This past summer Creekside was lucky to receive a generous donation from Knotty Toys on Granville Island, magnetic building blocks by Tegu. Tegu is a block company based in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Tegu provides jobs to the people of Honduras giving them living wage jobs that offer long term career growth and development. They also use sustainable wood local to Honduras and the surrounding region to create the blocks. We were asked if we would be willing to have the children explore the blocks during their free play and give feedback about the product. The children from the preschool room were lucky enough to be the first to play and build with the new blocks.
There was no end to the exploration and creativity for the children. The blocks were simple to use and safe for all ages. Unlike other wooden blocks, Tegu blocks are able to keep its structure while the children manipulated them with their imaginations. As the children explored the new toy they were able to see how the blocks worked, and how to place the blocks so the magnets would attract each other. It was a great trial and error learning experience for the children. They were able to build rocket ships, vehicles, towers, dinosaurs and robots. The possibilities were endless.
Open-ended toys such as the Tegu Blocks are manipulatives we strive to provide for the children in our play based learning centre. Children learn through their own natural experiences, especially through play. With the social interactions in their day to day lives, we as educators help to build upon their experiences through fun and innovative ways. Play helps to nurture the children’s growth in all aspects of their lives such as language, physical, social and cognitive development. Open-ended materials and manipulatives help to support creative and open ways of thinking. They are able to test limits and boundaries in their own imaginations, and to learn and grow at their own pace. We at Creekside pride ourselves in basing our teachings through play, making the environment safe, caring and most of all fun. What we love about Tegu the most is what they stand for, “It takes a special product to unlock the mind and in-spire creative experiences through play. That’s what we’re about.”
We would just like to thank Knotty Toys and Tegu for their generosity to Creekside, the blocks will be loved and enjoyed by the children for years to come!