There are heaps and heaps of puzzles out there. Many companies only sell puzzles and do well but how do you know which one is a good buy or which is the best for my child?

Firstly, puzzles are great for the imagination, creativity and logic.  They also create a medium for conversation and language building.   Doing simple tasks correctly at an early age gives the child success. Putting a few pieces together will bring confidence in their own abilities. There are different types of puzzles depending on your child’s age.

The very first type is cubes with pictures on them.  Here the toddler learns that a picture can be made by putting pieces together. Cubes make it easy to create logic and make the first type of understanding about puzzles. The wooden cubes are simple and involve one type of thought process: make a picture. The pictures should perhaps be what the toddler is learning to sound or speak . Nothing too complicated. Pictures of farmyard animals is usually best.

The next step is to put one, two or three pieces together that resemble actual puzzles pieces. This adds another dimension to puzzle building: make a picture and to make the pieces fit.   Here again, keep to simple pictures and ones that your toddler can recognise.

After this you need to build up to more and more piece puzzles. All the time he/she will need your guidance:  How to put them together? Why did you think this piece goes with that piece? What is in the picture and then to talk about the pictures.  Encourage your child to talk about what he/she is thinking while you watch or interact. This will build self esteem and one-to-one time with your child.  Children love it when their parents are praising them and helping them with activities. It will encourage him/her to do more and say more and help you create experiences together.  Here are 3 great puzzles that have pieces just the right size to put the pictures together but has enough to challenge your child. These are called “Beneath our city / country / seaside” and are all available at www.GreenOwlToys.co.uk.  It also has a few things that are easy for parents to talk about but will open your child’s eyes to the world around us.

All children start out with their own language called: baby language and do not say proper words. How to change all those lovely sounds into something that you can understand is not that easy.

Here are a few ways that you can help him/her to hear the sounds so that they can interpret them into words:

• have one-to-one time – take turns listening and responding to one another.
• reinforce eye contact when you have some one-to-one time.
• repetition – research shows: the repetition of words and phrases helps reinforce the neural pathways in their brains that link sound into speech. Repetition accelerates language development.
• talk to your child what are you doing. Especially when changing nappies, getting dressed or bathing. (Here you are practicing body parts.)
• sing nursery rhymes – this will improve their vocabulary and creativity
• try not to correct his/her words. If your child says a word which is almost the full word or does not say the syllables in the correct order - do not correct it. Praise instead. The more practice he/she gets with the beginning of the word the quicker the complete word will be said.
• Once you have established a word/sound (like “moo” for a cow) start to reinforce that a “cow” makes the moo sound. This shows that words are related to one another.

Research shows that once your child reaches 50 words their vocabulary will explode!  However, this will only be true if you continue to talk to your toddler. The quantity of words addressed directly to children between 1 and 3 makes a difference to her vocabulary and verbal IQ.

A few suggested games which makes it fun for you both:

• Children love to play hide-and-seek games. Take their favourite toy (their cuddly toy or car) and hide it behind something and say ”Where’s bunny? Where’s bunny?” “Oh there is bunny hiding under your leg/behind your ear/behind Mummy’s head/behind the chair”.    Let your child hide the bunny too. If you ask “Where’s bunny?” they will most probably show you and eventually say where!
• Read story books that are mostly pictures of animals. Children love the noises the animals make and often repeat them. (this also improves concentration)
• Make believe shopping games. Take fruit and vegetables (toy or real) and a shopping bag. Pretend to go shopping a put things in the bag, naming each item as you go. Go to the till and take them out again and beep them through (as if you are at the supermarket) and again naming them as you take them out of the bag.
• Have a play farm.  You can create many scenario’s with the farmer and his animals. Either a farm where you paint yourself (boosts creativity) or one done for you!  Practice the names and sounds of animals.

There are many suppliers that mesh the words produce and design together but actually outsource their production abroad. Green Owl Toys will be searching high and low for new innovative toys that are not only designed within the EU but is manufactued within its borders.

Keep your eyes posted for the new brands and toys to excite you and your family.

Look Mum! I can also do it!

Great practice of hand-eye coordination and concentration.

Learning should be fun. Preschool children do not recognise the difference between working and  playing or playing and learning. All learning is embraced with enthusiasm as long as a child enjoys what he is doing.

Children learn about the world through play but they don’t always know how to organise or direct their play. The toys direct their play and they are even better if you join in. Talk, laugh and gossip as you play together, and offer guidance when it’s needed. Research says ”the more words children hear and are directed at them, the better their vocabulary and IQ scores”. 

If your child begins to misbehave or being silly during the game, it would be better to put the game aside and say “maybe we play it another day, you are might be more interested in …”. Pushing your child to enjoy a toy is counterproductive.  Research suggests that young children who are pushed too hard, either in school or at home, often underachieve. 

