Playing outside is an essential part of a child's development. From making mud kitchens, to getting to know nature, learning and playing outside will help little learners form key developmental skills such as physical health & self-confidence!
Ever wondered what it’s like to spend two weeks surrounded by toys? My colleaguesfrom our sales team have been manning our exhibition stands at the London and Nuremburg Toy Fairs showcasing over 100 of our new products for 2015. Buyers from well known retailers and education suppliers stopped by to decide what new items (if not all of them) they’d like to stock. It’s always an exciting time of year for us as the tireless work which has gone into developing this abundance of products comes into fruition. Our customers are always so receptive to our new product offering, read on to find out more…London Toy Fair HighlightsOur new Top of the Tables! Times table game took centre stage - designed to help children master multiplication in order to shoot and score. Here is Jo Moore from our product development department who demonstrated the game to customers and even the Toy Fair TV film crew. Jo is also an ex-teacher so was truly qualified to promote the true educational benefits to visitors.We also had an unexpected guest who showed a keen interest in our Nancy B range, specially designed to encourage girls to get excited about science. His favourite item was the Aquascope! We’ve since been in touch with Vernon so we can send the entire range for his daughters to enjoy. We hope it’ll help them get enthused about science.Nuremburg Toy Fair HighlightsMy colleagues Helen and Claire were lucky enough to be invited to the opening ceremony of the Nuremburg Toy Fair which also hosted the Spielwarenmesse Toy Award. Our Mental Blox Critical Thinking Challenge game had been nominated within their PreSchool Toy category which was a huge accolade for us.Lastly, I have to tell you about the customer reception we hold each year – it’s an occasion where we thank our loyal customers and seeing as it had such a GREAT theme I thought I should share. The evening consisted of key toy and education buyers enjoying the GREAT British party we put together. Guests enjoyed traditionally British food and I can’t leave without telling you about ourspecial guest – none other than HRH, the Queen. Who would have thought onewould have been visiting the toy fair?Claire JohnstonHead of Marketing and Communications
Toy Fair Time!
Ever wondered what it’s like to spend two weeks surrounded by toys? My colleaguesfrom our sales team have been manning our exhibition stands at the London and Nuremburg Toy Fairs showcasing over 100 of our new products for 2015. Buyers from well known retailers and education suppliers stopped by to decide what new items (if not all of them) they’d like to stock. It’s always an exciting time of year for us as the tireless work which has gone into developing this abundance of products comes into fruition. Our customers are always so receptive to our new product offering, read on to find out more…London Toy Fair HighlightsOur new Top of the Tables! Times table game took centre stage - designed to help children master multiplication in order to shoot and score. Here is Jo Moore from our product development department who demonstrated the game to customers and even the Toy Fair TV film crew. Jo is also an ex-teacher so was truly qualified to promote the true educational benefits to visitors.We also had an unexpected guest who showed a keen interest in our Nancy B range, specially designed to encourage girls to get excited about science. His favourite item was the Aquascope! We’ve since been in touch with Vernon so we can send the entire range for his daughters to enjoy. We hope it’ll help them get enthused about science.Nuremburg Toy Fair HighlightsMy colleagues Helen and Claire were lucky enough to be invited to the opening ceremony of the Nuremburg Toy Fair which also hosted the Spielwarenmesse Toy Award. Our Mental Blox Critical Thinking Challenge game had been nominated within their PreSchool Toy category which was a huge accolade for us.Lastly, I have to tell you about the customer reception we hold each year – it’s an occasion where we thank our loyal customers and seeing as it had such a GREAT theme I thought I should share. The evening consisted of key toy and education buyers enjoying the GREAT British party we put together. Guests enjoyed traditionally British food and I can’t leave without telling you about ourspecial guest – none other than HRH, the Queen. Who would have thought onewould have been visiting the toy fair?Claire JohnstonHead of Marketing and Communications
READ MORE
We are joining in the Elf on the Shelf fun again this year! The Elf of the Shelf tradition started over in America and is quickly becoming popular here in the UK. The Elf on the Shelf pack includes a special scout elf sent from the North Pole to help Father Christmas manage his naughty and nice lists. When a family adopts an elf and gives it a name, the scout elf receives its Christmas magic and can fly to the North Pole each night to tell Father Christmas and the elves about all of the day’s adventures. Each morning, the elf returns to its family and perches in a different place to watch the fun. Children love to wake up and race around the house looking for their scout elf each morning.
