Fruit Friends 3 in 1 Toddler Toy by Fat Brain Toys: The Benefits to Developing Minds

Posted on June 03, 2020 by Lubica Misevski

Like many of the toys in the Fat Brain Toys line, the Fruit Friends 3 in 1 Toddler Toy has a number of exceptional benefits for developing young minds.

It's little wonder that the Parents Choice Gold Awards has recognised this toy. With multiple textures and concepts to explore, the Fruit Friends 3 in 1 toddler toy, which includes a watermelon, a pear, and an orange, offers several options for play. 

The toy comes with an orange, which breaks down into four pieces; a watermelon slice, which breaks down into 3 pieces; and a pear slice, which is just a single piece. Each piece offers a range of sensory experiences: as the pear wobbles, it offers soft chimes to delight little ears, while the orange, which has four thick slices, snaps back together with magnets. The watermelon pieces stack together on a peg base that wobbles back and forth, with little silicone seeds that offer a fascinating texture for little fingers to explore. 

The Benefits of the Fruit Friends 3 in 1 Toddler Toy

The Fruit Friends 3 in 1 Toddler Toy offers several advantages to developing young minds, including:

Building fine motor skills. Both the watermelon and the orange in the Fruit Friends 3 in 1 Toddler Toy can be taken apart and put back together again, encouraging the development of fine motor skills. The toys are designed to allow little fingers to easily put them back together but require enough maneuvering to help encourage fine motor skills and improve overall development. 

Sensory learning. Each piece of the Fruit Friends 3 in 1 Toddler Toy offers a different sensory experience. The soft chimes coming from the pear engage listening skills and delight little learners, while the silicone seeds on the watermelon offer a unique texture for little fingers. The magnets in the orange can also offer sensory exploration as they connect to one another. 

Tactile learning. Little ones will love the tactile experience offered by the Fruit Friends 3 in 1 Toddler Toy. Each piece offers a different tactile experience, making each toy a unique hands-on learning opportunity. Little learners develop their skills best when they're allowed to interact with their world in a safe environment, and the Fruit Friends 3 in 1 Toddler Toy provides the perfect opportunity for tactile exploration. Toddlers can explore how the pieces interact together, fitting them together and taking them apart, as well as enjoying the rocking of the pear and the watermelon or turning the orange on the floor. 

Cause/effect learning. When toddlers shake or rock the pear, it makes a delightful chime that engages the senses and encourages further interaction. Likewise, when they pull the orange apart, the pieces separate--and when they put the orange pieces close to one another, they connect again. This cause/effect style learning allows toddlers to explore the relationship with the world around them while playing with the Fruit Friends 3 in 1 Toddler Toy. 

Imaginative play. Not only does the Fruit Friends 3 in 1 Toddler Toy encourage many types of sensory learning and integration, but it also allows children to further explore the world around them through imaginative play. Does your toddler want to talk to the orange? To pretend to eat the bright, colourful figures? As your child grows, he can continue to engage in more imaginative play with these toys.

The Fat Brain Toys line focuses on providing developmentally appropriate toys for little ones--and the Fruit Friends 3 in 1 Toddler Toy certainly fits the bill. With plenty of options for exploring and playing, this toy is sure to delight the toddlers in your life while providing an excellent learning experience every time they play. Contact us to learn more about toys that can help your little one grow. 

To purchase your Fruit Friends 3 in 1 Toddler Toy, please click here. 

Posted in Fat Brain Toys Australia, Fruit Friends 3 in 1 Toddler Toy, Sensory Toys

InnyBin by Fat Brain Toys: The Benefits of Playing with this Shape Sorter

Posted on January 26, 2020 by Lubica Misevski

When you're searching for toys that can not only entertain your child but aid in their development, you want toys that will spark their interest and encourage them to develop those vital skills. Fat Brain Toys keeps that at the forefront in all of their toys, designing toys with bright colours, fun designs, and a variety of purposes that can help little learners develop important skills. Inny Bin is no exception to that rule.

