Building Toys – from the earliest blocks we stack together to the intricate models that we create to investigate how the world works. Children love seeing things grow almost as much as they love to knock them down – but how do we get them hooked and wanted to investigate more and more…
For many of you, dinosaurs rule are very much part of every day life. Whilst you may not spot them from the bus, they are there at bedtime, you house may be full of them and like many of us, you are probably still trying to remember which one is which. For many children, the dinosaur obsession is also the first time that they really learn and remember a set of facts with an amazing capacity to recall them, in great detail! We have been thinking about how we can make the most of our dinosaur friends.
A long journey can be a great time to play and have a lovely time with your children – but only if you have all the tricks up your sleeve! Here are some of our best suggestions on how to make the time fly by.
Balancing is fun! But how do you get good at it? Whilst we are not all going to be trapese artists, children love the feeling of being in control and being able to play with the smaller things in life. Here are our recommendations of toys and games that we love that are also great for developing balance skills.
Fidget spinners came and went but we have been thinking about what else children could do to build up their concentration skills and how we can use play to help them.
With a cold and damp February half term on the horizon, we have put together a range of easy and fun projects that you can have up your sleeve for the week to give an alternative to yet another old film and to counter the calls of ‘We’re bored!’.
We all (hopefully) did it when we were young and most of remember the first toy that we made and probably still have it in the loft. It is one of those craft skills that has a practical application and can also create marvelous memories and inspire a lifetime of fun. So, how to get children started and how to move the forward – even it we have forgotten how to do it ourselves!
Whirligig went back to school recently to help children learn all about machines and automata. Fascinating results from a delightful group of children who had great ideas and made great little machines out of clothes pegs. Here are some of the results.
