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Melissa and Doug Puzzles for Everyone

Posted on November 14, 2014 by Lubica Misevski

If you have heard of Melissa and Doug Puzzles, you will know that they have been making puzzles for children since inception.

They built their business because they felt there were not enough toys on the market that helped children develop.

Melissa and Doug Puzzles is only part of their range, but a very special part.

We carry most puzzles they have in Australia, and if you are after a particular one that is not stocked, we will try and obtain it for you.

They define their puzzles into age groups. Although depending on your child’s development stage, you can certainly try more complex puzzles.

In the 1-2 year bracket, Melissa and Doug Puzzles include; House Pets, Barnyard Animals, Jungle Friends and Large Farm.

House Pets Jumbo Knob Puzzle

Barnyard Animals Jumbo Knob Puzzle

Jungle Friends Jumbo Knob Puzzle

Large Farm Jumbo Knob Puzzle

They also have Fire Trucks, Princess, Numbers as well as Shapes. So the range and options are larger.

Fire Truck Chunky Puzzle

Princess Chunky Puzzle

Numbers Peg Puzzle

Shapes Peg Puzzle

Melissa and Doug Puzzles are great for teaching toddlers about shapes, animals, and numbers. The full collection is teaching them much more.

Continuing in the range there is the 3 - 5 years of age bracket. These Melissa and Doug Puzzles come to life, as the pieces are smaller and the detail greater.

You have the Construction Site, Prehistoric Sunset (Dinosaurs), Rescue Vehicles and a lot more. Each one of these is great for helping children develop motor skills and enjoy learning through puzzles.

Construction Site - 12 Piece

Prehistoric Sunset - 24 Piece

To The Rescue - 24 Piece

In the same range there is a Princess, Fairy Tale and the every popular Busy Barn. One of the puzzles that we chose for our kids is the 3d cube sets of Pets. This puzzle enables your children to make many different puzzles and adds a level of complexity.

Woodland Princess - 24 Piece

Fairy Tale Friendship Floor Puzzle - 24 Piece

Busy Barn Shaped Floor Puzzle - 32 Piece

Pets Cub Puzzle

In this bracket, Melissa and Doug Puzzles get quite advanced with a Maze Puzzle, Alphabet Puzzle. They even have a Wooden Bear Family Dress Up Puzzle :). There are, of course, many more in the range and even a Knights and Dragons Puzzle.

Farm Maze

Alphabet Wooden Puzzle Cards

Wooden Bear Family Dress-Up

Knights & Dragons Puzzle - 48 Piece

All these wonderful designs and shapes make learning very enjoyable for your child.

The last age bracket is the 5 years + range, and you will find some amazing puzzles in this range. You will also note that some of these puzzles are included in the 3-5 bracket.

This is because as children learn through practice they can become very advanced with puzzles. You watch them, as they do the same ones over and again.

In fact, our four-year-old daughter can do puzzles better than dad, but keep that between us.

In this range of the Melissa and Doug Puzzles there are the 96 pieces Princesses Puzzle, Wooden Cards of Numbers and Alphabets.

Princess Puzzle - 96 Piece

Numbers Wooden Puzzle Cards

Alphabet Wooden Puzzle Cards

This is where your child needs to connect the right letter with the right word or the right number with the right number of pictures in the piece.

Melissa and Doug Puzzles are beautifully made, and regardless of which one you might like for your child they will bring you both hours of fun.

The sense of achievement they get from completing a puzzle is lovely to watch. It also fantastic to help them through the process, working together and building that special bond.

Puzzles as you probably are aware are a wonderful development tool for children, teaching them motor skills, both fine and major.

They teach them cognitive skills as the solve the problems as well as emotional skills as they learn patience and are rewarded by the completion of a beautiful picture.

Clearly we love Melissa and Doug Puzzles, and that is because we know you will love them too.

Posted in developing confidence in kids, fine motor skills, jigsaw puzzles, melissa & doug, melissa & doug puzzles, Melissa and doug, Melissa and Doug Australia, problem solving skills for kids, puzzles

Melissa and Doug Extensive Range of Puzzles at KidzInc

Posted on November 06, 2014 by Lubica Misevski

We are very proud to stock an extensive range of Melissa and Doug Puzzles. Originally this little brand started out in 1988, and they been making puzzles for a very long time.

Their original focus was educational products for children. They started because they love children, and they felt there were not enough products on the market that made learning fun.

What better way to do this then create puzzles. We stock a extensive range of their collection in every age group because puzzles are a brilliant way to educate children.

They are great to develop gross motor skills and fine motor skills.

We have curated the Melissa and Doug Puzzles in the following areas.

Simply clicking on any of the links below will take you to the full range for that age group.

Age 1 - 2

Age 3 - 5

Age 5 +

We love the Melissa and Doug Puzzles because they are dedicated to helping children learn. Whilst puzzles are great at building major and minor motor skills, they are also wonderful in other educational areas for children.

They help them with pattern recognition or memory, learning words, and letters or rather language.