What is Inny Bin?

Inny Bin is a hard-edged cube with soft, elastic mesh that allows children to carefully place each of several unique, colourful shapes into the bin. Unlike normal sorting toys, Inny Bin does not simply have one hole that each block can go in. Instead, it offers the ability for toddlers to manipulate each shape through the elastic bands of the cube. It comes with a variety of shapes, each with their own unique textures to encourage exploration. Little ones can put them in their mouths, explore them with their hands, and experiment with how those different shapes fit through the elastic bands of the toy. This fascinating little toy is the perfect way to encourage exploration and invite little ones to learn more about the world around them, all while playing with a toy that is sure to delight.

Inny Bin was also nominated for 2020 Toy of the Year Finalist in the Infant/Toddler Toy of the Year Category.  

Important Skills Built by Inny Bin

Inny Bin helps little ones develop a number of important skills as they explore the world around them. Consider:

Fine motor skills. As little ones play with Inny Bin, they will experiment with fine motor skills: holding the shapes in their hands, manipulating them through the elastic bands, and pulling them back out again. Fine motor skills become increasingly important as your child gets older and needs to handle many tasks independently, including self-feeding, getting dressed, and manipulating other toys. Eventually, those fine motor skills will aid your child with handwriting, drawing, and other school-related tasks. 

Exploration. Toddlers are still a blank slate. They still haven't learned about all the ins and outs of their world, including how that world will change in response to the way they interact with it. Exploring safely is critical to fostering creativity, problem-solving skills, and overall development. While experimenting with Inny Bin, your toddler will have the opportunity to develop a better understanding of colours, textures, and elasticity--concepts that your child will need later in life. 

Cause and effect. When the elastic bands stretch, they leave room for the toy to slip through. Some toys, especially those that are larger or have bigger bumps, may need more room to slip through than others. Experimenting with Inny Bin will allow your child to get a better look at cause and effect, including how his actions impact the toy's ability to slip through. 

Unlike many traditional shape sorters, Inny Bin offers a lower-frustration experience for your child. While traditional shape sorters may quickly frustrate little learners who can't quite manipulate the toys into the proper shapes or match them to the exact shape they're supposed to slip inside, Inny Bin allows your toddler to easily slip the toy through the elastic bands at any point, decreasing frustration and increasing the time spent using the toy. 

Are you looking for educational toys that will help your children learn more about the world around them through play? We can help you find those ideal toys to help encourage development and present your child with more learning opportunities--and have fun at the same time.

You can purchase Inny Bin by clicking the following link that takes you directly to the Inny Bin product. Buy your Inny Bin today.

Contact us today to learn more about Fat Brain Toys or the other toys we've carefully curated to bring your child the best possible learning and play experience. 

Posted in Early child education, educational toys, fat brain toys, Fat Brain Toys Australia, InnyBin Australia, shape sorter

The Benefits of Fat Brain Toys Spinny Pins

Posted on January 25, 2020 by Lubica Misevski

The toys your child plays with every day can have a huge impact on overall development--and in Spinny Pins, Fat Brain toys have, as always, kept that need for development through play at the forefront. This fascinating toy offers a variety of textures and movement options that will help entertain and delight little learners while helping them develop many of the skills they need. 

What are Spinny Pins?

Spinny Pins is a Fat Brain Toy that contains a weighted bowl on a wobbly base and five colourful, textured pins that also wobble and spin to help delight and entertain the child. Each of the five colourful pins has its own unique texture and design, including bright colours that are great for colour sorting and visual awareness. Children can use Spinny Pins for a variety of tasks: fitting the pins into slots within the big bowl, placing pins in right side up or upside down, or spinning and wobbling the pieces through incredible creative play. 

What Skills can Children Build with Spinny Pins?

