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Kids’ building blocks might be simple toys, but there’s a good reason you can find them in homes and daycare centers everywhere! There are number of benefits of building blocks, each key in a child’s development. 

Educational building blocks offer opportunities for construction play that go beyond simple fun. In this post, we’ve outlined 10 benefits of toddler building blocks. Read on for our tips and benefits of building blocks for your little one! 

1. Math Skills 

Playing blocks aid in the understanding of concepts like counting, sorting, and understanding patterns. The tactile experience of stacking and arranging blocks engages kids’ understanding of math in several ways. Blocks encourage numerical understanding and problem-solving abilities. There are also special tools like number block toys that can further boost your little one’s learning. 

2. Motor Abilities

As babies and toddlers learn to navigate the world around them, developing their motor skills is crucial in their development. By grasping and placing blocks, your child will learn the skills that will later allow them to tie their shoes, zip up a coat, or draw you a picture.  Frequently using building blocks helps kids continue to hone and improve their motor abilities. 

3. Creativity 

One of the best parts about block building for kids is that it allows them to use their own imagination however they decide. Because blocks are loose parts, children can build or break them apart in endless different ways. Unlike single-use toys, these toys can also resemble anything in a child’s mind. A toy truck is just a truck, but a block can be anything—an animal, a superhero, a phone; the opportunities for play are endless! 

4. Problem Solving 

If you want to encourage learning cause and effect with your tot, try a construction blocks game. As your tot experiments with different methods of stacking and building with blocks, their mind will have to think through and overcome different challenges. 

You can encourage their growth with simple questions like “What happens if we move this block?” or “What if we try stacking the blocks this way?” The process of trial and error block play will inspire resilience in your child, fostering a problem-solving mindset that will become important as they grow older. 

5. Spatial Reasoning 

Just as this type of play aids in problem solving, it also encourages developing early spatial reasoning. Sorting and experimenting with block placement helps little ones understand how objects in the physical world interact with one another. Toys like unit blocks are excellent tools for encouraging this skill. 

6. PSED (Personal, Social, and Emotional Development)

PSED is paramount for every child to learn, especially in preparation for preschool, where they’ll interact with other kids much more, and maybe for the first time. To help foster these cognitive skills, use building blocks games that require your child to negotiate and cooperate with others. Have kids take turns stacking blocks or encourage them to work together to solve problems while playing. 

7. Hand-eye Coordination

Building blocks help fine-tune babies’ and toddlers’ hand-eye coordination. Block play requires precise movements during stacking and arranging. The visual feedback of aligning blocks enhances coordination between their hands and eyes. This type of developmental play nurtures a connection between sensory input and motor control. It also lays the groundwork for more advanced fine motor skills in the future.

8. Increased Attention Span 

You already know by now how blocks for kids cultivate many important skills. When young minds practice using these abilities, it takes a lot of focus! Challenging games like “build the tallest tower” lets kids focus and devote their time solely to the task at hand. By doing this, they both increase their attention span and ability to focus, while giving you a much-needed break. 

9. Independence and Self Esteem 

Opportunities for self-guided play lets children experience a sense of achievement as they stack and create. Its open-ended nature encourages self-directed exploration, empowering them to make their own choices. Toddlers and babies come up with their own building block ideas too, enabling them to build self-confidence. The way kids play independently with blocks reinforces that confidence again and again, preparing them to attack problems with confidence.

10. Science 

Building blocks easily lend themselves to an early understanding of science. They help your child foster curiosity about how concepts like gravity, weight, and balance work. Directing your little one to observe and note certain attributes of blocks also develops early scientific reasoning skills, encouraging them to form their own hypothesis. You can encourage their scientific understanding by asking questions like “Which of these blocks are the heaviest?” or “Can you show me the smallest block? The biggest block?”  

At Toys Central, we understand the importance of toys that don’t just occupy your child’s time, but teach them important skills. You can find all kinds of educational toys on our online store, from building blocks to activity books. For more information on all things child development, don’t forget to visit the rest of our blog! 

Ideally, your baby or toddler should enjoy bath time as a soothing ritual. However, your little one might not enjoy bathing for one reason or another, whether they’re sensitive to the temperature change or just fussy. When your baby is screaming and crying during bath time, you’re definitely not going to be in a good mood. And if you’re not happy, neither is the baby. Luckily, there are ways to avoid this frustrating feedback loop. One great way to make bath time more fun is with bath toys! In this article, we’ve narrowed down 5 tips on keeping bath time fun. Keep reading to learn about the best bath toys for toddlers and babies!

1. Pick a Theme

Everything feels more exciting when it has a theme! Pick something your little loves, like mermaids, dinosaurs, or whatever excites them. It could be a character, an animal, hobby, or whatever captures their imagination. If you aren’t sure how to start, here are a few ways you can make bath time more fun with theming: 

• If your baby loves animals, introduce bathtub toys like rubber ducks representing different animals. Use a themed bath mat with animal shapes, or use washcloths with animal prints.
• For kiddos fond of outer space, consider glow-in-the-dark stars on the bathroom ceiling and planet-shaped toddler bath toys.
• If they adore superheroes, opt for superhero-themed bath toys, towels, and even bath bombs with superhero figures hidden inside.
  
