Where do I start? I could bang on about these two wonderful things forever. Imagination and play would have to be two of THE most important things in the early years of school. As parents we need to encourage opportunities to use imagination and to play as often as we can.

So I have decided to share a few resources with you that help children do just this. Wooden resources in all shapes and sizes are a wonderful material for children to manipulate and use. They are strong, unbreakable and colourful, and come in all sizes and shapes. Definitely value for money (these guys are going to be around for a very long time unlike your plastic toys), and better for the environment too.

 

Again, I have chosen these resources to talk about because they are ‘open-ended’ – no specific use for them, no fixed purpose eg not used to build one thing only. These resources can be used for all sorts of play opportunities, and used with any other objects and toys to enhance play experiences. Children can use their imaginations with these materials to create and play whatever they like, they are not limited to one purpose.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My 3.5 year-old and I have been busy playing with some of these lovely resources. We have the Grapat rings, nins and coins, and as you can see, we have been using them in lots of different ways to create play opportunities.

 

All of these play activities can link across the school curriculum (Maths, Literacy and STEM for example) in the classroom. Here we were making colour and growing patterns, and more complex patterning with mandalas. We sorted colours and shapes using some little coloured bowls we had at home. We could add in some number cards or number disks (as seen below) to count objects one to one, or to multiply objects.

 Here we tried out our literacy skills by making the first letter in my daughters name by threading a scarf through the rings. Threading encourages gross and fine motor skills. After we also made some repeating patterns using the coloured rings.

 Make use of things you already have at home. We used our natural tree house and added stepping stones using the coins and nins. By printing off a free template of a butterfly from the internet we were able to extend our pattern skills and symmetry. This opens up possibilities for making numbers and letters.

 In store at kids unite we have a selection of Grimms, Goki, Grapat and BigJigs wooden resources as pictured.