Stevanne “Dr. Toy” Auerbach, Ph.D. recently released her choices for Best Vacation Products 2010. This is one of many annual reports released by the noted child development authority and Director of the Institute for Childhood Resources.
According to Dr. Toy, summertime provides the perfect opportunity for kids to continue informal learning and stretch their minds.
Dr. Ken Gibson, author of “Unlock the Einstein Inside: Applying New Brain Science to Wake Up the Smart in your Child” agrees. “Teachers typically spend four to six weeks re-teaching or reviewing material that students have forgotten over the ‘Summer Slide.’ Even simple toys can help kids strengthen their cognitive skills, like attention, auditory and visual processing, memory and processing speed. Plus, kids learn best when they’re having fun.”
Of the extensive items on the list, here are 10 that parents may want to look for this season:
1. Treasure Hunt (Free Spirit Publishing)
Various ages; $9.99; www.freespirit.com
This 3” jar contains cards with treasure hunt items. Helps build vocabulary and observation skills. Set a time limit to increase processing speed.
2. Mini Morphs (Wild Republic)
For ages 5 – 8; $5.99; www.wildrepublic.com
Think Mr. Potato Head but with dinosaurs! These mix-and-match, snap-together toys allow kids to combine legs, fins, wings, heads, arms and bodies to create silly mixed breeds. Stimulates creative thinking and visual processing.
3. Balance Benders (The Critical Thinking Co.)
For ages 9 – 12; $9.99; www.criticalthinking.com
“Math, science, test taking and, most importantly, reading comprehension, all require visualization skills,” says Tanya Mitchell, Director of Training for LearningRx (LearningRx.com), a national brain-training franchise. “Things like Balance Benders are great tools to develop math computations, as well as logic and reasoning.”
4. Spoon Racers and Beanbots
For ages 4 – 12; $2.99; www.beantowntoys.com
Fun, colorful and interchangeable construction systems encourage creative thinking and motor skills.
5. Yamodo (Idea Storm Products)
For ages 8 – 12; $9.95; www.yamodo.com
An inexpensive travel game for the whole family to play together! Players draw and define the made-up word on each card, then pass to the next person to add their two cents! Builds sound analysis, reading skills, visual processing and creative thinking.
6. What Zit (The Original Toy Company)
For ages 3 – 12; $3.50; www.theoriginaltoycompany.com
Six brightly colored blocks are strung together for elastic so your child can create countless shapes. Strengthens visual processing.
7. Scribble & Doodle (ALEX)
For ages 4 – 8; $9.99; www.alextoys.com
This activity pad comes with 50 preprinted pages and 25 blank pages, as well as eight finger crayons. Simple sentences help teach reading skills.
8. Rubbabu Education Balls (ISEO Chemdis Pvt Ltd.)
For ages 1 – 6; $5.95; www.rubbabu.com
Each colorful bouncy ball has a different tactile “lesson.” Of the 36 styles, there is one with raised uppercase letters, another with raised lowercase, one with raised shapes and another with raised numbers. Depending on the ball and how you use it, this toy can build phonemic awareness, reading skills, sound blending, and more.
“As a general rule, parents want to look for age-appropriate games that build learning skills,” says Mitchell. “And once a child masters something like a puzzle, parents can add a time limit – like with a stopwatch – to strengthen processing speed.”
9. Scramble Squares (b. dazzle, inc.)
For ages 8 – 12; $8.95; www.b-dazzle.com
If you like challenging educational puzzles that can keep your children captivated for hours, scramble squares can do the trick. They’re very affordable and come in a variety of patterns. Works problem-solving skills, working memory and visual processing.
10. Dweebies (Gamewright)
For ages 3 – 12; $9.55; www.amazon.com
Capture Dweebies of varying professions and match the cards on both ends of any row. Easy to play but hard to win! Reinforces math probability skills, matching skills and strategy.
Want to learn more about games that build essential learning tools? Download a free chart showing well-known games and the cognitive skills they build (attention, memory, logic and reasoning, visual processing, etc.) at www.unlocktheeinsteininside.com.
To view the entire list of classic toys, visit www.DrToy.com.
