Throughout 2016, multiple judges have put our toys and games to the test! We are delighted to have received several prestigious accolades that have recognised our toys for their quality, durability, educational benefits and fun factor. Discover what toys have scooped awards this year below.Â
Awards DescriptionThe Code & Goâ„¢ Robot Mouse Activity Set is part of Learning Resources’ STEM range and provides a basic introduction to coding and programming.  This fun set challenges players to programme Colby the Mouse to navigate through a custom built maze and find a block of cheese! Designed for children aged five and above, it supports the development of a variety of skills such as problem solving, critical thinking, communication skills, programming and self-correction. Judges Comments“Children wanted ‘just one more go’ with this - a sign of a great purchase.†– Toy Talk Awards“The STEM Robot Mouse Activity Set would encourage children to build hands-on coding skills in a fun and enjoyable way. It was very easy to construct and represented excellent value for money!†– ERA AwardsÂ
Awards DescriptionImagination has no limits with Plot Blocks™! By combining a multitude of different settings, characters, objects and actions, children create a truly unique story with just the roll of 6 cubes. The set includes 18 picture cubes (six each of who, what and how), six double sided setting mats and four transparent setting mats for children to create their very own story setting. Pick a setting, roll two of each cube and let the endless stories begin! Judges Comments“Children of all ages enjoyed playing with the Plot Blocks. The bright colours of the blocks are great for the young children whilst the older children enjoyed the variety of setting cards. The cubes are of a good size and the game is easily stored in the box. I think it is fantastic that the game encourages creativity.†– Primary Teacher Update Awards
 AwardDescriptionGive little ones a kick-start into beginning astronomy with this real working telescope! Built specifically for growing minds, the comfy two-eye goggle piece and nose cut-out guides keep your child’s eyes focused on exactly the right spot. The telescope is focus free: no adjustment needed! The 10x magnification provides fantastic views of the moon, while keeping the field of vision wide, which is essential for young children’s understanding of magnified views.Judges Comments“A fascinating starting point for small children to enjoy viewing the night sky†– Right Start AwardsÂ
AwardDescriptionColourful puppy friends snap together and pull apart to make a variety of rhyming words. Great for reinforcing fine motor skills, the set includes ten heads and ten tails that can be mixed and matched to make over 55 rhyming words. Start by matching colours and identifying letters, then move on to building three letter words and rhyming. Judges Comments“A simple education resource which was engaging and did its job well. The children enjoyed the idea of pups and made the activities fun particularly as they pretended to be pups and one point. Some could blend the words together fairly quickly and others needed practice but all improved after just a few play sessions. A very useful resource for children just beginning to blend words together , but familiar with letter sounds which encourages literacy, communication and language skills.†– Practical Preschool Awards
AwardDescriptionA new spin on learning for the youngest of engineers! Hands-on construction and colourful underwater pals provide a fun way to build fine motor skills. Big, chunky play pieces fit easily onto large gears, providing endless mix-and match play. This friendly set encourages creativity and allows children to explore cause and effect, Set includes board, eight large gears, seven sea creatures and a chunky handle. Judges Comments“Great toy, fun looking, nice bright colours and well made†– Bizzie Baby Awards“I really liked this product and so did mason as has never stopped playing with it, very bright colours which is attractive to younger kids.†– Bizzie Baby Awards
AwardDescriptionThis illustrated set of 21 double sided activity cards teach patterns and sequences, sorting, grouping, early arithmetic, size recognition and positional awareness. The set also includes a 1-20 number line. Â The wipe-clean cards can be used individually by the child or supported by a teacher. Activity guide included with even more activity ideas to use with the cards. The cards are designed to be used with our All About Me Family Countersâ„¢ Â (sold separately).Â
AwardDescriptionIntroduce and explore six simple machines as you make amazing discoveries, design solutions for real-world problems and conduct your own investigations. This colourful set includes a lever board, wedge, pulley with role and hook, card with four removable wheels, Archimedes screw, four barrel weights and ten double sided activity cards to build early engineering and problem solving skills.Â
