I love to watch kids find their way to learn through playing. I have prepared a special educational game for them to be inspired by and start learning subconsciously. I got two sizes of wooden colourful sticks and wooden colourful cubes. There were several packages of each so there will be enough to split between 3 – 4 kids. You can purchase it in the $ store. They also have a plain version of the same and you could let your kids paint them before starting games, but the already coloured ones caught my attention. As soon as I got the box out I immediately see amazement and excitement on their faces which was absolutely priceless. They got to building with cubes instantly. Some of them were focused on color segregation, others on the construction itself. Playing got them to talk a lot too. They were exchanging ideas, giving each other suggestions, helping to find the part other child was looking for.

Then I started moderating our new preschool activity game a little bit. I asked them if they can make letter “A” using sticks. When They got this idea almost instantly all of the other letters started popping up on the table. Kids were naming the letters, learning one from another by mimicking what their neighbor has already put together. Then they asked what else they can do. So I asked them if they can make any shapes, and the game started all over again.

In the meantime, I asked them what shape they are working and what colors are they using to build it. The best question during this kind of game is: What do you think? You will be very surprised how hard kids will try to answer it. If they are stuck give them a little hint with a simple suggestion and the will take off and fly again.

When I noticed that they are getting bored with shapes we have switched to counting and creating groups of cubes or groups of sticks. Then we were trying to add groups to each other. It was a fantastic exercise to kick start additions. I couldn’t believe that my 3 year old managed additions up to 10. Our kids are smarter than we think, they just need the right tools. This Educational Game works like a charm and can be used on so many different development levels. We have also tried working on patterns. I think it was the most difficult concept to understand. Word “pattern” was new to them and meaning of it seems to be a bit foggy so obviously trying to follow instructions was a challenge. There was a lot of questions and they wanted to simply create their own combination of colors and switch to building a train. In this kind of situations, I suggest to let them go their own way and go back to the harder subjects when you play next time. You can also think about it, what do those sticks and cubes represent to the child? I asked my daughter what else she would like to do with it and she said: “make a house.” So I thought she would like to use it like building blocks for 3D construction but she meant to create a flat picture of the house. It was so sweet how she turned to be a teacher and try to explain what she would like to do and how I should follow what she was doing. I could see how she has incorporated making shapes and grouping cubes by colors into her creation. And then she has invited her little Peppa Pig toys to play in the house. Amazing!

There are so many Educational Games on the market these days. Most of the toys are created in the way kids can learn through play but most of them concentrate on the development of imagination and maybe movement (if there is some musical part included). How about those games which include quality education and preschool learning activities? How many of those you have at your home or your home daycare? You can make this one all by yourself and cost is very minimal. Surprise your child and your child will surprise you!