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Toys for Talking: Gears! Gears! Gears!
- Erin Henschel Posted On Jun 17, 2021 | STEM
Toys for Talking: Gears! Gears! Gears!
The Learning Resources Gears! Gears! Gears! has quickly become a favorite toy in our home, and I can't say I'm surprised. This toy brings colorful, open-ended play while providing hours of building fun. Want to learn how you can use this toy to provide the ultimate language learning experience? Keep reading below!
What does Gears! Gears! Gears! include?
- 46 colorful gears
- 26 square pillars
- 21 six-way axles
- 6 interlocking bases
- 1 crank handle
- Activity guide
How do you use Gears! Gears! Gears!?
Gears! Gears! Gears! includes 46 colorful gears that spark imagination and provide opportunities to experiment with simple mechanics. Children can build and deconstruct various creations while building both fine motor and critical thinking skills. This open-ended toy provides endless learning opportunities, as children are able to work on matching, sorting, patterns, prepositions, and more!
Where can I find it?
You can find it on Amazon HERE.
How can you use Gears! Gears! Gears! to encourage speech and language development?
For receptive language development?
- Following directions: Make following directions fun with the gears. Have your child follow directions, such as, "give me a purple gear," "spin the blue gear," or even "put the red gear on top of the yellow gear."
- Answering Yes/No questions: Before having the ability to answer Wh- questions, your child must be able to answer yes/no questions regarding things they want, objects, and actions. If your child is working on the concepts of yes and no, ask your child, "do you want the red gear" You could also make it a little silly to see if your child can answer yes/no questions regarding the function of the gears (Examples: should I eat the gears? should I kiss the tower? should I spin the purple gear?).
- Understanding spatial concepts (in/on/off/out): Work on these early developing spatial concepts by having your child put the gears in the bin, take them out of the bin, put them on top of the tower, or put them under each other.
- Pattern identification skills: Play a game! Start a color pattern with the gears, and then have your child guess what color comes next!
For expressive language development?
- Color vocabulary: Talk about the different colors of each gear, and see if your child can label them.
- Requesting: Have your child request for the gears and pillars. Depending on how much expressive language they have, they could use a simple word such as, "gear" or "more," or a phrase or sentence like, "I want more gears" or "Can I have the blue gear?"
- Commenting: Encourage your child to comment throughout play. Model appropriate comments while playing with your child. Use language like, "I see a blue gear, what do you see?"
- Use of prepositional phrases: Place the gears in different locations and have your child use phrases to describe their locations. Put them in the bin, out of the bin, on the tower, or behind the tower.
- Vocabulary of action words: Talk about what you are doing with the gears. Are you pushing them? Spinning them? Pulling them off?
For play development?
- Pretend play: These gears provide so many pretend play opportunities. Children can use their imaginations to pretend that they are building anything they want! A princess castle? A sword? A jungle? You got it! The possibilities are endless!
For social language development?
- Turn-taking: Develop turn-taking abilities by asking your child if you can have a turn building or spinning the gears.
- Asking questions: Model appropriate questioning during play by asking your child questions like, "Can I have a blue gear please?" or "What is your favorite color gear?" Encourage them to ask you questions back!
Looking for more toy recommendations or ideas on how to use toys to best support your child's development? Check out my other Toys for Talking posts HERE!
Valentine's Pattern Block Activity
Valentine's Pattern Block Activity is a fun and engaging way to incorporate math and problem-solving skills into the holiday. These activity mats feature different Valentine's Day-themed pictures, such as hearts, flowers, and cupids. To complete the activity, students can use pattern blocks to create the pictures on the mats.
This activity is a great way to teach kids about shapes, counting, sorting, reasoning, symmetry, and even fractions. Students will use pattern blocks to create the pictures on the mat, which will help them understand and recognize different shapes and combine them to create a complete picture. Additionally, students will need to count the number of pattern blocks required for each image; this will help to improve their counting abilities.
The activity also includes reasoning, symmetry, and fractions. Students must use their problem-solving skills to determine which pattern blocks to use and where to place them to create the desired picture. They will also practice symmetry by matching the pattern blocks to create a symmetrical picture. And finally, with pattern blocks, students can explore fractions and how they relate to the different shapes.