Other areas these puzzles help children with include cognitive and emotional skills. From a cognitive point of view, children can solve problems, and make associations.

Emotionally children learn patience and are rewarded just by finishing the puzzle. In fact, when the can first put the first sheep back in the slot, this brings them a lot of joy. Any mother or father who has witnessed this would know what we are talking about.

If you have not seen this yet, you are in for a beautiful moment.

We love watching our little boy do this, and he even claps when he succeeds.

Simply it is why we love puzzles, and we are sure your children will too.

The full range of Melissa and Doug puzzles are here.

Posted in developing confidence in kids, educational toys, fine motor skills, jigsaw puzzles, melissa & doug, melissa and doug australia, problem solving skills for kids, puzzles, spatial skills

Kimochis, the toy with feelings inside

Posted on October 16, 2014 by Lubica Misevski

Please Note: Unfortunately Kimochis in the US has ceased distributing these plush toys to the international markets including Australia.

We do suggest the award-winning WorryWoos which are brilliant for developing emotional intelligence in Children. Please click here for the complete range of WorryWoos.

This is a toy that is close to our hearts. Simply because it is all about teaching children about their feelings and emotional intelligence. The Kimochis are one of the best toys we introduced to our store in 2013. Every single parent who has bought them from us, absolutely love them.

Kimochi means “feeling” in Japanese. They are plush toys, like a teddy bear with feelings inside. In the range of Kimochis there are seven little characters. Each one focused on helping your child learn about different feelings, and personality styles.

The seven Kimochis are:

Kimochis Bug the Caterpillar - Now Bug the caterpillar does not like it when things change. He will hide his wings in his back pocket when feeling unsure and cautious. Bug, of course, has other feelings that he likes to share, and also comes with Happy, Brave, and unfortunately left out :(.

Kimochis Cat - This little Cat as you might expect has some bossy tendencies :). This means she can spend some time healing hurt feelings. Kimochis the Cat also comes with a Happy, Curious, and Cranky nature.

Kimochis Cloud - This Cloud is a little moody at times, and can be very unpredictable. Sometimes he will just go from happy to sad. His feelings include Happy, Mad, Sad.

Kimochis Huggtopous - This little Huggtopous never runs out of cuddles, with so many arms he is happy to cuddle you for days. Although sometimes little Huggtopous can be over affectionate. Huggtopous also comes with the feelings of Happy, Silly, and Frustrated.

Kimochis Lovey Dove - Well with a name like Lovey Dove, she is just what you imagine nurturing and calm. Now and then though Lovey Dove will worry a little too much, as she comes with a little baby Turtle Dove. Her other feeling include Happy, Proud, and Hopeful. Which are wonderful qualities for any parent to have.

Kimochis Bella Rose - Bella Rose is sensitive and sweet, and a lovely little companion. Because Bella is sensitive she is not always confident, and comes with the feelings of Insecure, but also the feeling of Happy.

Kimochis Clover - Kimochis Clover comes with his lucky ladybug Howard. Clover has the feelings Happy, Disappointed, and Optimistic.

The goal of the Kimochis founder is an admirable one. Nina Rapport invented the Kimochis with the purpose of helping parents and children communicate about feelings.

She has achieved this by creating wonderful stories that come with each of the Kimochis. These loveable characters help build confidence and self-esteem through role playing. When the children are being understood, they become more confident expressing their feelings.

It is about your child understanding and being able to communicate their feelings to you or another individual. Kimochis are also about helping your child build the confidence to do so. Identifying what feelings they are having and why.

Each of the Kimochis dolls comes with three separate child safe feelings, and a how to feel guide with parent tips. The fun activities have also been authored by a communication artist.

You are also able to buy a mixed feeling pack, should you wish to buy one Kimochis, but have all of the 33 feelings.

The full range of feelings are Happy, Mad, Sad, Brave, Left Out, Curious, Cranky, Silly, Frustrated, Hopeful, Proud, Optimistic, Disappointed, Sensitive, Insecure, Jealous, Loved, Grateful, Scared, Shy, Kind, Hurt, Sorry, Uncomfortable, Friendly, Sleepy, Surprised, Embarrassed, Guilty, Excited, and there are 3 blank for you to make-your-own.

In terms of communicating feelings to a child, we feel they are the best toy we have to achieve this. We have sold them to teachers and parents alike. Not only is the educational aspect of the toy wonderful, you have to see the quality of each of the Kimochis to appreciate how beautifully they have been made.

You can just tell these feeling Kimochis have all been made with love, and that was the feeling. For the full range including teacher's kit, please click here.

Posted in award winning toys, developing confidence in kids, emotional development toy, emotional intelligence, emotional intelligence books, emotional intelligence toys, kimochi meaning, kimochis, Kimochis Australia, kimochis educators toolkit, kimochis mixed bag of feelings, preschooler toys, toys with feeling inside

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KidzInc Pty Limited
ABN: 76 137 743 410

PO Box 555
Cammeray NSW 2062, Australia