Educational Toy Recommendations From a Special Needs Educator

The 2020 calendar gives us an extra day to par-tay! On February 29, we all will be celebrating Leap Day, an extra day at the end of month that only happens every four years.

 How will you spend your extra day? With an assist from the Learning Resources’ Magnetic Learning Calendar and Froggy Feeding Fun™ Fine Motor Skills Game, we plan to LEAP into what makes this day on the calendar so unique! 

What day is Leap Day? 

In 2020, Leap Day falls on Saturday, February 29. Soak up that extra 24 hours…it won’t happen again until 2024. And Leap Day only occurs in the month of February. 

Why do we have Leap Day/Year?

 Every four years, an extra day is added on to our calendar. Our modern calendar consists of 365 days, but the actual time it takes for the Earth to get around the sun (orbit), is just a bit longer. To make up for that time, an extra 24 hours are built into the calendar every fourth year. 

But why do we call it “leap” year?

 The typical year is 365 days, referred to as common years. There are fixed dates for every holiday. For instance, New Year’s Day in 2020 was on a Wednesday. After February 29, 2020, has come and gone, an extra day will be added, making New Year’s Day “jump” one day ahead to a Friday. What a leap! 

Let’s celebrate first by looking at our calendar. The Learning Resources’ Magnetic Learning Calendar gives us a great visual. This year, February starts on a Saturday.  

This calendar serves as a helpful tool for learning about days and months, and is an easy way to include kids on the schedule for the family. Chances are good they have a classroom calendar, so with their own chart at home, they can be the “calendar helper” every day. It is magnetic, has a wipe-down surface, and even features a way to discuss the daily weather! 

Next, discuss things that can leap. Kids can leap, and we just learned that days can leap. What about frogs? Yes, frog can leap! In fact, we can’t think of a creature that doesn’t love to LEAP more than frogs! 

But before they do all that leaping, a frog has got to eat. The Froggy Feeding Fun™ Activity Set is an award-winning game that has lots of options to play. It comes with two adorable frog and lots of spongy flies.  

From a sensory standpoint, this activity has lots. The feel of the flies with their soft yet formed shapes make them easy to grasp. They create lots of color in a play space.  The first skill to try is opening the frog’s mouth by squeezing the corners.

Once your child gets it down, they might not stop feeding the frog! How many can it fit in its mouth? 

This game focuses on strengthen fine motor skills, but also reinforces math skills. A roll of the two soft dice reveals the color and number that the frog can pick up. Number recognition, color recognition, and counting skills are challenged! 

With the frog firmly in hand, you can also work on sorting the flies. Set up a pattern for kids to match.  

Rainbow order is always popular. What color comes after yellow? 

Because there are two frogs, lots can play this game. Let’s try picking up more flies! 

Squeezing the frog’s mouth open again and again will improve muscle grip for handwriting down the road. These frogs sure ate a lot. Time to leap back to the pond for a nap. 

What great fun you are, Leap Day! See you again in four years! 

Save it for later!