  

Tailoring the bath environment to their interests fosters excitement and engagement, turning routine bathing into a playful, personalized experience.

2. Play a Game 

There are lots of different ways to gamify bath time! Incorporating games into a baby’s bath time can turn it into a playful and engaging experience. Here are some fun games for babies you both can play together: 

• Splish Splash: This simple game involves pouring water from cups or containers, encouraging hand-eye coordination and sensory exploration.
  

• Floating Objects Seek: Hide floating toys and ask your baby to find them. This helps develop cognitive development and problem-solving skills.
  

• Bubble Pop: It’s time to pop some bubbles! Blow bubbles with gentle soap and encourage your baby to pop them on the water’s surface.
  
  

These games not only make bath time fun but also support your baby’s mental development in a safe environment.

3. Make Bath Time into Art Time 

Even as babies and toddlers, kids love making art. What better way to make bath time entertaining than adding art into the mix? There are a couple different ways you can bring art into bath time, all of them surprisingly mess-free. 

Finger paints are a fun activity for kids in general, so it’s natural they belong in the bath! With bath finger paints, toddlers can enjoy experimenting with different colors and patterns—they’ll love painting so much, they might just forget it’s bath time. And of course, these paints are bath safe. They’re actually soap, so they wash right off and keep your little one clean. 

Another type of bath toys for kids are bath crayons. These crayons are chubby and have rubber grips, so they’re easy to hold. Your little one can scrawl to their heart’s content on the bath wall, and it will wash right off afterwards. 

4. Incorporate Sensory Play 

Sensory play is important for your child’s development. Learning through exploration and their natural curiosity helps to build new nerve connections in the brain, as well as encouraging the development of motor and language skills. Bath time can be a sensory experience all by itself, but some kids might need a little more. Luckily, there are lots of toys for newborns and up that can help! 

Squirt and Squeeze Toys 

These toddler toys are not only silly fun but also aid in developing hand-eye coordination. They suck in water and squirt it out, creating a playful water activity for babies. One of the most popular brands include Munchkin bath toys. With bright colors and cute characters, they offer a wide selection of squirt and squeeze toys to choose from. 

Light up Bath Toys

Using light-up toys during bath time will delight and entertain your kiddo. These newborn toys, often designed with waterproof LED lights, create a mesmerizing experience for babies. The changing colors and glowing effects not only entertain, but also aid in sensory exploration and visual stimulation. 

5. Have a Variety of Options

Sometimes kids, especially babies, can have short attention spans. When your baby won’t sit still or gets upset, It can help to have a plan B. Having other toys to offer your child is a good way to divert attention from whatever upset them. Keeping a variety of bath toys for toddler like storage by the bath and giving your child the option to pick their favorite also helps to make baths more appealing. Giving them choices will make them more willing to compromise during bath time. 

Looking for toys for newborns or the very best bath toys? Toys Central has you covered! Shop now on all your child’s favorite toys and brands! Don’t forget to also check out our blog again soon for more tips and tricks on everything kid-related!  

For a child, there’s a special importance of sorts to story time. It’s not only a time to relax and enjoy a good story. It’s time to bond with their parents, and a time to let their imagination run free. What better way, then, to promote their creativity than with a few new and interesting story telling methods and ideas? To give you some inspiration, we’ve put together a list of our 7 creative storytelling ideas, topics, and learning opportunities for you and your child to enjoy together.

1. Bed Time Stories

There’s nothing wrong with a tried-and-true classic method! Though it may be something you’re already familiar with. The simple act of reading to your child has immense benefits to their academic, creative, and even emotional development. The more you read to them, and the more story topics you explore, the better their grasp of language, use of imagination, and bond with you will become. The best thing you can do to ensure your child can reap the benefits of bed time stories is simply to be consistent, and allow their powerful minds to do the rest!

2. Fables and Fairy Tales

Fables and fairy tales for kids not only give your child a chance to imagine a whimsical fantasy world. But typically impart a valuable life lesson as well. Instilling good morals in your children is just as important as promoting their academic and creative growth. Especially early on in childhood, doing so through the medium of storytelling is a great way to go about it.

3. Choose Your Own Adventure Stories

Children tend to be much more engaged with an activity when they feel that they have a degree of autonomy. So choose your own adventure stories are a great option, especially for sharp-witted children who can weigh the options they’re given and predict the consequences. These stories will also teach your child the value of patience. As they may have to run through the same story more than once to reach the outcome they want. So don’t be surprised if they start becoming better at careful decision making and critical thinking over time!

4. Let Your Kid Participate

Though choose your own adventure stories provide plenty of room for audience participation. Some children may want even more free rein over their stories. If that’s the case, look for new ways to help them participate in the crafting of the narrative, the construction of the characters, and the overall creative process behind the story. In time, they’ll develop a love for storytelling themselves. They may even start creating stories entirely on their own.

