As a stay at home mom finding quality toys that are engaging and versatile can be hard. Toys that allow our little ones to be creative, learn, and also have fun are a true mom or parent win.
Us stay at home parents are constantly researching toys, games, and activities to do at home. While doing my research, I came across Smiling Tree toys. They are a Minnesota based company who prides themselves in creating intentional, purposeful, and earth friendly toys. Toys that are truly beautiful and will last for years to come.
I got the alphabet picture blocks for my two and three year old boys. Alphabet blocks are such a fun and versatile toy to use with your infants and older toddlers. Use them to build, spell, practice letters, the list goes on. Smiling tree toys has a variety of different blocks you can choose from: alphabet + picture, alphabet, animal + alphabet, numbers, math blocks, name blocks, photo props, countdowns and baptism! They do it all, and they are SO cute! You can also get a wooden crate to go with your blocks. The quality is truly amazing.
Here are a few ways we used the alphabet blocks!
Sensory bin to practice letter formation - for this activity we used our Kookaroo sensory bin and Smiling Tree Toys picture alphabet blocks to create a sensory bin to practice writing letters. For our sensory base, we used regular iodized salt. The blocks were perfect to recognize the letter and then use it as a guide to practice forming the letter. A great hands-on addition.
Simple building - although it sounds simple, there are so many wonderful benefits when it comes to using blocks to build. Your littles are able to practice skills like hand-eye coordination, use their creativity, problem solve, enhance language development as they talk about what they are doing or talk about the pictures on the blocks. And of course, knocking down the blocks after they finish building is always the cherry on top :)
Name building - using a manipulative, such as blocks, is a great way for your little to not only learn the letters in their name but also practice putting the letters in order to spell out their name. Start with letter recognition and then move up to letter sounds and building names/words!
Letter and sound recognition - These alphabet picture blocks are PERFECT for practice the letter/sound combination. The blocks show upper and lowercase letters as well as a picture that starts with that letter! You can play with your little one while also working on learning these skills. For instance, H makes the /h/ sound, /h/, /h/, house!
Along with the blocks, Smiling Tree Toys has tons of other fun and adorable options for your little ones. Here are a few of the many you can find on their site! These would make the perfect baby shower, Christmas, and birthday gift options!
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