Learning through Play

It’s the 6 week holidays, time for the children to have some fun. But just because it’s the holidays this doesn’t mean we should reframe from education, after all education can be fun.

I don’t know about you guys but I like to keep the children’s mind stimulated. This can be difficult for Little mans, his interests are quite obsessive, a trait of his Aspergers Syndrome, I worry he will isolate himself, fallout of routine and have difficulties reintegrating back into school. Alice-Sara is also currently being assessed for dyslexia. She has been placed on the SEN register at school and I sadly wasn’t informed. Thankfully though things are improving with the school, it’s now my aim to involve Alice in lots of fun educational play throughout the summer. Lastly there’s Harley, his 2 with a mind like a sponge and as his mother I hope to help him to learn all there is to know during these early pre-school years.

As a blogger I receive a number of request from brands & PRs and one from RM Education ( a leading provider of technology for learning) has really helped me to undertake the above mission.

RM Education have a mission of their own, “To make learning fun” and as a result they have launched the fabulous online resource “RM At Home’ with the help of presenter Philippa Forrester.

I’m so pleased that I have been introduced to the ‘RM At Home’ website, it’s overflowing with great articles and resources for both parents and teachers.They also cover lots of different topics on different areas of Special Educational Needs (SEN) and have some lovely inspirational ideas for creating a sensory room.

As well as the above resources presenter and mum of three boys, Philippa Forrester, is helping RM At Home raise awareness among parents of the products that are available through ‘RM At Home’ that make learning enjoyable and effective outside school hours. It’s a few of these products that the children have been having fun discovering.

RM At Home have some excellent fun yet educational toys that both parents and child can experience together.

The Cannon Stomp: There is no other word but funky that describes this toy. Aim it then Fire it to see how far your ball can travel. Cannon Stomp is great fun and can easily be played together with others. When your child jumps or stomps on the silicone cannon a foam ball is dispensed with great speed, the harder you stomp the further & faster it travels.You can make it extra fun by making and setting targets for the ball to hit! You may wonder why or how a child can learn anything by playing with The new Cannon Stomp! But they really do as such an activity will better the child’s skills and development in ‘Reaction and agility training’ which is great for a child like Little man who is on an Occupational Therapy programme integrated into his school timetable as a result of his difficulties within this very area.

This actually has come at a very convenient time. Have you noticed my blogging over the last few weeks has been a bit non existent when my life remains as chaotic? No, it’s not down to the kids being of school but the fact I’ve been unwell with flu and a horrid chest infection. Cannon stomp gave Little man something to enjoy while developing some important skills. Honestly, I’ve been laid up on the sofa and his been keeping himself busy with it in the garden for decent periods of time at a go.

My tiny tot ‘Harley’ is only 2 but already his loving the Cannon stomp. Admittedly he spent sometime trying to figure out just how to get the ball out from the Cannon. However, when he did finally discover how from his big brother ‘Little man’, his Been non stop bouncing up and down on it trying his hardest to launch the balls… They fly out, he does this seriously adorable giggling and cheers with excitement.

Little man loves his new sensory friendly toy which is easy to use. All you do is load the ball by pushing one of the two foam balls down the cannon and stamp to shoot. Simple, educational, yet extremely fun too.

I feel the the Cannon Stomp is a really good toy which is particularly great for those on the autism spectrum, children with Gross Motor Skills & coordination difficulties as well as those child who sensory seek.

Another product sent to us for testing was the children’s New Recordable Magnifier which allows a child to record and share a 30 second audio message about what it is they see, therefore introducing essential learning skills in a fun way.

Where Alice Sara is Dyslexic she struggles with writing and spelling. However, My daughter is very vocal and is able to express herself in the most creative of ways (singing, story telling, vlogging, acting, singing etc) This would therefore be an assets for schools who have pupils registered with SEN and also those without SEN.

This recordable feature is a great way to get your child talking about their observations before they forget them without the pressures of writing. Or you can leave your own messages on the magnifier for a fun treasure hunt or tips on finding creepy crawlies etc.

The Magnifier can be brought as one (ideal for the parent) or in a pack of six (perfect for schools/playgroup etc). The Magnifier is a fantastic size, its bright and chunky yet extremely Lightweight which is perfect for small hands, it can also be attached to a lanyard.

Alice-Sara and my youngest Harley had great fun with this one! Little man however was sticking with his Cannon Stomp (the close ups of those creepy friends in our garden were freaking him out a little)! Alice-Sara spent a good proportion of her day on Sunday becoming amazed at the close ups she obtain of a number of creepy crawlies. I did shoot some awesome pictures but these are unfortunately still on my memory card due to my lack of living I’ve been doing while sick! However, don’t worry! I’ve included one of the RM At Home videos that shows you how the Magnifier works and why it can benefit your child. As for my pictures I’ll be adding these to an up and coming post on ways to education children with SEN at home.

Check out this video on YouTube:

All of RM At Home products have proven educational value – they are used and trusted by schools throughout the country so the quality is extremely high – it has to be to survive in a classroom!”

Commenting for RM Education, Senior Educationalist Kat Howard says: “You can buy fun stuff that’s not educational and you can buy things that are educational but not fun. We are fulfilling a need for learning resources that have proven educational worth while also being enjoyable for children to play with.”

“One product we’re particularly excited about is Easimaths. It’s an online maths tuition software for children aged five to 11 and it’s adaptive, which means as soon as the child masters something, they are immediately moved on to the next level. It’s bright, colourful and games-based and costs just £34.99 a year.”

