With the first days of school behind us, its time to look forward to ways of helping your child succeed by practicing the skills required for developing confidence and having fun in the classroom. As each age is different developmentally, each grade level involves the development of different skill sets. In connection with these there are different toys and games that can help children at various grade levels to develop and practice skills they will use and value throughout their life. Below we offer some suggestions for the younger crowd, up to Grade 5, and next week we will offer some ideas for those in the Grade 6 to Grade 12 range.
Pre-School Age and Kindergarten
Pre-school and kindergarten are exciting times for kids. New friends and new experiences help to reinforce social skills and also help create a safe space for children to learn and explore together. At this young age a love of learning and discovery is fostered. Hands on visual learning is the key. Vibrant colours with things that children can grab, touch and explore help to guide understanding and increase curiosity. Reading, phonics, tactile skills such as cutting as well as colours, scientific method and discovery are all essential skills to practice and develop. Here’s what we like to recommend in connection with development of these skills --
Melissa and Doug Beginner Pattern Blocks These feature 10 brightly-painted wooden patterns and 30
colourfully shaped pieces to replicate the fun pictures. All pieces can be put away in the sturdy wooden box that comes with it. Great for early development of colours, shapes and matching skills.
Melissa and Doug See and Spell Place the colourful wooden letters 
in their proper places to spell words on the cut-out, two-sided wooden boards. Helps develop reading skills by matching the letters to words and pictures. Includes 16 playful pictures with three and four-letter words to keep learning fun. Includes over 50 letters.
Melissa and Doug Shape Sorting Clock A colourful wooden clock features 12 shaped wooden blocks that fit into matching slots, plus movable hands! With lots of ‘timely’ information on the hands and clock face, this is the perfect toy to help children master an abstract concept.
Primary/Junior Grades (Grade 1- 5)
Now firmly ingrained in the world of school, children’s skill sets change to more subject-specific skills. Strengths and weaknesses often become more apparent, but the entire curriculum is equally important to develop the life-long skills to be successful in all aspects of the world. A well-rounded child has every door open to them and no closed doors. While the curriculum has expanded, the three ‘R’s’, ‘reading, writing and arithmetic’, are still very much the focus of the day. The basic language and math skills developed at this age are the stepping stones to the rest of their life. A curious and questioning nature helps children develop the confidence to explore and question the world around them and learn how things work.
Pig 10 A blackjack style card game. Pig 10 is a card game that lets you go hog wild! Everything revolves about the number 10. The player who hits 10 with his piglet cards fabulously often, wins. Great for practicing basic addition and subtraction skills.
Bananagrams ‘Go bananas’ with this fast-paced crossword-style word game. Grab letter tiles from the banana bag and build your mini-crossword. The first player to use up all of their letter tiles and yell “BANANAS!” wins. This award-winning word game requires no pencil, paper or board. It’s fast and fun and compact for travel.
K’nex Roller Coaster Kids can build various models of their very own roller coaster for their bedroom. Helps to teach mechanical skills, direction reading, problem-solving, gears, motors and momentum.
Magic School Bus Science Kits Ms. Frizzle and her students take ‘young scientists’ on a wild ride with the ‘Magic School Bus’ as they explore the world around them with a variety of topic specific kits designed to get ‘young scientists’ thinking and questioning. Green Energy, the Human Body, Electricity, Weather, Slime, Dinosaurs and so much more are just a bus ride away.
Brighten Up is a member of Neighbourhood Toy Stores of Canada (NETS) and is located in Erin ON. Chris Bailey (owner) and Stephanie Giugovaz (Education Director) are proud to be part of the Erin community and committed to a mission of making learning and discovery fun for everyone. Brighten Up provides toys, games, puzzles, books and magazines as well as educational services and special interest seminars. Along with other NETS retailers they will celebrate Neighbourhood Toy Store Day on Saturday on Saturday, November 10 with loads of fun activities for the family!
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