Motor skills, one of the first development areas, make the first year of a child’s life exciting, surprising and challenging. Some parents find this period chaotic, but trust me, this is such an important phase that you don’t want to miss it.
I have to admit that at times, it can be difficult, especially if you are alone with your child or children at home. Days seem never-ending and even when they end you are not sure if you are supposed to rest or tidy up.
However, toys are there to help facilitate skill development as well as to make this period less chaotic for parents and carers.
Tooth Blocks Wooden Balance Game
Product: Tooth Blocks Wooden Balance Game (Montessori) – Natural Educational Wooden Toy
Price: $22
Cheapest Place to Buy: groovytoy.com
Material: organic pine wood
Dimensions: 7cm x 7cm x 2cm
Package: 12 Pieces, 1 Piece Natural Cloth Toy Pouch
Recommended Age: 24 months +
My Rating: 9/10
Product Overview
This 12-pieces toy is a great toy for kids over 24 months of age. Consisting of big dimension parts, it can also be used by younger kids but perhaps it won’t have the same effect as with older ones.
Each part has a nice smiling face and an indentation on the lower side in order to fit the other elements thus creating a new exciting shape.
The width (2cm) of each piece makes the toy very stable. The height and length (7cm x 7cm) make the creations big and enticing.
There are many ways to combine the elements thus stimulating children’s imagination and creativity. It can either be a solo play or a play with friends. One of many activities using tooth blocks wooden balance games is competitions or challenges especially if they are used in kindergartens.
The only disadvantage of this toy, according to my opinion, is that it is made of pine wood. Working with wood, I have found that pine wood splinters. Eventually, this flaw can be overcome by painting them as paint prevents wood from splintering.
The advantage of this toy is that it is completely natural and colourless left to children’s imagination to be decorated. An art workshop is also a good option for children to paint and decorate the elements and then use them in a play.
Skills Development with Tooth Blocks Wooden Balance Games
Just after the development of the gross motor skills, learning to crawl, stand up and walk, children start developing an interest in their environment. Their curiosity leads them everywhere throughout the house. They like to inspect, touch and even taste things. The curiosity of their sense of taste is a good reason for parents to choose natural, and my strong suggestion is to choose wooden toys over artificial material toys.
With just a quick look you can see how exciting this toy is. It’s like love at the first sight. Those smiling faces are so appealing that even the adults can’t resist them. When stacked on top of each other, they make such an irresistible bunch of happy faces.
Speaking of the usefulness of this product, I can only say that it hits the bull’s eye. It gets right to the core of its purpose, to the fine motor skills development. Such finesse in wooden toys makes it a toy of high importance for the buildout of critical thinking, problem-solving, creativity, hand-eye coordination and imagination.
Why critical thinking? In order to act, children need to observe, experience, reflect, reason and communicate then analyze, synthesize, conceptualize, evaluate and finally apply the information gathered through these processes. This is called critical thinking which to us looks easy and quick but demands a strenuous brain activity to put into practice.
In the life of adults, critical thinking is actually reasoning, judging and telling between right and wrong independently, not led by the opinions and thoughts of others.
Mastering skills from an early age is so important that in further life children use the mastered skills unconsciously. Their abilities may not be exact at the beginning but practice makes perfect. The more they play the more they learn.
Safety
The big dimensions of the parts of this attractive toy make it perfectly safe even for younger ages. Wood, the material it is made of, is natural and safe.
Each part is made of a single piece of wood, there are no glued nor nailed parts, which add up to the safety of the toy. Each part is finely sanded and smooth.
In order to prolong its durability do not wash the product with water! You can wipe it by mixing natural apple or grape vinegar with water at a ratio of 1 to 10 for cleaning and disinfection in case of contamination over time.
For further use, just clean it and store it in the original package in a dry place, out of the moisture and it will retain its characteristics as new.
Due to the durability of wooden toys, many generations can make use of this one. If there are no more generations to play, you may consider giving them to someone you care about or donating them to the ones that can’t afford them.
Eventually, because wood is a natural element, it is eco-friendly and bio-degradable, you don’t have to think much about its disposal. It is perfectly safe for the environment as much as it is safe for our children.
My Final Word
In conclusion, I would like to remind you to look for toys that are versatile and open-ended. It means that it helps develop many skills in children. Open-ended play means that it is possible to use it in an unlimited number of ways.
Tooth blocks wooden balance games can be played in various ways according to children’s imagination and creativity. In addition, many interesting and demanding tasks may be created by kindergarten teachers to teach children shapes, numbers and colours but also to practice fine motor skills, such as precision and balance.
My strong suggestion, if you are looking for a nice present or a teaching tool for your classroom, is to choose this toy. It is natural, durable, eco-friendly, bio-degradable and among all safe for children’s use. To make it more attractive to kids, let the young ones decorate them the way they want. This way, they will find them even more attractive.
Choose natural, choose wood!