Jane is back with her Learning Resources family for Christmas. She is saying hello to some of the friends she met last year, and introducing herself to the many new people that have joined the company in 2014.
We’ve had a very good year this year, and have seen the company grow a lot! We have taken on 9 new members of staff and we’re set to continue the trend into 2015. Jane has enjoyed meeting the new people, especially Jo who we like to refer to as our ‘in-house education expert’.
Jane has had a lot of fun already, she has been to LA with Dennis to visit the Educational Insights offices. While she was there, Dennis treated her to some new accessories. What a classy elf we have now!
Our little elf also joined Sammy at a very festive Holkham Hall at the weekend. While they were there she listened to a lovely choir, saw some Victorian Christmas cooking and visited the deer. Jane’s favourite festive room within the hall was the tree room!
Just yesterday Jane helped John to decorate the Christmas tree of the Learning Resources offices. Do you think she did a good job? Our tree was kindly donated by Sam in our accounts department.
Do you have an elf visiting your home, work or school this year? We’d love to know what they’ve been up to. Keep track of Jane the elf’s activities and the Learning Resources festive spirit on our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/LearningResourcesUK.
We are joining in the Elf on the Shelf fun again this year! The Elf of the Shelf tradition started over in America and is quickly becoming popular here in the UK. The Elf on the Shelf pack includes a special scout elf sent from the North Pole to help Father Christmas manage his naughty and nice lists. When a family adopts an elf and gives it a name, the scout elf receives its Christmas magic and can fly to the North Pole each night to tell Father Christmas and the elves about all of the day’s adventures. Each morning, the elf returns to its family and perches in a different place to watch the fun. Children love to wake up and race around the house looking for their scout elf each morning.
Jane is back with her Learning Resources family for Christmas. She is saying hello to some of the friends she met last year, and introducing herself to the many new people that have joined the company in 2014.
We’ve had a very good year this year, and have seen the company grow a lot! We have taken on 9 new members of staff and we’re set to continue the trend into 2015. Jane has enjoyed meeting the new people, especially Jo who we like to refer to as our ‘in-house education expert’.
Jane has had a lot of fun already, she has been to LA with Dennis to visit the Educational Insights offices. While she was there, Dennis treated her to some new accessories. What a classy elf we have now!
Our little elf also joined Sammy at a very festive Holkham Hall at the weekend. While they were there she listened to a lovely choir, saw some Victorian Christmas cooking and visited the deer. Jane’s favourite festive room within the hall was the tree room!
Just yesterday Jane helped John to decorate the Christmas tree of the Learning Resources offices. Do you think she did a good job? Our tree was kindly donated by Sam in our accounts department.
Do you have an elf visiting your home, work or school this year? We’d love to know what they’ve been up to. Keep track of Jane the elf’s activities and the Learning Resources festive spirit on our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/LearningResourcesUK.
Gears! Gears! Gears!® is a very popular brand name in our household! Squirt loves playing with the different gears to make lots of different designs, and it’s something she enjoys with her Dad has he loves playing with construction toys! She was bought the Movin’ Monkeysâ„¢ Building Set for her birthday last year. She was a bit young for it at the time, but loved playing with the monkeys and all the different trees - they ended up in the bath on more than one occasion! Now she’s older she lovely building with all the gears and connectors and swinging the monkeys from the springy green vines.
A brand new product to the Gears! Gears! Gears!® range is the new Build & Bloom Flower Garden. This has only been available for a couple of days, but knowing how much squirt loves the range, I thought I’d ask her opinion of the new set!