Spinny Pins allows children to develop and enrich a wide range of skills, including:

Fine motor skills. Developing fine motor skills in early childhood is incredibly important to a child's eventual development and capability. Children with strong fine motor skills are better prepared to handle basic self-care tasks as they get older, including buttoning and zipping clothes, handling feeding tasks, writing and drawing, or performing many of the functions expected of children every day. While some of those skills may be a long way away for your child, working to place the pins in the wobbly bowl of the Spinny Pins toy can help build those important fine motor skills, improving grip strength and helping your child learn the cause and effect associated with those basic tasks. 

Matching and sorting. Matching and sorting skills help many children order their world. This process of sorting and organising can help children learn how to apply logical thinking skills. In playing with Spinny Pins, they're examining the pins and the holes in the bottom where the pins can go and making associations between those things. They're learning how objects are alike (after all, they're all pins!) and how they're different (different colours, textures, and shapes). This vital skill might still be in its early stages, but it can offer your child a number of advantages as they progress through those infant years and on to school. 

Sensory exploration. Like matching and sorting skills, sensory exploration is critical for children of all ages. Through sensory exploration, little ones learn more about how certain textures feel. Little ones may place those toys in their mouths, testing those textures against their teeth, tongue, and gums to get a better idea of how they feel. With Spinny Pins, your child can also experiment with balance and textures. 

Experimentation. Children learn about cause and effect through experimentation. As they experiment with the world around them, they get a better idea of how things work: how things move, how they interact with one another, and how one action can cause another response. The bump on the bottom of the bowl in the Spinny Pins set, for example, ensures that the bowl is always off-balance, which means that it will wobble and twirl with a light touch from your child. This can help your child learn about balance and how to impact wobbly objects. 

Spinny Pins are designed to encourage a wide range of play and exploration in your child. With its bright colours and unique textures, including different textures on the top and bottom of each pin, this toy helps encourage toddler play and development at the same time. 

To buy your Spinny Pins, please click on Spinny Pins. 

Posted in Early child education, educational toys, Fat Brain Toys Australia, fine motor skills

Sphero Mini Activity Kit brings STEM-Based Learning to the Living Room

Posted on October 14, 2019 by Lubica Misevski

How does a child transition from building castles with blocks to building programs with code? This is something that every modern parent asks themselves, looking at the highly tech-based economy and standards of success. Naturally, if you want your child to thrive in the future, introducing STEM skills in math, science, and computer programming is essential. And the transition from wooden blocks to code blocks just got a lot easier. The Sphero Mini Activity Kit is an incredible way to bring STEM-based learning to the living room.

Sphero is a revolutionary educational toy designed to not just teach children to program, but to inspire them to independently pour in hours learning and practicing. And with the Sphero Mini Activity Kit, you can easily bring that joy, enthusiasm, and technological learning into your home.

What is Sphero and How Does It Teach STEM?

At it's most basic, Sphero is a robotic rolling sphere with coloured LEDs in clear shell. The sphere responds to commands from a mobile app to move, stop, and flash its lights. But under the surface, it is the key to teaching children to program before they even realise that programming could be considered work. Just as children who learn to draw could become artists and children who learn to write could become authors, children who learn to control their Sphero through programming can grow up to be talented programmers.

The Sphero educational company has been developing rolling balls and software for classrooms but their latest product is perfect for any home, daycare, or classroom learning facility because it is compact, complete, and inspiring. The Sphero Mini Activity Kit brings STEM learning to the living room by including a small Sphero, connection to the control mobile app, obstacle course supplies, and activity cards that will guide children through the beginning tasks of controlling their Sphero.

Through this interface, children will learn about controlling robots with software, and that commands to robots can be custom-made for an even richer experience.

The Inspiration of Play

If you tell a child to sit down and learn to program from a textbook, they will grow bored, distracted, and struggle with the complexity of the task. This is one of the biggest challenges to overcome with STEM learning. But give them a robot, an app, and activities and they will soon be trying to figure out all the different things that can be done with that robot beyond the original intended functions.

You've seen the creative and dedicated way that children play. Children will work harder for play than they would ever tolerate for 'work'. They will organise, cooperate, study, and try something dozens of times to make it work if the play is the inspiration. That is exactly what Sphero does. It inspires children to learn through the simple, powerful motivation of play. It brings STEM-based learning to the living room.

