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Learning Values are an important part of the process used for selecting the toys for our site, and because each child is different, Learning Values are great tools for shoppers who want to select the right toy to match a child's unique personality. Colorful Learning Values icons will appear next to each selection to help in choosing the perfect toy.
Select a learning value below to learn more:
 Independent Play
Promotes self-esteem and confidence in children by empowering them with choices and by organizing stimulating play activities. Creating time and an environment for independent play is beneficial for children of any age. Helping your child develop a strong, independent personality supports their awareness of feelings, dreams and ideas. Independent play fosters reflective and analytical thought and gives children their own private space and time.
For children, the ability to pretend and imagine is an essential form of play. As children's imaginations grow, they invent new uses for familiar objects, playing with them in novel ways. Encouraging children's imaginative play will open the door to enhanced learning experiences in all areas of their development.
 Mathematical Play
Involves children in problem solving activities, reasoning, and sequencing. Encouraging conceptual thought and the development of logic and problem solving skills helps children build a strong foundation for future learning.
Playing with construction toys such as building blocks enables children to acquire an understanding of basic math skills and develop fine motor skills. While playing with construction toys, children learn categorization, sequencing, patterning, and quantifying, which help build a strong foundation for understanding math in the future.
 Musical Play
Engages children in rhythmic musical activity. Music exerts a powerful influence on children's developing minds and enhances reading, math, and creative skills. Nurturing your child's interest in music, whether it's singing, humming, whistling, dancing, or banging on a drum, sets the tune for further learning.
 Linguistic Play
Encourages a child's verbal skills. The foundations of language learning are laid when children are infants, and these skills continue to develop through the toddler years. Children's development can be nourished by exposure to an environment filled with sound, rhythm, and language patterns.
Toys that encourage listening, creating sounds, mimicking words, and making word associations build and strengthen children's language skills.
 Motor Skills
Promote and develop children's physical athletic ability, manual dexterity, and/or eye-hand coordination. Many people associate fine motor skills with the way a child holds a pencil, crayons, or scissors, but it is much more. Human development progresses from the head down and from the torso outward, so the use of hands and fingers is actually the last part of the development process.
You can enhance a child's fine motor development early in life by giving them opportunities to refine large motor skills. Begin with big pieces of puzzles, clay, or big crayons and combine these tools with activities such as coloring in a coloring book.
Playing with manipulative toys such as shape sorters, activity centers, lacing toys, and puzzles helps children develop fine eye-hand coordination skills. Fine motor skills involve muscles of the hands, eyes, face, and mouth, and mastering these skills completes critical pathways to development.
 Cooperative Play
Fosters cooperation and interaction with the objective of achieving common goals. The idea behind cooperative play is interaction with the objective of achieving common goals. The best way to teach children any skill is to model the right behavior, and this is best learned by giving the child many opportunities to put it into practice. Help your child fully develop their understanding of cooperation through activities, games, and toys that engage multiple participants for the highest level of interactive fun. Encourage team effort at home by sharing certain responsibilities with your children.
 Visual Play
Engages the child in visual evaluation and activities that nurture creativity. Stimulate your child's visual development by having them translate what they have learned into pictures. You'll enhance their experience and retention by encouraging them to create images.
Art and building projects are a great way for children to build their self-esteem and express their emotions and creativity. When children create masterpieces of their own, they learn that anything is possible. By nurturing children's creativity and imagination, you are setting the stage for a colorful learning experience that enhances all areas of their development.
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