POPULAR PLAYTHINGS
Popular Playthings’ Mix or Match Junior features buildable magnetic toy vehicles. With eight magnetic pieces, build an imaginary vehicle such as a plane, train, boat, or car. Or, mix the pieces up to reassemble them by matching colors. Mix or Match can also serve as a child’s first 3-D matching puzzle.
MINILAND
Watermelon Ball
PLASMART
In Catch & Learn, learn by playing one of four ways. In Catch & Learn Spelling, pick up the letters in the proper order to spell a word. In Catch & Learn Grammar, select the nouns and reel them in. In Catch & Learn Addition/ Subtraction, choose a question, and the right answer. In Multiplication, multiple two cards, and find the correct answer. In each game, press the button to retract the worm magnet and haul in your answers. The game helps improve math, spelling, memory, and fine motor skills. It’s for ages 4 and up. The Watermelon Ball looks and feels like a watermelon in water. Kids ages 8 and up, can dribble, kick, bounce, pass, and intercept the Watermelon Ball under water. A creativity mat with an edge, the Messmatz protects surfaces while the edge confines messes. It holds up to 32 ounces of spills and it won’t slip and slide on hard surfaces. It’s for all ages. For ages birth and up, PlaSmart’s tactile, sensory ball by Sillibaby features a bell inside and is made of 100-percent food-grade silicone. It is also free of BPAs, PVC, lead, and Phthalates. It can be washed with warm, soapy water.
Miniland’s Maze Balance Board is a balancing game, which asks you to build different courses and mazes that the ball can move around, putting your craftsmanship and equilibrium to the test. It develops spatial orientation and balance by rewarding precision and coordinated movements, says the company. First Senses: Rattle is an infant rattle with contrasting colors. Its design makes it easy to grasp as well as aid hand-eye coordination. It stimulates sensory development, practicing visual, auditory, and tactile perception, says Miniland. Diversity Hotel is a game of questions and answers, in which players work to find out about different cultures by identifying different characters. The game is meant to encourage respect for diversity and friendly behavior, encouraging equality and social integration while enriching vocabulary. Pre-Writing Basic Templates help early learners practice drawing lines in a way that aids fine motor skill development. They can be used on a range of surfaces with pencils, crayons, chalk, or finger paints. Family Diversity Blocks is a game with a wheel to build different kinds of families. The game’s goal is to aid kids in understanding the different kinds of family that they may encounter in modern society. It encourages a respect for diversity with activities involving moving and building. Water Mystery is a game for delving into science by playing with and investigating things that float and things that sink. It helps with analytical processes and thinking logically, such as inductive and deductive reasoning. Emoticapsules are capsules, which represent basic emotions and store pictures or objects related to each emotion. They help with identifying and developing emotions. Their nested design makes them easy to store.
June 2017 tfe 47