Here are some of the things Squirt said about Gears! Gears! Gears! Build & Bloom:
“I like the bees and butterflies and flowers.”
“Daddy has to help me put the bricks (base) together.”
“The pink ones are my favourite.”
“I like it when they spin.”
The set of 115 includes flowers, butterflies, bees and ladybirds, along with colourful gears and wiggly flower stems! Not only is the set a lot of fun, it also helps to develop critical thinking skills and encourages creativity.
To find out more about the Gears! Gears! Gears!® range, view the products on our website. I particularly like the Gizmos® Building Set with so many pieces and parts it will offer colourfully and dazzling play for hours on end!
These sets will make great Christmas presents that will keep children entertained for hours! Find them in our Christmas Shop here. In case you didn’t already know, all items in the Christmas Shop are buy two get one free!
Gears! Gears! Gears!® is a very popular brand name in our household! Squirt loves playing with the different gears to make lots of different designs, and it’s something she enjoys with her Dad has he loves playing with construction toys! She was bought the Movin’ Monkeysâ„¢ Building Set for her birthday last year. She was a bit young for it at the time, but loved playing with the monkeys and all the different trees - they ended up in the bath on more than one occasion! Now she’s older she lovely building with all the gears and connectors and swinging the monkeys from the springy green vines.
A brand new product to the Gears! Gears! Gears!® range is the new Build & Bloom Flower Garden. This has only been available for a couple of days, but knowing how much squirt loves the range, I thought I’d ask her opinion of the new set!
Here are some of the things Squirt said about Gears! Gears! Gears! Build & Bloom:
“I like the bees and butterflies and flowers.”
“Daddy has to help me put the bricks (base) together.”
“The pink ones are my favourite.”
“I like it when they spin.”
The set of 115 includes flowers, butterflies, bees and ladybirds, along with colourful gears and wiggly flower stems! Not only is the set a lot of fun, it also helps to develop critical thinking skills and encourages creativity.
To find out more about the Gears! Gears! Gears!® range, view the products on our website. I particularly like the Gizmos® Building Set with so many pieces and parts it will offer colourfully and dazzling play for hours on end!
These sets will make great Christmas presents that will keep children entertained for hours! Find them in our Christmas Shop here. In case you didn’t already know, all items in the Christmas Shop are buy two get one free!
It’s Anti-Bullying Week. The aim of this week of awareness is to make stop bullying, by making it unacceptable for everyone, everywhere! It’s important to highlight the impact of bullying on children and young people in our schools, clubs and in cyberspace. Anti-Bullying Week has been running for over 10 years and aims to just that, prevent bullying by highlighting the impact on the victim.
Anti-Bullying Week 2014 is paying particular attention to the number of children with special educational needs and disabilities who are bullied in a number of institutions where they should feel safe and supported.
One of the most successful initiatives to highlight bullying in schools, is to get the children to lead the learning and awareness activities. This has been found to encourage inclusive attitudes in students and young children.
It is also important to support people who work with children to recognise young people around them who may be vulnerable to bullying. Discriminatory language shouldn’t be tolerated. We all heard comments being thrown about when we were younger, and no matter how harmless it seems from the outside, it doesn’t feel like that way to the victim. Luckily schools and clubs are working hard to make discriminatory language a thing of the past, by educating young people to understand the real impact of all aspects of bullying.
If you’d like to get involved and make bullying a thing of the past, you can access free training and resources from the Anti-Bullying Alliance. Some schools and clubs use Anti-Bullying Week as an opportunity to raise money for companies such as ABA that help target bullying. Fundraising ideas include:
Sponsored sports. With this year focussing on children with special needs and disabilities who are bullied, maybe try some wheelchair football or handcycling.
Hold a bake-off - very seasonal and always a favourite!
Loose a sense - spend a day or part of a day with one less sense, maybe wear a blindfold or ear defenders.
