enough pieces included so that four children can build the exact same letter at the same time, so this also makes for a great small group lesson.

Learning Resources is a fantastic destination for play items that develop critical skills for children as they grow and learn. I very highly recommend this set for your pre-reader, and I highly recommend the site for all your educational needs!

Win it!: One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader will win a set of Letter Construction Activity Set from Learning Resources!
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Getting Ready to Write: Gator Tweezers Review and GIVEAWAY!!!

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Recently I noticed that Darah’s coloring and drawing is starting to look much more controlled than it used to. When she is “writing words like Mommy” her grip on the pen is very close to accurate, and she is drawing shorter, more carefully placed lines and curves. It has been very exciting to watch, but it took me a little while to figure out what has caused this progression.

But then I remembered: tonging! At Darah’s school, several of the lessons involve the use of small tongs to pick up objects and move them from one area to another. At first glance, this may not seem like a very interesting or useful exercise (at least that’s what I thought), but I have since learned that this particular type of lesson helps with the following:

  • hand-eye coordination
  • developing the pincer grasp
  • overall strengthening of the hand muscles, which also helps prepare a child for writing
Since I came to understand just how valuable tonging lessons were, I wanted to get Darah her own set. Learning Resources has just the thing I need by way of these Gator Grabber Tweezers. They come in a set of 12, which means you can put together many different lessons for your child. I actually think I’m going to give a few of them away to younger cousins, as well, so that they can have their own tong sets. Along those same lines, I think giving these out as party favors would be really cool, too! Talk about a fun and useful present!
Learning Resources has these fabulous Gator Grabber Tweezers available for just $10.99, and you get 12 tweezers in the set! That’s an awesome deal! Be sure to check out some of their other great products (one of my favorite ways to poke around the site is to shop by subject).

Win it!: One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader is going to win a set of Gator Grabber Tweezers!
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Learning Resources Primary Science Mix & Measure Kit Review and GIVEAWAY!!!

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Play time during the toddler years is a great opportunity for learning. Learning can be one giant experiment in fun if you have the right equipment on hand. Today I’m featuring a Primary Science Mix & Measure Kit, and it is helping Darah have so much fun and also increasing her ability to concentrate.

We wanted to get something like this after Darah got to play with a similar kit that her cousin received for Christmas. Those two spent so much time at the dining room table mixing different colors, and transferring water from one container to the next. I was really amazed by how much time Darah wanted to spend working on her experiments.

This set comes with several mixing containers of different sizes, a scale to determine weight, as well as several activity cards to give parents ideas for different experiments to try. Right now we are really enjoying guessing which containers might hold more or less water than the others. Darah is learning the basics of volume, and seeing that containers can be shaped differently, but still hold the same amount of water. She is fascinated by this idea!

The Primary Science Mix & Measure Kit is just one of a HUGE ARRAY of outstanding products from the company Learning Resources. I have this site bookmarked for the future, and I want to strongly recommend that you do the same. You can shop by age, category or subject which can really help you find what you are looking for, or it can help you discover things you didn’t even know existed! For example, I’m currently mulling over buying the Gator Grabber Tweezers. At school, Darah does several activities that require the use of small tongs to develop fine motor skills. I’d love to be able to continue those lessons at home!

Learning Resources also has a section for resources for special needs children, filled to the brim with fantastic activities! You can shop by skill, modality, and disorder/disability.

I am extremely impressed with the great products that Learning Resources has made available to parents and teachers. I think they have their finger on the pulse of what kids really need to help further their skills as they play, and they have made sure that learning can truly be a lot of fun. I will certainly be doing business with them again!

Win it!: One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader is going to win a Primary Science Mix & Measure Kit!

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