As you've seen we get lots of homeschool review through the TOS Crew review team, but most of them are geared towards older kids who are already in school. This time we got to review a fun activity through Fundanoodle. We received I Can Bead, Lace, Rip, Trace which is for ages 3 and up or preschool. Well.. . . . I have to change that a bit because my 2 year old was a bit better suited for it than my 3 year old, but more about that later.
This orange level or level 1 kit is designed for preschoolers to help develop their fine motor skills by using beads, lace cards, ripping sheets, and tracing. It also helps them get ready for writing and school activities. For me the main thing was it gave my preschoolers something that they could call "school" besides the special coloring books I had purchased for them specifically to use during school time. My kiddos favorite activity was lacing up the cards. There is a warning for choking hazard, but most of the pieces were big enough none of mine tried to put them in their mouths.
If they have some hidden artistic talents, this kit is great for bringing those out. We also worked on practicing our color names with it as well as counting. It's a great little kit with lots of potential to use it in different ways. The hand eye coordination is also worked on to help develop that. Really this little box contains everything you need to help your little one get ready for school and none of it seems like work. It's all play for the little ones while they work on these things!
This particular learning tool won the 2011 and 2012 National Parenting Center Seal of Approval! It can be purchased for $29.99. It comes in a cardboard box case that has a carrying handle so you can take it with you to work on the go or simply use it at home. We liked to take the lacing cards with us but not the rest as I was afraid we'd lose the pieces.
I have to put a personal note in here. My older brothers have Cerebral Palsy and I remember as a child having their occupational therapist out to work with them. A lot of what she did was to help them develop the muscles and skills that this box works on. Yes they were older when they worked on these, but I want to go out on a limb and say that no matter the age, if you have a child who is challenged in some of these areas please give this kit a try. I know my brothers hated doing lace up cards(a bit girly for them) but it really did help their fine motor skills and hand eye coordination.
Now back to my first paragraph. I have a 3 year old who is developmentally delayed and I have a 2 year old who is advanced. My 2 year old grasped a lot more of the concepts than the 3 year old. They were both able to string the beds onto the pipe cleaners, yarn, and shoe strings. They also were both able to punch the centers out of the cards. My 3 year old though was not able to do the lace cards at all, had difficulty tracing and could not figure out ripping. . . . at the beginning of using the box! By the end of using the box, she could at least do all of these things. Yes they were not perfect, but they were much better than when she started. My 2 year old also made great progress using the learning tools inside the box.
We give this a thumbs up and 5 stars. My girls loved it and couldn't wait for play time during school the next day. I loved that they were still learning even while I was working with their older siblings instead of directly with them.
Make sure to hop over to the Main Crew Blog Post to see what other fun items everyone got to review from Fundanoodle! They have so many great items it was really hard to choose just one to review!
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This is the number one used product in our school. We use it for lapbooks, journals, pictures, etc. We use these to make cards for birthdays, posters for our refrigerator, and as pieces to make our giant art work or mosaics. Overall we use construction paper daily. At least 8 pieces a day times 5 days a week for 36 weeks. . . . you get the idea. We use a ton of this stuff!!
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My kids love both so I normally have both on hand here. We buy these in the big gigantic packages because with 8 kids using them we tend to break or use all of them quickly. That and they always seem to disappear and then reappear in the weirdest places. . . . 
, now those are the regular scissors, but if you have someone struggling to use them we recommend these 
. They were suggested for one of mine with fine motor delay and they are a miracle working scissor! Again we buy in bulk to have scissors for everyone. If you are just starting out schooling I recommend the fine motor scissors first and then when your child is ready progress to the "normal" school scissors. They really do help your child to learn the proper way of using scissors. I believe(not positive) that they are also recommended by several curriculums.
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Okay this is where you can make a choice. I normally have markers on hand, but they are kept way up high and only used with supervision. Why you may ask?! Well because I have learned the hard way that kids LOVE markers and don't really care what they color on with their markers as long as they are coloring! This is why I also specified washable markers.
