First off, you might be wondering, “What in the world is a ‘busy board’?” Well, let us tell you. Busy boards, also known as Sensory Boards, are just one of the wonderful little contraptions we absolutely love in toddler care. They are amazing developmental tools used for fine-tuning motor skills and are popular in preschools and daycares. In short, these boards encourage hands-on learning through play. Along with these boards, there is a wide range of awesome toys out there to encourage development and learning for your toddler. As we say in our philosophy at Breakie Bunch: Children learn by doing.
So What Are Busy Boards Again?
Busy boards, also called Sensory Boards, are awesome little contraptions. Their purpose is to stimulate the senses. You can make them yourself if you’re handy. However, no worries if you’re not, you can also buy one from places like Amazon or Etsy. Popular items on a Sensory Board are latches, locks, switches, knobs- anything the child can move around or mess with. The brighter the colors, the better. These boards naturally encourage kids to use scientific processes, believe it or not! And we like nothing more in toddler care than encouraging all the little scientists.
Interesting. What Other Kinds of Toys Are There?
Oh, we could go on for days with this one. Almost anything out there can be made into a developmental toy for your kiddo. A favorite right now is Grimm’s Rainbow Stacker. How cool is this thing? The colors are absolutely sensational and who knew you could take a rainbow and stack it so many different ways? Gorgeous as well as educational, this stacker encourages deep critical thinking and reasoning skills, while not being an eyesore when left out on the coffee table. Score!
STEM and STEAM
Have you heard of these yet? They are a form of education to get our kids ready for their futures. STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. STEAM includes Art. And yes, you can find STEM and STEAM educational toys even for toddlers. A favorite is Magnetic Tiles. These colorful, buildable, child-safe magnetics encourage your budding little engineer. While some sets have small pieces and parental guidance is recommended, these fun tiles are a fantastic start to learning geometry. Geometry for my toddler, you ask? Actually — YEAH! The littles absolutely love building with these and it is awesome for their cognitive development.
It is never too early to start working on education and it’s not as intense as you may think. With the right toys, kids in toddler care and at home will have fun and develop their little noggins without even trying. A simple Google search for STEM and STEAM toys will amass so many results, you won’t know what to do. Read reviews, look up parent recommendations. We even have some favorites of our own that fall into this category. There is a world of discovery out there for your child, just waiting to be found.
If you’d like more information on our teaching philosophy and how we learn through DOING, contact us here.