Valentine's Pattern Block Activity is a great way to incorporate math and problem-solving skills into the holiday while keeping the activity fun and festive. These simple Valentine's pattern Block Mats are an awesome math challenge for kids. Just print them out and start building; it's that easy!
Shop Pattern Blocks
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Valentine's Day Mathlink Cube Activities
Mathlink Cubes are perfect for creating fun and engaging Valentine's Day themed math activities. Additionally, Mathlink Cubes can be used to create patterns and sequences, such as making a pattern of hearts and counting the number of cubes used. These activities will help students practice their math skills in a fun and festive way.
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Mathlink Cubes are great for kids for several reasons:
- Hands-on learning: Mathlink Cubes are a hands-on learning tool that children can physically manipulate and explore mathematical concepts. This can help to make math more engaging and interactive for students.
- Multi-use: Mathlink Cubes can be used for various mathematical concepts, including counting, addition, subtraction, measurement, geometry, and more. This makes them a versatile and valuable tool for teachers and parents to have in their toolkits.
- Develops fine motor skills: Using the Mathlink Cubes requires children to use their fine motor skills, which can help to improve dexterity and hand-eye coordination.
- Concrete to abstract: Mathlink Cubes provide a concrete representation of mathematical concepts, which can help children to understand and internalize these concepts. Then the children can apply what they learned in the tangible form to more abstract problems.
- Fun and engaging: Mathlink Cubes come in different colors, making math activities fun and engaging for children. The fun and colorful aspect of the cubes makes children more excited to learn and practice math.
- Differentiation: Mathlink Cubes can be used to provide different levels of challenge for students, making it easy for teachers to differentiate instruction and provide support for students who need it.
Overall, Mathlink Cubes are an excellent tool for kids to learn and practice math in a fun and interactive way.
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World Space Week
Welcome to Monday Funday with Miss Alissa from @heartmindedmama ✨
Miss Alissa is an early childhood educator and mom of two! Over the next few weeks, Miss Alissa will be sharing skill-building activities for you to do at home or in your classroom.
We are starting it off with three out-of-this-world activities for Space Week, which starts October 4th.
This collection of space activities for preschoolers will keep them actively engaged while building essential life skills. Thoughtfully designed with little ones, these STEM toys for kids help learners as young as 3 build early science and fine motor skills!
Solar System Puzzle Globe - Space is the place for preschool learning fun! Kids build hands-on science skills as they solve the out-of-this-world 3-D puzzle found on the Solar System Puzzle Globe, a hands-on STEM toy for kids from Learning Resources. Inspired by our award-winning Puzzle Globe, this fun rotating puzzle adds some space décor to the puzzle play action—kids position eight easy-grip planet puzzle pieces that also introduce the names and appearances of our solar system neighbors. In addition to building early fine motor and critical thinking skills, this STEM toy for kids is also ready for imaginative adventures thanks to its fun, friendly astronaut and spaceship pieces—as kids explore the cosmos with their new friends, there’s no telling what they’ll discover!
Magnetic Space Sudoku - Can you solve these out-of-this-world logic puzzles? Take your early math skills to outer space and beyond with the 72 Sudoku puzzles found in the Magnetic Space Sudoku set from Learning Resources. This fun take on the classic puzzle game brings sudoku to life with the help of wacky alien friends and a fun space setting. Choose from two types of puzzles—solve traditional number-based Sudoku challenges, or work on your visual logic skills in puzzles that replace the number with our colorful aliens!
Oodles of Aliens Sorting Saucer - Grab the Tri-Grip Tongs, pop the dice, and help these aliens sort out their spaceship in a sorting game of cosmic proportions! Kids learn preschool sorting, fine motor skills, and more with every trip aboard the Oodles of Aliens Sorting Saucer from Learning Resources. This fun sorting saucer reveals color-coded trays and the aliens that inhabit them. Spread the aliens out on the table, pop the dice, and use the Tri-Grip Tongs to grab and sort them into place! In addition to sorting, this game builds three additional preschool skills at once—strengthen your counting, color recognition, and fine motor skills every time you play!
Interested in learning more about STEM?
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