Children will want their sphere to lace more and more complex mazes, to flash its LED in response to fun triggers, and to participate in their imaginative games. Through this motivation, children will learn first to control the sphere, then to program entirely new responses and behaviors for their very first real robot.

Writing JavaScript Before You Know It

At first, you will see your children reading cards and using an app. But the app is not just another online game that connects to a physical toy. The app is a gateway that will soon be prompting your children to write their own commands. In JavasScript. There has never been an easier introduction to advanced STEM learning.

Believe it or not, JavaScript is not difficult for a child to learn in the right contexts. It's a lot like playing Simon Says. You need to use the right punctuation and code-phrases to make a JavaScript command work just as you need to say "Simon Says" for the classic game's command to be valid. So when children realise that typing a few code-sentences can make their sphere do something new and amazing, they will eagerly learn.

Before you know it, your children will be writing lines of legitimate code in a highly valued programming language, all for the sake of play and running a sphere through obstacle courses.

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The Sphero Mini Activity Kit brings STEM-based learning to the living room with an advanced, engaging, and play-inspiring design. It has everything your child or children need to embark on their STEM learning journey into robotics, wireless controls, and JavaScript programming. Check out Sphero for yourself to see how this educational brand is pioneering teaching STEM with the inspiration of play.

You can purchase the Sphero Mini Activity Kit from our shop by clicking here.

Posted in coding toys for kids, Robotic Toy, Sphero Mini Activity Kit Australia, Sphero Robotic Toy, STEM Toys Australia

How Beautiful Hape Kitchen Sets Benefit A Child's Developing Mind

Posted on September 25, 2019 by Lubica Misevski

Why do children play pretend with a Hape Kitchen?

In very early child development, children learn to talk by mimicking their parents. They learn how to use forks, open doors, and how to put on their shoes by watching those around them. Mimicking has a profound benefit on a child's developing mind because they learn how to do things for themselves that they have seen done before. Toddlers enjoy pretending to do things they've seen their parents do many times before. They answer toy telephones, pretend to drive the car with a toy steering wheel, or have their dolls hold adorably everyday conversations. Why? Because they are trying out these actions for themselves. Just as they tried out using a fork and putting on shoes,

But as a toddler grows, their pretend play becomes more involved. They begin taking on roles and acting out whole scenarios that they have seen in the home or around them. This is one of the many reasons why wooden toy kitchens have been a staple in early life play for as long as there have been playsets. Children as young as 18 months delight in toy foods and a 3-year-old will be ready to "Play the parent", cooking pretend family dinners for the table of or stuffed animals.

The benefit to a child's developing mind when given an immersive wooden Hape kitchen cannot be understated.

Realistic Toys Help Pretend-Play Development

The younger a child is, the more they need their toys to look like what they are pretending. A two-year-old needs their toy phone to look like a phone, but a three-year-old will answer the phone and giggle as their ability to think creatively develops. Realistic toys pose the most benefit to a very young child's developing mind.

Hape kitchen wooden sets feature realistic-looking retro-style kitchens and toy foods that are real enough for the youngest children to become truly immersed in mimicking pretend-play. They will happily open and close the toy oven and move pans onto and off of the stove just like Mum or Dad does in their kitchen.

The Hape Kitchen Retro Wooden Kitchen is the smallest and best toy for a young toddler just learning how to play kitchen pretend games.

2 to 3 Years Old Girls and Boys

Two-year-olds are more creative and begin engaging in both symbolic play and role-taking. They adore assigning each other roles and trying on what it's like to be the chef for dinner, the mom and dad, or the chef and sous-chef depending on what they have seen before. Your child will talk themselves through a cooking process they have seen before when playing with a wooden Hape kitchen. In doing so, will form a more solid mental schema about cooking and might even surprise you with what all they have picked up. 

The Hape Kitchen White Gourmet Kitchen is a great way for toddlers to begin their imaginative kitchen play.