AwardDescriptionTactile learning is a bag full of fun with Teaching Tac-Tiles™! Colourful, engaging pieces with rich textures (smooth, bumpy, ridged and rough) engage a child’s senses and strengthen fine motor skills. Children aged three and above learn shape identification while building vocabulary and early maths skills. Includes 20 pieces in five shapes and four textures plus 10 activity cards.#LoveLearning
The Autism Friendly Tool Box A Guest Post by AuKids Magazine Name: Debby ElleyTitle: Co-editor AuKids magazineAge of children: Twins aged 13 For Autism Awareness Day we’ve teamed up with Debby from AuKids, a parenting magazine for those raising and educating children with autism, to provide personal product recommendations and tips about buying presents for autistic children.Social communication difficulties mean that pretend play often carries little interest for them early on. Motor planning can also be affected and so toys that require building may prove frustrating.  Our first piece of advice when buying for an autistic child: never guess. If you want to be known for thoughtful presents, prepare by asking mum or dad the type of thing their youngster likes. Some autistic children don’t like surprises or change very much, even when it comes to birthdays. It’s a nice idea to give them some suggestions – with images – and let them choose between them.  Sensory PlayIn children with autism, the sensory exploration stage is very important and often very engaging, too. Sensory toys can be fantastic for these children, but do check with their carers whether they have any sensitivities or aversions. The Sand Moulds Lowercase Alphabet is a good bet, helping finemotor skills as they pack the sand into a letter shape. It’s also an opportunity for parent and child to use simple language together whilst they have shared attention. This is the best way for autistic children to pick up new vocabulary.We love toys that combine sensory fun with learning as they can be appreciated on different levels. Sensory rooms for children with autism can be very expensive – but there are some lovely toys that can make a bedroom a wonderful place to be at night. The Primary Science™ Shining Stars Projector gives super images and is a captivating little gadget. Often parents of children with special needs know that they enjoy sensory play, but the reality of cleaning up after every play session can be a little draining! We love the Playfoam Combo 8 Pack – Playfoam is non toxic and it doesn’t stick to carpet – result! They don’t need to build anything marvellous, just the process of squishing and squashing is extremely good for motor skills. We suggest you also buy a cheap shower curtain from the supermarket for about £1 – this provides great floor or table cover and is invaluable for a quick clear-up operation.
Time Team
Understanding the concept of time is particularly difficult for autistic children. It is an abstract concept – that is, the passing of time is a notion that you keep in your head. Autistic children rely on solid visual information. For those children who are in a mainstream school and ready to develop their understanding of time, we like About Time - Telling the Time & Understanding Elapsed Time.What’s particularly good about this kit is that it includes visual representations of quarter of an hour and half an hour, helping children to understand their relationship to an hour.  Some older school children with autism would benefit from this, too.
For Spin Doctors…
If the autistic child in your life enjoys watching things that spin around, then the Gears! Gears! Gears!®sets are a great bet. Not only can you support them to build, using fine motor skills, but at the end they have a fantastic, motivating visual activity. These gears sets can be appreciated on many levels. Parents can build for younger children and then start encouraging them to join in gradually. There are many sets to choose from – we loved the Gizmos Building Set and the Space Explorers Building Setbut if that’s a little outside your price range, the Build & Spin Flower Garden Building Set is also bound to be a hit.
Motor Skills
The Design & Drill® BrightWorksâ„¢ set stands out for us as toy that is perfect for children with special needs. The colourful plastic bolts and drill are solid and durable and even those with shaky hands can enjoy great success making patterns on the light-up drill board. As with any child who has a tendency to mouth toys, an adult needs to closely monitor play to ensure that they don’t try and eat the bolts or drill too much – which puts a strain on the motor. But with a little prompting, this is a very useful toy to develop fine motor skills. Because it lights up, it’s great sensory play, and very motivating.  Froggy Feeding Funâ„¢ is another good game to develop fine motor; squeeze the frog’s mouth to catch a treat. Great for counting skills and colour recognition, it also gives an easy reward – so encouraging! Â
Communication Fun
Developing attention, listening and copying skills will be much easier with the Magic Moves® Electronic Wand. This fun little gadget gives you ideas to copy - stomp like a dinosaur, swoop like an eagle, hop like a kangaroo! We suggest you join in too, and see what happens.Even if they’re not ready to copy movement, it also has 26 random tunes and twinkling lights. Fun on lots of levels.
