Let’s talk about toddlers for a minute. Toddlers are so full of energy. Have a brain like a sponge. Have their “temper-tantrum” moments. But are so full of love and affection and… well… cuteness!
But, what really gets their motors running? What kind of things are they really interested in? What kind of things to they really love?
Well, as a mother of 2 toddlers (LOL Yes, I said TWO… although I guess you could call my son more of a “pre-school” age lol), and a woman who works in the Children’s Toys industry, I have learned a few things, tricks, and games.
Speaking from experience, my children LOVE the Discovery Toys Hammer Away! This item is found on my website listed under the Early Years section. How many times have you told your toddler over and over (and over lol) again NOT to bang their forks on the kitchen table? How many times have you sat through another kicking and screaming session because you told your toddler the dreaded “N” (no) word? Well, Hammer Away is a great solution! It is a great tool to use to help toddlers relieve their “stress” in a fun and safe way! They can hit the colored balls down the shoots and watch them twirl and whirl around the boat all the way to the bottom. They can learn their colors, some numbers (1-4), hand-eye coordination, and cause-and-effect concepts. Both my 3 1/2 year old son, and 2 year old daughter love this game and spend hours on it! I actually have to limit the amount of time my son spends on it just because of his medical condition (juvenile diabetes). I have to pull him away from it after he’s been playing with it for an hour to get him up and moving again to help maintain his blood sugars.
Another game both my kids love is the Busy Bugs Learning Set. This is another game that I literally have to pull my son away from after an hour of playing time due to his diabetes. He can play this game all day long! Each card asks the child to do different things. As the child progresses through the stack of cards, the requests get a little harder. To add to the fun and education, you can add a little bit of basic math skills like I have. As your child completes a card, you can remove a couple bugs, and ask him/her “You have 6 bugs, I take 2 away. How many bugs do you have left?” My son gets a kick out of this game when he plays it and jumps for joy when he answers me correctly. And, well, when he is wrong, I ask him a couple more times and if he still doesn’t get it right, I make a silly noise and tell him the correct answer. Then, hes back to jumping for joy again and goofing off because mommy made a silly noise (all while he is learning!). My daughter is learning her basic colors and learning what different bugs look like with this, along with matching colors, counting, etc. It’s an all around great game!
Flip Flop Faces has become a FAMILY favorite here in our house! With this game, you get 6 different colored bowls with silly faces on the under-side, and 6 matching colored bean bags. Now, keep in mind, there are MANY different ways to play with all of the toys from Discovery Toys, and with each toy you purchase, you get an instructions book with different ways to play with that one toy! With this game, we play the basic game in our house for now. What we do is we line up all the faces with the face side down. Then, we step away from them a bit of a distance, and toss the bean bags, trying to flip the faces over. We play this game on a daily basis, and always spend *atleast* an hour playing it (many times we play it longer lol). It is great for my son’s blood sugars, for both my kids to work on their hand-eye coordination, matching colors, and more! This is a great game to play at parties, family events & outings, or just for something fun to do as a family! I HIGHLY recommend this game if you have a child with a medical condition where exercise is important!
Are you working on teaching your child to write? Try these workbooks from Discovery Toys! ABC & 123 Wipe Clean Workbooks are an awsome tool to use! Whether you are working with your child at home,home-school, have a home-based daycare center, or are a teacher in a public or private school working with children everyday, these books are wonderful! I personally work with my 3 1/2 year old son with these workbooks and have noticed a significant improvement in his handwriting skills. Now, don’t get me wrong, he also works on writing while he is in Head Start, but this is great for me to re-inforce what he is learning at school while he is home!
For more ideas on some great games, toys, books, and more for your toddler, visit my website (www.discoverytoyslink.com/dawnslearningtoys). You can find them in either the Early Years or Pre-School sections, or you can go to the top toolbar and move your cursor over either the Toys tab, Books tab, or Games tab and click on the sub-category you are searching for specifically.
Stay tuned! I will be discussing School-Age children soon!
And, don’t forget, we have an awsome sale this month, ending February 6th. And, this month only, you can host a catalog party with me and earn the toys, books, and games on your wishlist for FREE (with a qualifying $200 party). Email me for more information, or if you have any questions or need help finding that perfect item for your precious child. dawnslearningtoys@gmail.com
), and extra plastic screws (because we know kids tend to lose pieces!). Each vehicle has a moving part too! The Airplane’s propellers move, the Motorcycle’s pistons move, and the Racecar’s engine block moves! How cool is that?! We sure didn’t have these type of things when we were growing up, huh dad? LOL. And, the big plastic container can act as a toolbox!