While the most important part of any child’s learning experience is the caring adults who surround them with love, intentionally designed tools and toys can also help children learn, explore, and grow. Toys can introduce preschoolers to new concepts, help them practice a skill, or engage them in a child’s most important job: to play!
The Gardner School stocks classrooms with a variety of classic toys, a few new favorites, and even some unexpected tools that make learning fun! If you need a toy refresh or some gift ideas for family and friends, visit our Amazon Storefront!
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Emotional Canvas Activity Set
Social-emotional learning (SEL) is a developmental stage that’s just as important as letter recognition. You can encourage social learning at home with this activity set. The kit includes components that can be used to identify facial expressions associated with nine emotions, including anger, sadness, joy, fear, and excitement. For a fun activity, read your child’s favorite book with them and ask them to use the kit to create facial expressions that match a character’s feelings. They can also use the emotion cards to identify when they’re having a big feeling that they want to share with you.
Maisy Goes to Preschool
We often have parents ask us how they can help their child prepare for the transition to preschool, and this book is at the top of our list! In this beautifully illustrated tale, Maisy introduces little readers to preschool. This “day in the life” story explores the many activities and routines that happen at preschool, including art time, snack time, storytime, music time, and playtime. Reading Maisy Goes to Preschool and any of our favorites included on this list can help build excitement for learning!
Splashin’ Kids Tummy Time Water Mat
Sensory play is so important for infants and toddlers, and a water mat is an exciting way to capture your child’s attention while they’re building neck strength. This colorful, squishable water mat utilizes a colorful underwater scene with moveable animals that move in the water in response to the pressure of little hands. Keep tummy time fun with this mat!
Melissa & Doug Sunny Patch Giddy Buggy Crawl-Through Tunnel
Encourage kinetic development and physical strength with this collapsible tunnel that can be used outdoors (or indoors on rainy days). Toddlers can practice balance, spatial reasoning, and imaginative play as they crawl through a tunnel that’s built just for them!
Supporting Developmental Milestones Through Play
The Gardner School supports the healthy growth and development of all our students through child-initiated and teacher-facilitated explorative play. Our carefully designed classrooms are stocked with engaging toys and teaching tools to help our students learn. To learn more about what The Gardner School can bring to your child’s daily experience, schedule a tour today.