Something that comes up frequently in store relating to this age range is the printed age on toy packaging. Time and again, toys that would offer lots of value for these ages are dismissed because the packaging says 3+. There seems a lot of confusion, because these are a safety guide mostly relating to choking. The exception to this is specific to craft sets where they have been designed with an age in mind. So I urge you to look beyond these labels for your children, unless there is a younger sibling at home for whom the safety guide is relevant.
Yoto Mini Player
Audiobooks for adults are having a soar in popularity and now audio devices like the Yoto are doing the same for children. It's a misperception that audio is competing with or replacing time spent with books and reading and are for very young children only. What audio stories are doing, is replacing screen-time and enabling stories to fit into the day in new ways: before school when getting ready, post-school instead of TV or tablet, in the car, waiting for appointments... developing language, vocabulary, concentration and imagination just like books do. My own son's enthusiasm for the library has only grown since having his Yoto Player. We have discovered new authors and book collections he likes, and his favourite cards, the Ladybird Audio Adventures, have enabled him to discover new subjects and enhanced his learning at school. Even his confidence in presentation skills have skyrocketed as he re-tells facts from those cards in class and at Scouts, and he delights in re-telling the jokes he has learnt from the Funny Stories cards to his friends and adults alike.
Practical Life - Money Box
Money skills and financial literacy are more important than ever in today's world. Children who are encouraged to talk about money, handle it regularly and have responsibility for spending and saving, tend to do better with money when they grow up and have a lot more confidence with managing their financial responsibilities and using essential numeracy skills in real life such as budgeting, borrowing money and understanding financial products. Research carried out by the Money and Pensions Service found just 47% of children had received a meaningful financial education at home or at school. This equates to 5.4 million 5-17 year olds not having the necessary basic money skills they will need as adults. How many children within this age bracket, even have a money box? BUY HERE
Practical Life - Telling the Time
Being able to tell the time on a clock face can aid mathematical learning such as the ability to ‘skip count’ (5,10,15, 20…), primary addition and multiplication.
It also helps the development of social and behavioural skills such as time management and self-dependence, as being able to read a clock face not only enables us to read time in the present but also to plan ahead, plan for how much time you have remaining to complete a task or arrive at a destination on time. BUY HERE
STEM Toys
STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths with toys geared towards curiosity, learning, and education in these subjects.
Their design inspired by Da Vinci Circles, Hape Quadrilla Marble runs are unique, in that they allow the child to determine how the ball will drop by selecting the relevant block piece and connecting pieces - just like coding. These runs are built horizontally too – the concept being to transfer gravitational potential energy to kinetic energy! Because it is based on a building block system, there are endless combinations that can be created and all sets can be integrated. BUY HERE
Open Play Construction Toys
Many parents may well feel their child has outgrown open play blocks and construction toys by this age, but having the freedom to build, create or imagine what you want with open-ended toys is great for developing problem solving skills, creativity and cognitive skills. At home we build castles, pirate ships, marble runs, car tracks, garages and more, which I detail in the blog post, Building Creations with Grimms Wooden Toys.
Grimms Wooden Toys are carefully designed to work with your child's growing skills and imagination so are not limited to toddler tower building! Stacking rainbows offer so many fun balancing challenges, even for adults! Stacking challenges with rainbows and blocks can be as complex as the child wants to attempt! They can be integrated into small world play as bridges, tunnels, walls, caves, tents, houses, doorways and a multitude of other ways, only limited by imagination! BUY HERE
Animal Themed Toys
With so many habitats and animals under threat it's more important than ever for children to learn and understand about the environments and diversity we share the planet with so they will want to protect them. These Fact Cards and A-Z Animal & Dinosaur cards and accompanying colouring books will inspire children with a thirst for knowledge and are great for developing artistic skills too - beautifully illustrated in detail with facts on the reverse and colour coded according to their location in the world. BUY HERE
The Dodoland Eugy 3D animal model kits are hugely popular with both children aged 6+ and adults alike. There are 27 models available to collect in the UK with more available every year coming to our shores. They are designed with every detail of the animal in mind and sets include a little booklet about the animal. BUY HERE
Games
There are so many skills to be learned from games, from hand-eye coordination, turn taking, numeracy skills, fine motor skills, following rules, teamwork for collaboration games and dealing with the emotion of losing.
We have a wide variety of games in store from card games, outdoor games, stacking games and board games.
See our full range of toys for those aged 5+ HERE
See our full range of Puzzles and Games HERE
See our full range of Arts and Crafts Sets HERE