Most toys are educational without you even intending them to be, but with your direction the value of the toy is increased. If your child struggles or responds badly to a toy, stop it and try an easier version, think of of what your child might enjoy. For example if he does not want to count the building bricks, he might count his toy cars. Let the games stimulate your imagination too.

The following day I get the labour intensive task while my husband goes out with the kids.  I am in charge of making the decision which toy goes to the loft, which one stays and which one goes to charity. I find this task very difficult as its not my toys but theirs and what if I make the wrong decision? What if they are not “over” this toy or have not learnt enough from it? Are the puzzles really a “been there, done that” puzzle? (So now there is the 4th pile: keep them sepearte for a while just in case they ask for it).

Its not easy, all I have to say is…to all those mothers out there…Good Luck in trying to clear out and not hang on.

The ladies in the paper

Scan from the Chislehurst Times newspaper

2 weeks ago, Green Owl Toys was honoured to donate a few toys to the Toy Appeal the Kentish Times newspaper is helping.  The toys will be added to the collection that is growing from generous readers who have been dropping off gifts for children in hospital over the festive period.  All toys donated will be handed over to children in Princess Royal University Hospital , Farnbourough, Darent Valley Hospital in Dartford, Queen mary’s in Sidcup and queen Elizabeth’s in Woolwich.

Green Owl Toys donated 3 toys to Toy Appeal:

1. Threadable Farm – beautiful wooden pieces in various animal farm shapes which can be threaded on a special string/shoelace. It creates imagination and play through the animals and the farmer while improving their hand-eye coordination and is brilliant for writing skills.

2. Stacking train - a wooden train with 2 carriages. The carriages carry 2 shapes either a ball or cube in different colours. Children will have hours of fun pretending being the conductor or passenger.

3. Opposite and Match – its a card game like memory but here you need to find the opposite card to make a pair. For example hot and cold. This is great for turn taking, memory and language development.

We hope the children enjoy the toys and create endless fun over the Christmas period.

If you would like to read the article in full please click on this link and refer to page 14.
http://edition.pagesuite-professional.co.uk/Launch.aspx?referral=other&refresh=e14C9K0wG0y7&PBID=a9d8eec8-132a-4e58-a878-ebd8520e6a9c&skip=

Or you would like to donate a toy yourself please refer to www.bromleytimes.co.uk

Regards,
Izabela Hailey

However, the question to ask do young children need toys? In early childhood the imagination is most fertile, children can make links between objects far more freely – for instance imagining that a broom is a horse or a blade of grass is spinach. Play is very important for babies and toddlers. Play is something enjoyable, that does not necessarily have a definate goal or end result.  It is spontaneous and voluntary.  Toys help broaden childrens knowlegde of the world around them.  We can group them into 3 different types: 

• Toys can represent real life objects, for example fire engine or an ironing board. They are a means of expressing feelings or emotions. Toys can represent things, can allow your child to act out situations.
• They are a channel for communication. Having an object of interest allows children to interact with other children or adults, to discuss things, to take turns, and so on.
• They are used to learn. Manuipulating objects allows children to develop concepts, for instance, pouring sand and water out of containers allows children to understand about movement and gravity. Metal things make a particular noise when they bang together; wooden things make another type of noise. Exploartory play is what is most important for a baby, so concentrate on these types of toys at this stage.

Toys create the basis of knowledge and preparation for childhood, school and adult life.  Playing the same game or with the same toy many times means she is practicing what she already knows, she will become confident to make the next step. Once she explores further she will encounter new experiences and develop with ease. This is where the parent plays an important role knowing when she is ready or help her to reach for the next step.  For the busier parent, it is easier done with the right type of toys.

 When you look around the world, you are not just seeing, you are interpreting what you see as well.  Light waves reach the retina at the back of your eye and this information is transmitted to the visual cortex in your brain where you make sense of it; you ‘perceive’ it.  It is your brain which decides that the small object you are looking at is a car, and simultaneously decides whether it is a big car seen from far away or a toy car seen close up (both of which create the same image on your retina).  But how does your baby’s brain even begin to work all this out?

Newborn babies cannot see as well as adults; they lack the ability to see detail, they cannot easiily track moving objects with their eyes but do this fairly jerkily, and they are not good at scanning objects (casting their eyes over the inside of an object).  They are, however, drawn to notice two things:

• Movement
• Strong contrast.

Focusing on contrast means that your baby will pay attention to the boundaries or edges of objects, which is where contrast is strongest.  It is also useful to focus on the outside of objects if you cannot scan them effectively.  Movemnet hleps your baby recognisze where things begin and end, because as one object moves it obscures other objects, and so the boundaries between different things become more defined.  So your bayb’s early experiences will be about working out where one thing begins and another ends – a reasonable start in a world where nothing is known.

By 5 months your baby should be able to recognise you and reach out for objects.  This means that the eye and brain have learnt many things but it is still good to have bright and many colours around your baby for them to identify objects and where one starts and another ends.