Get social! Spread the word about Anti-Bullying week and let the world know you’re against it. #StopBulling #Let’s Stop Bullying For All!
It’s Anti-Bullying Week. The aim of this week of awareness is to make stop bullying, by making it unacceptable for everyone, everywhere! It’s important to highlight the impact of bullying on children and young people in our schools, clubs and in cyberspace. Anti-Bullying Week has been running for over 10 years and aims to just that, prevent bullying by highlighting the impact on the victim.
Anti-Bullying Week 2014 is paying particular attention to the number of children with special educational needs and disabilities who are bullied in a number of institutions where they should feel safe and supported.
One of the most successful initiatives to highlight bullying in schools, is to get the children to lead the learning and awareness activities. This has been found to encourage inclusive attitudes in students and young children.
It is also important to support people who work with children to recognise young people around them who may be vulnerable to bullying. Discriminatory language shouldn’t be tolerated. We all heard comments being thrown about when we were younger, and no matter how harmless it seems from the outside, it doesn’t feel like that way to the victim. Luckily schools and clubs are working hard to make discriminatory language a thing of the past, by educating young people to understand the real impact of all aspects of bullying.
If you’d like to get involved and make bullying a thing of the past, you can access free training and resources from the Anti-Bullying Alliance. Some schools and clubs use Anti-Bullying Week as an opportunity to raise money for companies such as ABA that help target bullying. Fundraising ideas include:
Sponsored sports. With this year focussing on children with special needs and disabilities who are bullied, maybe try some wheelchair football or handcycling.
Hold a bake-off - very seasonal and always a favourite!
Loose a sense - spend a day or part of a day with one less sense, maybe wear a blindfold or ear defenders.
Get social! Spread the word about Anti-Bullying week and let the world know you’re against it. #StopBulling #Let’s Stop Bullying For All!
Teaching children to tell the time can be a daunting task, some seem to pick it up quickly where others struggle for years to fully understand what all those number positions and hands mean. With the introduction of digital clocks & watches and more recently smart watches, analogue time-telling seems even more distant to some children. My +1 was recently given a smart watch for his birthday, which had countless different faces which can be used. He seems to be able to keep time using it but we certainly won’t be using it to teach Squirt how to tell the time!
Telling the time features very early within a child’s education, beginning with the basics of children learning to ‘use everyday language related to time, ordering and sequencing familiar events and measuring short periods of time in simple ways’.
(Mathematics: Space, Shape and Measure 40-60 months/Early Learning Goal)
This then progresses into Key Stage 1 Mathematics - Measurement where pupils should be taught to:
measure and begin to record time (hours, minutes and seconds)
sequence events in chronological order using language
tell the time to the hour and half past the hour and draw the hands on a clock face to show these times.
compare and sequence intervals of time
 tell and write the time to five minutes, including quarter past/to the hour and draw the hands on a clock face to show these times
know the number of minutes in an hour and the number of hours in a day.
 Pupils in Key Stage 2 should be taught to:
tell and write the time from an analogue clock, 12-hour and 24-hour clocks
estimate and read time with increasing accuracy to the nearest minute
record and compare time in terms of seconds, minutes and hours
 use vocabulary such as o’clock, a.m./p.m., morning, afternoon, noon and midnight
know the number of seconds in a minute and the number of days in each month, year and leap year
solve problems involving converting from hours to minutes; minutes to seconds; years to months; weeks to days.
(Taken from the New National Curriculum 2014)
For more user-friendly time-telling resources, take a look at the list below of some of Learning Resources’ Top Time Telling Tools!
I have used these dominoes in a classroom setting of 8 year olds and they loved playing this game! The dominoes look at both digital and analogue time, and focus on 15 minute increments. There is an activity guide included with suggested activity ideas.
Turn learning to tell the time into an interactive game with the self-checking Hot Dots® system. Children simply work through a multiple-choice activity card and then select an answer by touching the pen to the corresponding dot for an audio/visual response!
