Balance and Coordination

Balance and coordination are important skills to develop in small children and are necessary for future strength and endurance.  Balance helps children to gain both confidence and gross motor skills.  Some ways to build balance and gross motor coordination are through various activities and playtime.  Wood Designs offers a versatile unit called the Rock-A-Boat.  This item is tip proof and excellent at encouraging fun time and development.  On one side the unit is a rowboat that children sit inside to rock back and forth.  Simply flip the boat over, and a set of inviting steps appear.  Also available is the balance beam.  This is a simple, but classic maple beam that invites kids to walk across it.  Both products help to develop balance and coordination in kids.

There are other ways to incorporate coordination training in small children.  Jumping rope, hopscotch, and playing with balls are great ways to work on coordination while still having fun.  Wooden blocks (such as the variety provided by Wood Designs) are another excellent way to develop coordination skills.  Playing with finger puppets, creating art projects, and lacing shoes are all excellent ways to develop control and motor skills in the fingers of young children.

So be creative and have fun, but also remember these skills are crucial in furthering physical and mental development in children.  Your kids can have a blast and not even realize they are learning! Win-win!

The Importance of Role Play

 One very important way that children learn about the world around them is thru role playing.  Just about every kid loves dressing up in costume or reenacting the role of a character.  This imitative play is not only normal, but beneficial to learning.  The simple act of role playing accomplishes much in your child’s mind.  It actually engages emotion, cognition, language and sensory motor skills, and encourages social interaction.


Wood Designs Dramatic Play Package



Everyone can remember how much fun dressing up like a princess or firefighter was when they were younger and it is just as much fun for children now.  Often times, children role play with each other.  Usually they take turns playing leader, negotiating and instructing while others follow direction.  This encourages cooperation and team work-both important in developing social skills.

Dramatic play such as this also helps children to recognize the difference between fantasy and reality.  As any child knows, anything is possible in your imagination.  A piece of scrap paper denotes money and a simple stack of blocks is a beautiful castle.  The realization that this is make believe helps to formulate what reality is to children and what is and is not possible.  A child may dream of a castle and horse in their backyard and enjoy pretending they are there.  The reality they come to understand is that this is not a reasonable wish outside of pretend time and is intended for playtime fodder.

Providing costumes and dress up stations is a great way to encourage these adventures.  Wood Designs provides two different size Dress Up centers that allow room for shoes, wands, hats, hanging clothes, and just about anything your children can come up with.  The Dress Up centers also include a mirror so children may astonish themselves at their transformations.  Checkout www.WoodDesigns.org to see all we have to encourage your young one's imagination!

Block Party

Blocks are one of the most versatile toys in a child’s world and are educational as well.  Wooden blocks are a standard element of daycares and schools across the world.  These blocks are constructed from natural wood and are carefully sanded to prevent injury or splinters.  Blocks come in a variety of sizes based on age and purpose, with smaller and more detailed blocks being used with older children.  They can come in numerous shapes, but all create fun possibilities.

Every child loves playing with blocks whether it’s by building a castle or for simple counting time.  When a child uses blocks to act out their fantasies, it causes them to visualize an object and use their mind to determine how to make that a reality.  These wooden units can be used during private play to develop confidence or in group play to build social skills and encourage team play.  Blocks can also be used as educational tools for mathematical learning.  Adding, subtracting, multiplying and even dividing can be demonstrated visually with these items.  Research has found that this type of hands on learning is not only more interesting to the child, but also creates a longer memory of the lesson because it provides a personal representation of the problem and solution. 

To enrich play, incorporate accessories to be used in conjunction with the blocks.  This can be fun and entertaining for children to create themselves.  Sticks with play dough tops become trees and mushrooms, rocks become cars or people, plastic bins become homes and buildings, etc.  These crafted items encourage children to use their imaginations and to recycle and repurpose items. The options are endless!

Lastly, it is important to teach children how to put away the blocks after playtime.  This not only keeps the area neat and clean, but encourages organizational skills and independence.  Children develop pride when they contribute to picking up and straightening an area.

Wood Designs offers a variety of block sets for children of all age groups and levels.  These items are constructed from light hardwood and come in 24 different shapes.  They come in sets varying from nursery age on up to classroom age.  We also offer block storage centers and bins to store these classic playtime favorites.  Check out WoodDesigns.com to see all of the blocks and other products that we can offer for your little ones.