If you have a toddler, chances are you have a range of stacking toys at home. They look great but do you know their benefits? I want you and your little one to get the most from our products so I have compiled a list with all the benefits of playing with stacking toys.
Motor Skill Development - children learn how to pick up a piece, manipulate it and let it go again. These sorts of actions will allow your little one to continue to work on their fine motor skills and develop intentional grip skills. For younger babies, sitting up in order to stack their toys allows them to work on gross motor skills such as core strength which will be needed for every day movements later on.
Cause and Effect - Here you will see the earliest steps towards your child understanding consequences. The "what if I do this" stage of learning is very important and will set your child up with important skills later on.
Problem Solving - Stacking toys facilitate problem solving skills and encourage patience. Through trial and error, your little one will learn how to stack their toy in the correct order - whether that be size, colour or shape.
Size Sequencing - Stacking toys generally rely on a child stacking from largest to smallest piece. Allow your child to explore the shape and feel of each sized piece and encourage them to place them in order by what they feel is correct.
Colour Recognition - Colour is very important for a child's development so try to rotate toys that have an element of colour. It engages their senses and they are naturally drawn to it. Play with your child and use it as an opportunity to practise their colour recognition. Depending on your child's age, this can involve you showing the colour and speaking the word "ie: Pink", asking your child to point to the 'pink' item, or with sentences such as "the pink one comes next, can you find the pink shape?"
Creative Play - most importantly, allow your child freedom to play with the toy however they wish. Allow them to place pieces in the 'wrong' order, upside down, back to front etc. Not only does this contribute to problem solving (as discussed above), it facilities creativity and ultimately creates a positive play environment for your child.
We are proud to offer a range of stacking toys that will suit children of all ages.
For younger children, the Mushie stacking cups are a winner. Not only are they are great size to grip, they can be used with water which will make bath time a whole lot more fun.
For slightly older toddlers, explore our range of Miva Vacov stacking animals. The smaller pieces will allow pincer grips but the central post still offers some size guidance.
Older children will love the range of Dio Toys stacking animals. Complete freedom to stack in any manner they choose. How many stack varieties can they achieve?
I hope you found this helpful. If there's other forms of play you'd like explored in a blog post, let me know below. I'd also love to know, how have you incorporated stacking toys in to your little one's play?