Jumbo Timers
With bright colours and large displays, these timers keep everyone on time! When the time is up the button pops up and the buzzer sounds. Two available; 60-Second Jumbo Timer and 60-Minute Jumbo Time!
Big Time™ Learning Clocks®
Hidden gears maintain correct hour and minute relationships as time-telling concepts are demonstrated to individual or groups of children. Teaching guides are included and each clock comes with a removable stand. Available in the range is a large 12-hour Demonstration Clock, a 12-hour Student Clock and a 24-hour Student Clock.
During my time working in classrooms I found that children loved being in charge of a whiteboard pen! If your children are the same, try these double-sided Wipe-Clean Clock Boards. Children can fill in digital time, analogue time or both.
For a more advanced yet fun way of reinforcing time, including elapsed time, try this Race Around the Clockâ„¢ Game. This game helps to build confidence in understanding time and problem solving. Suitable for ages 8+.
For more information about our wide selection of Time Telling Resources, head to our website.
Teaching children to tell the time can be a daunting task, some seem to pick it up quickly where others struggle for years to fully understand what all those number positions and hands mean. With the introduction of digital clocks & watches and more recently smart watches, analogue time-telling seems even more distant to some children. My +1 was recently given a smart watch for his birthday, which had countless different faces which can be used. He seems to be able to keep time using it but we certainly won’t be using it to teach Squirt how to tell the time!
Telling the time features very early within a child’s education, beginning with the basics of children learning to ‘use everyday language related to time, ordering and sequencing familiar events and measuring short periods of time in simple ways’.
(Mathematics: Space, Shape and Measure 40-60 months/Early Learning Goal)
This then progresses into Key Stage 1 Mathematics - Measurement where pupils should be taught to:
measure and begin to record time (hours, minutes and seconds)
sequence events in chronological order using language
tell the time to the hour and half past the hour and draw the hands on a clock face to show these times.
compare and sequence intervals of time
 tell and write the time to five minutes, including quarter past/to the hour and draw the hands on a clock face to show these times
know the number of minutes in an hour and the number of hours in a day.
 Pupils in Key Stage 2 should be taught to:
tell and write the time from an analogue clock, 12-hour and 24-hour clocks
estimate and read time with increasing accuracy to the nearest minute
record and compare time in terms of seconds, minutes and hours
 use vocabulary such as o’clock, a.m./p.m., morning, afternoon, noon and midnight
know the number of seconds in a minute and the number of days in each month, year and leap year
solve problems involving converting from hours to minutes; minutes to seconds; years to months; weeks to days.
(Taken from the New National Curriculum 2014)
For more user-friendly time-telling resources, take a look at the list below of some of Learning Resources’ Top Time Telling Tools!
I have used these dominoes in a classroom setting of 8 year olds and they loved playing this game! The dominoes look at both digital and analogue time, and focus on 15 minute increments. There is an activity guide included with suggested activity ideas.
Turn learning to tell the time into an interactive game with the self-checking Hot Dots® system. Children simply work through a multiple-choice activity card and then select an answer by touching the pen to the corresponding dot for an audio/visual response!
Jumbo Timers
With bright colours and large displays, these timers keep everyone on time! When the time is up the button pops up and the buzzer sounds. Two available; 60-Second Jumbo Timer and 60-Minute Jumbo Time!
Big Time™ Learning Clocks®
Hidden gears maintain correct hour and minute relationships as time-telling concepts are demonstrated to individual or groups of children. Teaching guides are included and each clock comes with a removable stand. Available in the range is a large 12-hour Demonstration Clock, a 12-hour Student Clock and a 24-hour Student Clock.
During my time working in classrooms I found that children loved being in charge of a whiteboard pen! If your children are the same, try these double-sided Wipe-Clean Clock Boards. Children can fill in digital time, analogue time or both.
For a more advanced yet fun way of reinforcing time, including elapsed time, try this Race Around the Clockâ„¢ Game. This game helps to build confidence in understanding time and problem solving. Suitable for ages 8+.