5. Make a Picture Story

At its core, art is just another medium of storytelling, using visuals to send a message rather than written text. If you want to encourage your child to use their creative mind. One of the best ways to do that is to work with them to put together a story behind a unique image. Even the most mundane-seeming images can have a story behind them, so encourage your kid to get creative by asking questions and coming up with answers.

For example, if you give them a picture of a father and son walking together. It may be unassuming at first, but there’s plenty that an outside viewer could make up about their story. If you wanted to start your kid off with a few leading questions. You could start with a few basic things like the names of the people in the photo, where they’re going, and what they plan to do when they get there. From there, you can help your child fill in the details and craft a story of their very own.

6. Draw Pictures of a Story

If your child can turn a picture into a story, they can also turn a story into pictures. For children with an artistic bent, all you have to do is give them some art supplies and some paper, then ask them to illustrate their favorite story. Once they’re done, remember to talk to them about it and listen to what they have to say! Having time to engage with their parents will mean the world to them, as will having someone who’s willing to listen to them talk about their interests, making for a great bonding experience.

7. Write New Stories

Of course, there aren’t many better ways to encourage your kid to think of a creative narrative than having them write their own story from scratch. All you have to do is feed them a few basic story plot ideas to get them thinking, and then let them do their thing from there, helping supplement and proof-read their ideas if they ask you to. Once they’re done, be sure to read their story with them, and maybe even add it to your usual repertoire of bedtime stories for good measure!

If you’re looking for more great tips, ideas, and products to bring out your kid’s creative spirit, we’ve got you covered! Feel free to visit our shop at ToysCentral today!

There’s nothing better than a nice family day out at the beach. but if you want to turn that great beach day into the perfect beach day, you’ll need to plan a few fun activities. Whether it’s playing in the sand or going for a swim. Having a plan will give your kids even more to look forward to. So take a look at a few of our tips for planning the perfect day at the beach!

Sandcastle Building

You can’t have a day at the beach without spending time building sandcastles. Since you’re already there, you might as well go all out. Before you head out, be sure to bring along your kid’s favorite sandcastle-building buckets, a toy spade, and a few extra tools for adding precise details and flourishes.

Of course, there’s more to building the perfect sandcastle than just cramming some sand into a bucket and calling it a day. To ensure your sandcastle keeps its shape, add a very small amount of water and mix it in. You want just enough to make the sand damp, but getting too much will cause the whole thing to turn into mud, so be careful. Once you’ve made the basic shape of your sandcastle, comb the beach for things to decorate it with like seashells and seaweed, stick them to the sandcastle, and step back with your kiddos to admire your work!

Enjoy Some Time in the Water

By the time you’re done building the sandcastle, though, you and your kids will probably be a bit warm from spending so much time in the sun. Fortunately for you, the ocean is right there, so take your kids for a swim! If you want to keep them engaged, you can teach them classic water games like Marco Polo or pool tag, giving them a way to stay cool and burn off some extra energy.

Set up a Beach Day at Home

Of course, not everyone lives near a beach, but you don’t have to for your kids to have a great beach day. All you need to do is set up a sandbox, turn on the water hose, and break out your kid’s favorite beach toys, and you’ve got the perfect beachside experience in your own backyard!

Looking for more great toys, family time ideas, and recommendations? Feel free to visit our site at ToysCentral today!

When choosing the perfect toy for your little one, it can be hard to strike a balance. You want to encourage play while also inspiring problem-solving and helping them to develop other essential life skills. Can play make my child smarter? You may find yourself wondering. The answer is, yes, certain styles of toys can assist your child in their early development, and one of those is toy cars. 

Develop Fine Motor Skills

Strong fine motor skills are interdependent. It can only develop by young children through careful practice. Toy cars for kids give kids an opportunity to pick up, pull, and push while mastering their hand-eye coordination.

Exposure to STEM Learning

The speed of toy cars for kids is based upon how fast it is pushed an early physics lesson. STEM, or science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, are hefty and complex concepts. It is hard to believe your child can begin to grasp simply by playing with toys, and yet, a toy car for kids can serve as a simple early science lesson.

Cognitive Development

Playing with trucks, cars, and other on-the-road toys puts your child in the driver’s seat, allowing them to think critically and learn by playing.

Boosts Their Collaborative Skills

Toy cars for toddlers are popular among nurseries, camps, and classrooms across the globe. When playing with others, car toys for toddlers can teach young children the valuable skills of collaboration, cooperation, and sharing.

Expands Their Creativity

Small toy cars and large toy cars for toddlers both give your little one a variety of colors, textures, and options for play, allowing them to be limited only by their imaginations.

Speed Up Your Child’s Fun With Toys Central

From baby cars to stuffed animals to puzzles and more, playtime is an opportunity for your child to grow their critical thinking as well as their creativity.

Whatever the age and interests of your child, Toys Central ships something they will love. Explore our entire range of toys today to get the perfect surprise, reward, or gift for your children.