Other Ideas
Vehicles tend to be popular with autistic kids, as they have a definite purpose and the repetitive movement of them can be quite comforting. Thomas the Tank Engine is particularly popular. Find out which track the child owns and buy an interesting new piece for it. Many autistic kids love their iPads or computers. Colourful keyboards or a keyboard mouse might be a nice bet (you can even get large letter keyboards if their hand-eye co-ordination isn’t up to much). Cordless headphones that use Bluetooth can save endless headaches, as getting a fiddly jack into an iPad wearing a protective case can be a struggle. Most kids have collections of some sort, particularly as many computer games now have associated interactive figures. When an autistic child builds a collection, this isn’t just an ordinary haphazard semi-completed collection, oh no. You may hear the term ‘special interest’ in relation to autism. All this means is, when autistic kids like something, they like it A LOT. Their collection will be cherished; their collection will be complete; and having to complete it is the nightmare of most parents of autistic kids. So seek out the figures that they don’t already own. If you want to spend money on something that doesn’t gather dust, this is it.
Say it with Slogans
Parents spend so much extra on special needs children that they often don’t have as much disposable income as they’d like to spend on clothing. Positive messages are great signals for the public and families alike. Just check out any sensory sensitivities before you buy. You can get specialist autism T-shirts with positive slogans on them, dreamt up by AuKids magazine, from www.aukids.co.uk or www.finsdesignandprint.co.uk For more advice on autism, sign up for AuKids magazine for £16 a year at www.aukids.co.uk
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Tried and Tested: Alphabet Acorns Name of tester: Kerri HibberdTitle: Class TeacherSchool name: Woodside AcademyAge of child: Three years oldAge of school class: Reception; ages four and fiveProduct Testing: Alphabet Acorns Activity Set “Kerri has been a teacher for 11 years. She is currently the phonics co-ordinator at her school and works part time. The rest of the time she is at home with her 3 year old daughter.â€
Ratings:
What were your first thoughts when the product arrived?
I was impressed with how colourful it was. My daughter was very excited and she couldn’t wait to get it out of the box.
How did you use the product?
With my daughter at home, we first found all the matching objects for each letter. She enjoyed using the resource so much that we used it every day for the next week. To extend her learning we tried to use the resource in different ways. We matched upper and lowercase letters and then found all three matching parts, the uppercase letter, lowercase letter and object. I also used this resource for phonics teaching. I chose a letter and asked her to find the object beginning with the same sound and then did this the other way around by choosing an object and asking her to find the matching acorn parts. As she is young and doesn’t know all her sounds yet she needed a little support.
How did you use this product in the classroom?
Within the classroom I used this resource in two different ways, first as an exploration activity for independent learning. I set it up with other outside objects and allowed the children to explore. Some children used it as a matching activity and matched the upper and lowercase letters while others tried to find the matching objects. As a teacher focus I used it as a matching the initial sound and object activity and was also able to assess the children’s phonic and letter knowledge.
What are the educational benefits of the resource?
There are lots of benefits to this resource as it can be used in different ways such as letter and grapheme correspondence, initial letter sounds, matching upper and lowercase letters and even sorting colours. There’s even more ideas in the box!
What did you like/dislike about the resource?
To make this even more appealing for schools I think an alternative ‘qu’ should be added. This will enable the resource to be used for phonic activities as well as alphabet activities. I loved this resource and it was very appealing to my daughter and children at the school. I liked the bright colours used and that the letters on the front of the acorn, lid and object all matched in colour so younger children, like my daughter, or less able children, could be told to look for a blue object that matched or a red top etc.
What is the long term appeal of the resource?
Very good as it also fits in with different topics and stories so can be linked to learning in lots of different ways.
Is the product unique?