All parents need the break from routine: be it visiting friends, going to a restaurant or going on holiday, but the idea of getting away from it all with your kids in tow can seem anything but relaxing, particularly if you’ve not done it before.  Having kids at these social settings makes a noticeable difference to how people interact with you. But more than that, travel almost always has a positive effect on the whole family: children’s natural capacity to stop, be absorbed  and play tends to cross over to adults once we’re freed from the presures of daily life, and this paves the way fro some truly fantastic moments together. And no matter how young your children are – even if they only remember your trips through the stories you tell them and the photos in the albums – the impact of travel on their view of the world and sense of self-worth becomes ever more tangible as they get older. And for the adults, travel allows you time to pause and reflect on home life, work life or issues at hand - something that’s rarely possible when at home.

There’s no denying that going away with children isn’t always starightforward, but the key to making it work is to be well prepared.  Its good to have one or two toys that pack away neatly into a box or your handbag for just those moments where boredom sets in.

Their are different types of toys for different types of travelling, here are some suggestions and links to a sight with great ideas:

• If you are in a restaurant, some pens and a colouring in book for girls is brilliant while for a boy anthing on wheels or animal fun packed in a handy box.
• If you are at a friends house and there are no toys around, maybe some building blocks , a car for the boys or push stick for the younger ones.
• if you are in the car or aeroplane for a long time, a magentic box with shapes to keep them busy or  even modelling dough!

There are plenty of handy little toys but not all can be easily transported, it is always good to look at the box they come in to make life easier for the parent and to keep all the parts together!  Good luck

It seems that Christmas shopping may be back on the shopping list and the children will be happy that Santa could get them a few toys from their letter to him!  Click here for top Christmas present for boys and here for girls.

Although Green Owl Toys is too small to enter such a competition, we are definately following suite by cutting our carbon footprint. We only import toys from within the EU and all our products are made of natural materials.

The toys are either made of wood, cotton or leather.  These are all materials that are long lasting and a pleasure to touch.  Parents enjoy the thought that our children are enveloped in natural products and not the touch of cold plastic.

By importing these beautiful toys from the EU the company not only minimise the carbon footprint but we can also ensure their safety.  The toys all have passed safety control tests set out by leading European Laboratries. To read more information on the stamps found on toy boxes to ensure their safety please click here.

Do we just opt to buy the things given to us on a Christmas list or do we choose to buy a toy that is similar but has a lot more to it? A toy that can fire the imagination and become a irreplaceable, rather than a cheap, mass produced toy that is cast aside in days.  It may be the toy is wooden and not plastic, it may be the toy needs to sing or jingle or even have an educational feature.

A wooden toy crafted and polished to present round corners and smoothness is much more pleasant than a synthetic product that has been moulded under heat. For the amount of value you receive from a wooden toy is much more than the slight increase in cost.

There is a growing popularity in educational toys. Toys for a child from birth to Primary school age.  In these first few years children play with many different toys as they grow and learn new things. Not only are they developing their coordination and speech but also their role in society, how to behave and in opening their minds to imagination and creativity. With toys they can learn new things and very importantly practice them. Practicing enhances their self-esteem and confidence to move onto the next step. Some toys need parental input but most (if bought correctly) can be self learnt which is brilliant for our busy lifestyles.

With so many toys that are out in today’s market, it is up to us, the consumer, to make a good decision depending on which quality you think is most important. Keep in mind the following features when shopping next:

• Safety
• Educational
• Durability
• Design.

This doesn’t mean that we can blindly trust toys manufactured within the European Community. However, a factory that is just round the corner is easier to control than one that is thousands of miles away.

The toy industry has experienced a massive growth in the past say 20 years and so have adapted their manufacturing process to accommodate it. Legislation, on the other hand, has not been able to keep up-to-date with the changes until this year. The European Commission has released a new directive in July but will only be in force in its entirety by 2013. The new directive states, “For certain substances like nickel the tolerable limit values have been reduced and those heavy metals which are particularly toxic, like lead or mercury, may no longer be intentionally used in toys.”

The question to ask is how can we be responsible parents and not let our children come into contact with potentially harmful substances in the toys we buy? Well, unless you have a laboratory in your backyard it is pretty difficult to know exactly what the toy is made of! Another more practical way is follow the labels. You can either avoid all products that are labelled “Made in XXX” or choose those products that have reliable test certificates. Each European Union country has their own reliable test certificates and are always shown on the packaging. Please bear in mind the “CE”* mark does not indicate the toy has undergone any tests.

Green Owl Toys has hand-picked its toys, carefully placing them on our website to help you find exactly the toy to nurture your child’s needs from birth to 5. They are all eco-friendly making them lovely to touch and long lasting. Each one is manufactured in the EU to ensure they  follow European toy safety standards.