3 to 4 Years Old Girls and Boys

As children approach four years old, the benefit to the child's developing mind offered by a play kitchen evolves again. They begin putting together elaborate stories of why they are playing and what is going on in the unseen world around their props. The wooden toy kitchen may become the center of a magical adventure, a place for other imaging children to bring their characters for a meal, or they might even start their own pretend restaurant with servers and guests and imaginary specials of the day.

The Hape Kitchen Multi-Function Wooden Kitchen is a large multi-surface, multi-cabinet set that is perfect for playing elaborate pretend games with siblings and friends.

While the All-in-1 Wooden Hape Kitchen is a cute modern design for a modern-style playhouse.

Wooden Hape Kitchens for Developing Pretend-Play 

Hape Toys has dedicated its brand to providing beautiful wooden Kitchen playsets designed to benefit a child's developing mind as they play pretend from the early toddler stage to the pre-school ages.

Their sets are wonderful for independent play and for playing with friends and sharing between siblings.

Check out the full collection of Hape kitchen wooden sets to find the one that will be most delightful and beneficial to your child's developing mind.

Coding Games for Kids Introduce Early STEM Skills to Build Future Careers

Posted on September 18, 2019 by Lubica Misevski

Coding games for kids are definitely the right tool for forward-planning parents. Every parent wants the best for their children, including preparing them to be rockstars at some future career. While there's no way to know at an early age just what your child will grow up to be, there's a pretty good chance it will involve tech. The way our society interacts with technology transformed rapidly in the last 30 years. We've gone from the cabinet arcade games of the 80s and 90s to virtual reality and wireless smart-everything. The present is digital, the future will be Artifical Intelligence (AI), and your children are the professionals of the future.

This is one of the many reasons why nurturing Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (STEM) skills in early childhood is an essential part of helping your child grow up to be spectacular and successful. And you don't need to enroll them in a little genius' academy. Just introducing the basic concepts of things like computer sciences and programming can start those little minds turning, preparing them to more aptly tackle the programming classes they will take in high school.

Coding-Based Board Games for Young Children

One of the greatest innovations for parents nurturing STEM skills is board games that teach the basics. So it's no wonder that coding games for kids are so effective. Board games are a classic way to spend a family evening or Saturday afternoon together, and board games have a unique knack for teaching. We all still remember the types of dice-rolling and card-playing maths and logic we learned from the board games of our own childhoods.

This is exactly why coding games for kids like Robot Turtles, Code Master, and Hacker are such a wonderful addition to your family board game closet. These games are designed to teach the basic logical processes and concepts of computer programming for children between the ages of 4 and 12. Your kids will learn how strings of commands work, how to build solid programmatic logic, and how to identify errors in a line of code long before they hit the keyboard, and you'll have a night of family fun doing it.

Robot Turtles - Ages 4+

The best place to start in coding games for kids is with a fun, colourful board-and-card game called Robot Turtles. Children take command of turtles navigating the game board to get to their same-coloured crystal. To navigate the board, children play code cards to tell the turtle to move, turn, or shoot lasers. If a code card doesn't work as they expected, they learn to identify a "bug" and fix their code line. The first to make it to their same-coloured crystal wins.

Code Master - Ages 8+

The Code Master game board is a large spiral-bound book with multiple levels. Each level must be mastered with the correct sequence of logical choices. The game teaches critical thinking, problem-solving, and sequential reasoning to get from level to level. Children use programming logic to navigate each map, solve the problems, and collect crystals to win.

Hacker - Ages 10+

Hacker is the most advanced of the coding games for kids. It teaches the basics of cybersecurity, including building defenses, outsmarting cybercriminals, and preventing once-used tactics from working again. The game includes a total of 120 coding puzzles that children can beat together while learning the early concepts of a skill set that is in the highest possible demand in today's business-tech environment.

Child Development, STEM, and Coding Games

Games that teach children the essential concepts and logical thought processes of computer coding give them a solid foundation in STEM learning and in the careers that are pivotal in our increasingly digital world.