For more information about our wide selection of Time Telling Resources, head to our website.
Well the clocks went back over the weekend, officially the end of British Summer Time! Our days will now become shorter, mornings will be darker and the ground beneath our feet will feel a little firmer. I personally love this time of year! The colours of the trees and the Autumnal fruits remind me of harvest time at school as a child; baking bread and all the assemblies about harvest songs! As an adult, I still enjoy this time of year, and watching Squirt play in the leaves with her cousins, running through puddles and then cuddling up under a duvet with a hot chocolate make this my favourite season.
The change in the season offers a wide range of topics for home and school learning:
Composting
Planting and growing
Health and nutrition
Colours
Habitats and hibernating
Weather…the list goes on!
One on my favourite products that came out this year is the Green Toysâ„¢ Tractor! It’s made from 100% recycled material, and is perfect for Autumnal imaginative play. It has chunky tyres and a detachable rear trailer for hauling all the great finds in the garden. Green Toys contain no traceable amount of Phthalates, BPA or PVC, so this Tractor is great for children from 1+.
Sneaky, Snacky Squirrelâ„¢ is our very popular Autumn-themed character here at Learning Resources. He promotes colour recognition and identification through fun game play in The Sneaky, Snacky Squirrel Colour Game! All of Sneaky’s acorns are coloured have to be collected in the tree stumps of each player!
Sneaky also has a card game! I played this recently in a product training session, here’s what they said about the game:
“We absolutely love The Sneaky, Snacky Squirrel Card Game. It is fantastic for children of any age, and even adults too! The illustrations are beautiful, and the box packaging is not only really unique in an acorn shape, but also really strong and great quality. The game is also the perfect size to be taken anywhere for instant entertainment. An example is that we have recently played the game when travelling by plane, which made the time fly by (no pun intended). One pre-warning is try not to get too excited, when you see that squirrel with an acorn and scream out ‘Snacky’, as the flight attendants may think you are demanding a bite to eat!â€
Well the clocks went back over the weekend, officially the end of British Summer Time! Our days will now become shorter, mornings will be darker and the ground beneath our feet will feel a little firmer. I personally love this time of year! The colours of the trees and the Autumnal fruits remind me of harvest time at school as a child; baking bread and all the assemblies about harvest songs! As an adult, I still enjoy this time of year, and watching Squirt play in the leaves with her cousins, running through puddles and then cuddling up under a duvet with a hot chocolate make this my favourite season.
The change in the season offers a wide range of topics for home and school learning:
Composting
Planting and growing
Health and nutrition
Colours
Habitats and hibernating
Weather…the list goes on!
One on my favourite products that came out this year is the Green Toysâ„¢ Tractor! It’s made from 100% recycled material, and is perfect for Autumnal imaginative play. It has chunky tyres and a detachable rear trailer for hauling all the great finds in the garden. Green Toys contain no traceable amount of Phthalates, BPA or PVC, so this Tractor is great for children from 1+.
Sneaky, Snacky Squirrelâ„¢ is our very popular Autumn-themed character here at Learning Resources. He promotes colour recognition and identification through fun game play in The Sneaky, Snacky Squirrel Colour Game! All of Sneaky’s acorns are coloured have to be collected in the tree stumps of each player!
Sneaky also has a card game! I played this recently in a product training session, here’s what they said about the game:
“We absolutely love The Sneaky, Snacky Squirrel Card Game. It is fantastic for children of any age, and even adults too! The illustrations are beautiful, and the box packaging is not only really unique in an acorn shape, but also really strong and great quality. The game is also the perfect size to be taken anywhere for instant entertainment. An example is that we have recently played the game when travelling by plane, which made the time fly by (no pun intended). One pre-warning is try not to get too excited, when you see that squirrel with an acorn and scream out ‘Snacky’, as the flight attendants may think you are demanding a bite to eat!â€
