I confess I do get rather excited when I come across a toy that inspires me and sends my creative instinct exploding into action. But why not...? Creativity is rewarding in any form and when it comes to toys what’s better than testing out your ideas too!This matching pairs set from Oskar & Ellen is so much more than the ‘sum of its parts’; so to speak.
Designed to allow you to decide which images to use and to change them as often as you desire. Even in the simplest form it still allows you more freedom and creativity than a standard matching pairs game but the genius of it reveals itself only when you start to think more about the long term possibilities.
A simple concept most abandon as the initial interest dies down. This fun game can have so much more to offer if you look at it from another perspective. Due to their flexible nature that's precisely what this set encourages. Here are a few ideas we came up with in just 30 minutes...!
Let's start with matching
Match the front and rear end of an animal.
Match the animal to what it produces (i.e sheep/wool)
Match the animal to the pattern/colour of its body
Be the first to put together a full body (2 x arms, 2 x legs etc), insect or animal...!
Separate them into animals/objects and put a texture into the other pocket to feel. For example a picture of a sheep and a small piece of wool into the pocket or a picture of a tree and a leaf in the pocket and see who can match the most correct pairs.
Match a letter or number to the appropriate thing, for example.. D and a picture of a Duck or 2 and two ducks.
Use your schools guidance to pair up phonic sounds and objects to help children improve their reading
Moving on to other possibilities.Put in simple words in another language and the corresponding picture, again if possible work with the school to emphasise current school curriculum.
Help with mathematics by doing sums and let them choose the correct answer or in reverse find the missing number to complete the sum. You can also use it for showing visually how sums work for instance by moving the decimal place physically or substituting numbers. This may help some children who struggle with concept and prefer a more visual approach to learning.
Teach younger children about range by helping them learn colours beyond the basic such as royal blue, navy blue, turquoise etc. The same sort of thing can be applied to families of animals and any number of descriptive words that can be collectively grouped.
Encourage English skills but taking a nursery rhyme or well known story and mixing up the pictures. Put them back in order while explaining the story. Put together a collection of images and develop the story with each new selection to encourage on the spot creative thinking. Or use images of events in daily life to explain about the world and help children understand their environment on a wider scale.
Collect family pictures and build a family tree, you can put in notes about who they all are/were and research more for a family project. This is especially good for older children as they learn to research and take an interest in project development.
Where to now?
Anywhere, everywhere – that’s what makes this concept probably one of the best I’ve ever come across. The only element that is required is your imagination, just think about what you want to teach, what you want to talk about, what you want them to develop and what they enjoy doing and make the most out of it with a game that is enjoyable and different every time.
No comments:
Post a Comment