The acorn idea is unique and appealing but there are otherproducts on the market for matching objects and letters. #LoveLearning
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Throughout 2016, multiple judges have put our toys and games to the test! We are delighted to have received several prestigious accolades that have recognised our toys for their quality, durability, educational benefits and fun factor. Discover what toys have scooped awards this year below.Â
Awards DescriptionThe Code & Goâ„¢ Robot Mouse Activity Set is part of Learning Resources’ STEM range and provides a basic introduction to coding and programming.  This fun set challenges players to programme Colby the Mouse to navigate through a custom built maze and find a block of cheese! Designed for children aged five and above, it supports the development of a variety of skills such as problem solving, critical thinking, communication skills, programming and self-correction. Judges Comments“Children wanted ‘just one more go’ with this - a sign of a great purchase.†– Toy Talk Awards“The STEM Robot Mouse Activity Set would encourage children to build hands-on coding skills in a fun and enjoyable way. It was very easy to construct and represented excellent value for money!†– ERA AwardsÂ
Awards DescriptionImagination has no limits with Plot Blocks™! By combining a multitude of different settings, characters, objects and actions, children create a truly unique story with just the roll of 6 cubes. The set includes 18 picture cubes (six each of who, what and how), six double sided setting mats and four transparent setting mats for children to create their very own story setting. Pick a setting, roll two of each cube and let the endless stories begin! Judges Comments“Children of all ages enjoyed playing with the Plot Blocks. The bright colours of the blocks are great for the young children whilst the older children enjoyed the variety of setting cards. The cubes are of a good size and the game is easily stored in the box. I think it is fantastic that the game encourages creativity.†– Primary Teacher Update Awards
 AwardDescriptionGive little ones a kick-start into beginning astronomy with this real working telescope! Built specifically for growing minds, the comfy two-eye goggle piece and nose cut-out guides keep your child’s eyes focused on exactly the right spot. The telescope is focus free: no adjustment needed! The 10x magnification provides fantastic views of the moon, while keeping the field of vision wide, which is essential for young children’s understanding of magnified views.Judges Comments“A fascinating starting point for small children to enjoy viewing the night sky†– Right Start AwardsÂ
AwardDescriptionColourful puppy friends snap together and pull apart to make a variety of rhyming words. Great for reinforcing fine motor skills, the set includes ten heads and ten tails that can be mixed and matched to make over 55 rhyming words. Start by matching colours and identifying letters, then move on to building three letter words and rhyming. Judges Comments“A simple education resource which was engaging and did its job well. The children enjoyed the idea of pups and made the activities fun particularly as they pretended to be pups and one point. Some could blend the words together fairly quickly and others needed practice but all improved after just a few play sessions. A very useful resource for children just beginning to blend words together , but familiar with letter sounds which encourages literacy, communication and language skills.†– Practical Preschool Awards
AwardDescriptionA new spin on learning for the youngest of engineers! Hands-on construction and colourful underwater pals provide a fun way to build fine motor skills. Big, chunky play pieces fit easily onto large gears, providing endless mix-and match play. This friendly set encourages creativity and allows children to explore cause and effect, Set includes board, eight large gears, seven sea creatures and a chunky handle. Judges Comments“Great toy, fun looking, nice bright colours and well made†– Bizzie Baby Awards“I really liked this product and so did mason as has never stopped playing with it, very bright colours which is attractive to younger kids.†– Bizzie Baby Awards
AwardDescriptionThis illustrated set of 21 double sided activity cards teach patterns and sequences, sorting, grouping, early arithmetic, size recognition and positional awareness. The set also includes a 1-20 number line. Â The wipe-clean cards can be used individually by the child or supported by a teacher. Activity guide included with even more activity ideas to use with the cards. The cards are designed to be used with our All About Me Family Countersâ„¢ Â (sold separately).Â
AwardDescriptionIntroduce and explore six simple machines as you make amazing discoveries, design solutions for real-world problems and conduct your own investigations. This colourful set includes a lever board, wedge, pulley with role and hook, card with four removable wheels, Archimedes screw, four barrel weights and ten double sided activity cards to build early engineering and problem solving skills.Â
AwardDescriptionTactile learning is a bag full of fun with Teaching Tac-Tiles™! Colourful, engaging pieces with rich textures (smooth, bumpy, ridged and rough) engage a child’s senses and strengthen fine motor skills. Children aged three and above learn shape identification while building vocabulary and early maths skills. Includes 20 pieces in five shapes and four textures plus 10 activity cards.#LoveLearning