Each progressively more challenging game will guide children through the process of learning how to think like a programmer so that they'll be mentally ahead the first time they ever start working with code on a computer.

Your children will love hunting down crystals and stopping hackers, and you will love watching their little minds grow and develop with these amazing coding games for kids.

To view our entire Coding Games for Kids, please click here. 

Posted in Coding Games Australia, Coding Games for Kids

Why Kids Should Jump Into the Smart Games Jump In Game For STEM Education

Posted on September 18, 2019 by Lubica Misevski

Hop into the forest for an enchanting game that's as clever as it is fun! The Jump In Game by Smart Games is a strategic game where rabbits jump to safety. While hopping over mushrooms, foxes, and other rabbits, players move rabbits into holes for hiding.

Exciting as it is, Jump In is also incredibly educational- combining STEM skills, life skills, and strategy all in one adorable package. Smart Games is the world leader in multi-level logic games, and Jump In is no exception.

The Jump In Game comes with 60 puzzles ranging from beginner to expert and includes solutions for puzzles that stump you. Designed to enhance concentration, logic, planning, problem-solving, and spatial insight, this portable game may be small, but its educational impact is huge.

HOW DO YOU PLAY?

The Jump In game includes a game board with lid, 3 rabbits, 3 mushrooms, and 2 foxes, as well as a booklet of puzzles and solutions. Players start by selecting a puzzle to solve and placing the pieces on the board accordingly. Players must move the rabbits safely into the rabbit holes to hide from the forest foxes. The trick is, the rabbits can only move by hopping over something else- a rabbit, a mushroom, or fox. So players must plan their moves carefully to avoid getting stuck. Rabbits can hop, foxes can slide, and mushrooms stay in their spot. A one-player game, it's great for individual play and concentration. However, kids can team up to strategize moves or take turns beating the puzzles.

Designed for players aged 7 and older, this game is fun for all ages. From the charming play pieces to the winning strategies, expect the whole family to jump in!

WHAT DOES IT TEACH?

Multi-level logic is no understatement in the Smart Games design concept. Each skill that the Jump In Game teaches is applicable in gameplay, but also in classrooms and in the real world.

Jump In teaches skills like problem solving and spatial insight while players plot their next move. These skills help children solve the puzzle, but also are useful in mitigating problems, playing sports, and building strong relationships.

Skills like planning and logic are engaged as the puzzle is being solved. For example, in order to hop into the hole, the rabbit may need to move closer to a fox, rather than further away. This stretches their mind to help them think before they act- a concept useful in board games, but also in daily life.

WHAT STEM SKILLS DOES IT USE?

Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) all require a common element, which is thinking outside of the box. To be successful in these fields, a measure of thinking differently is required.

The Jump In Game engages this concept by turning common logic around. Hopping toward danger in order to escape it, or passing up the chance to save 1 rabbit in order to position 2 rabbits for safety are examples of scientific thinking. Spatial reasoning, planning, plotting, counting, and logic enhance STEM capabilities while kids enjoy the game. Jump In also encourages kids to give their theories a try. If they fail, they can find the solution in the back of the book, and learn the right way, rather than remembering it wrong. This is a positive way to practice experiment and hypothesis- both crucial to STEM success. The cornerstone of STEM education is concentration. STEM learning requires precision and careful attention to detail. Jump In builds children's ability to concentrate on the task at hand, while using their imagination.

Jump In is a game that will whisk kids away into a magical world. As cute rabbits jump over colourful mushrooms and lurking foxes, kids are the heroes, leading them to safety. There is confidence gained in solving the puzzle and saving the woodland creatures. While they are on this thrilling adventure, their minds are growing exponentially, picking up STEM skills and life skills along the way. From its creative concept to its smart design, Jump In is a game worth jumping into.

You can buy the Jump In Game here. 

Posted in Jump In Game, Jump In Game Australia, Smart Game Jump In Game, Smart Games Australia