Psychologists and education specialists all agree – if a child learns new things through joyful, healthy play – he/she develops love of learning more easily.
While learning through playing, child develops also his/her social and cognitive skills (especially if he/she does it together with other children). Moreover, this way the kid can mature emotionally and gain self-confidence, as the results will come more easily and he/she will eventually feel and start loving the feeling of accomplishment.
This is why we recommend you to use toys such as GIGI Bloks that are so diverse that they can be used for both – playing and learning. Here are 3 things that a kid can learn while playing with building blocks:
Numbers and the basics of math;
Some people teach their children by adding an apple to another apple. How many apples do you have now? 2! Why not to do this on an object that will be more multi-functional and is not a perishable product? :) GIGI Bloks are great for both – drawings and letters/numbers.
Short words in his/her native language;
The principle of connecting letters to make a word is very familiar and usual for all parents around the world. By writing letters on GIGI Bloks, you give the kid a rather big (and kids love BIG!), diverse and yet useful toy that he can used for learning how to spell words. For younger children, those could even be the sounds of animals represented on GIGI Bloks, like vaf (dog), meow (cat), and other.
Short words in a foreign language.
Most probably you have heard how specialists compare children to a sponge that absorbs information in amazingly fast pace. This is why now more and more teachers and parents agree that children should start learning a foreign language together with their native language! Yes, that means at the same time he/she starts to speak fluently! As crazy as it may seem for someone, this method has proven to be super-efficient. Need proof? Think about bilingual families, where the child is being taught and hears 2 languages from the Day 1.
Of course, at the beginning those will probably be short, simple words, like a dog, a cat, sun, sky, and etc. This is where GIGI Bloks may come in handy – you can write a letter on each of the building blocks and then allow the kid to put them together himself/herself.
Moreover, you can take learning with GIGI Bloks to the next level by using all sides of them – write the native language name on one side, the foreign language name on the other side. If you wish, you can even add a picture of the object on the third! Be creative and dare to experiment - surprisingly amazing results guaranteed!
We plan on telling more about learning through playing soon, but if you are particularly eager to learn more about this topic, check out this booklet by ZERO TO THREE: National Center for Infants, Toddlers and Families with loads of ideas and facts about this method of learning.
Nevertheless, if you have other topics that you would love to learn about – feel free to leave your question or idea in the comments section below and we will definitely consider it to be the next topic on our blog!