RM At Home also offers another solution for parents – RM School Finder. There is currently no one place parents can go for information about their local schools – they have to trawl through several sources of data. RM School Finder, which is free to use, takes all available school data and presents it in a user-friendly format so it’s easy to see not just Ofsted reports, but exam results, extra curricular activities, what pupils achieve, plus softer information on the culture of the school direct from the establishment itself.

Why note check out this excellent video to discover a little more about this excellent resource or check them out at any of the links at the very end of this post.

Myself and the Children highly recommend RM Education (RM At Home) to all families of both pre-school and school age children. Its a brillent resource for the teacher/parent of a child with SEN but equally as fab for those who don’t. Visit RM At Home or like them on facebook follow on Twitter

Harley and the giraffe

Our fantastic feature, ‘Santa’s Little helpers is going awesomely well! We have some great reviews lined up from some brilliant brands. This evening I write the last of my three reviews for the Wooden Toy Shop who me and the children have loved working with this past month! So, far my daughter has reviewed the lovely Melissa and Doug Stamp set and Little Man has proved that Cricket can be a great game for Children on the autism spectrum, even when played alone 🙂 

 So, now it’s the turn of the littlest Elf, “20m old little bro” his had great fun reviewing one of, ‘John Cranes Tidlo Chunky puzzles’ 

 Description 

 This Chunky wooden puzzle has seven pieces, Its brightly coloured safari theme was a hit with our little monster! One of the reasons we chose this puzzle was because of it’s funky theme. Harley, aka Little Bro loves Giraffes right now, he loves the CBeebies programme, ’64 Zoo Lane’ with Georgina the Giraffe. The Giraffe along with six other animals, a Hippopotamus, Lion, Zebra, Camel, Elephant and a Crocodile make up all the pieces of this fun puzzle. 

 The John Crane Tidlo chunky safari puzzle is designed for children aged 12 months plus and can be purchased from the Wooden toy shop for a very respectable £10.79

 Playtime

 Little Bros face lit up when we got the puzzle out of its box ready to play. “Look, Giraffe” was something he continually said for the first five minutes before finally turning his attention to some of the other animal pieces. We had fun together naming each animal piece and it really encourages social interaction and gets your toddler attempting words such as Hippopotamus,”Which proved quite a mouth full” Hippo was the better alternative for this little monster. 

 The puzzle pieces are really chunky making it look almost 3D. This also makes it easier for the child to pick the pieces up so great for little fingers like Little Bros.

Every now and then I lost the little guys attention and he would climb down from his chair and dart around the room shouting, “Giraffe” waving it in the air like he was flying the thing like a plane. Eventually he would come back and after a while he seemed to be getting to grips with what he was doing. Sat at the table I removed all the pieces, Little Bro Lined them up and I then placed them all back in place. He looked at what I was doing seemingly taking it all in before trying it for himself. The puzzle has the picture of each of the animals where each piece is designed to fit,  making it easier for the child, as they can identify where each piece should fit by looking at the pictures. Little Bro did this bit with ease, however he did have some trouble getting the pieces to fit and become frustrated as he tried to place the giraffe in upside down. When Mummy attempted to show him, ‘Little Mr Independent’ almost throw a fit. 

 Once Little Bro had finally placed an animal correctly in its position, I clapped offering lots of prise. He happily gave himself a clap too and felt encouraged to try another. After one or two more I noticed that he was finding the task much easier. 

 Conclusions 

 This is a lovely toy, the wooden puzzle is very well made and is beautifully designed. It can be a fun educational toy for a toddler helping them to develop good hand eye co-ordination, fine motor skills  and imagination (as Little Bro demonstrated during the review, when he used the pieces as toy like figures). I found it hard to give this toy a rating on my toddlers behalf! Though he clearly liked the puzzle he did have a tendency to lose his attention quicker then some of the toys his played with. Saying this, it should be mentioned that whenever Little Bro ran off the giraffe went too. He really likes the giraffe piece and since the review he has taken the giraffe from the box and took it for a ride in his wooden trailer. 

Its a hard one but I give Harley’s rating as an 8/10

 Parental approval 

 I think the toy is great Value for money and plan to purchase the John Crane Tidlo Animal farm for his birthday. It comes in a sturdy thick cardboard box which is a must when storing puzzles, due to us having to take them in and out over the course of the early years. The puzzles brightly coloured design is great visual stimulation, the overall design is very inviting. The pieces are really nice and chunky and the picture matching along with shape shorting makes this lots of  fun while helping improve and develop a child’s hand, eye co-ordination.

The John Crane Tidlo gets a fat 9/10 from me

 The Retailer

 Over the past month I loved watching the children review just a small handful of the beautifully designed toys the Wooden toy shop has to offer. This is an online family run business that offers its customers a friendly service, speedy delivery and importantly, “Good value for money.” All three products have proven a success with all three  Little helpers. This with the fact they have offered our readers the chance to bag themselves a, ‘John Crane children’s wooden Guitar’ in our blog giveaway (which can be found here) makes them a firm favourite of mine. 

This is a retailer who offer support to schools and nurseries not only by offering them 10% off the advertised price but also entering them into a draw to win unwanted products that have been returned and cannot be resold due to the removal of packaging. Schools are automatically entered into the monthly draw every time they make a purchase. 

 10/10  for the Wooden Toy Shop a  fantastic online retailer!