Preschool STEM Kits
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What helps a child to learn to think critically in a hands-on way? Why, STEM building kits of course! Here’s how preschoolers can explore, discover, and problem-solve in a low-tech, brain-boosting way.
A special thank you to Timberdoodle Co. for sponsoring this post by providing complimentary copies of these materials in exchange for our honest review.
Preschool STEM Overview
Timberdoodle’s Preschool Curriculum kit offers 3 amazing STEM building kits. Plus-Plus Big, GeoSmart Educational set, and ThinkPlay Preschool. These sets are an investment, but remember, preschoolers learn through play and manipulating objects. Our family has chosen to have less “toys” in the house, and more building sets, in order to strengthen learning skills and creativity.
Plus-Plus Big Blocks
Plus-Plus Big blocks help little ones go from 2D to 3D building in a safe and fun way. Featuring 90 non-toxic plastic pieces, this set includes building plates and wheels so the fun can be grounded or on the roll.
The Timberdoodle Preschool Handbook offers a 36 week lesson plan guide with a model pattern and a suggestion for them to create on their own without a pattern. The large models can be built in 2D on the page which helps little ones grasp the concept of following model instructions.
As they understand how to fit the pieces together, they can advance to the models in the Plus-Plus building guide for more fun models of rainbows, houses and more. The Timberdoodle Handbook also features several pages of ideas for using the blocks as dominos, and working on color and pattern skills.
There are so many uses for Plus-Plus blocks (it’s endless, really). Children can practice convergent thinking skills by following model instructions, divergent thinking skills by using their imagination for an original design, and cause and effect, like using them as dominos.
My three year old loves the bright colors and we often use them for color recognition and sorting activities as well.
I store our Plus-Plus blocks in this shoebox size plastic container which makes them easy to stack and keeps the pieces from being lost.
ThinkPlay Preschool Blocks
ThinkPlay Preschool blocks are chunky and full of primary colors and unique shapes for a comprehensive building experience. We got our first set of ThinkPlay blocks when my oldest was in Kindergarten, and they have been well loved for years. Knowing that the ThinkPlay Preschool blocks were bigger and compatible with Duplo blocks made this set an instant yes.
With 300 pieces, this set will keep little hands busy building everything from towers to animals to race cars. The kit comes with three advancing levels of guidebooks, plus even more advanced flip pages. In total, there are about 42 models with step-by-step instructions provided.
The simplest designs (such as the tower in the picture above), are made to scale so the child can simply lay the blocks down on the picture and re-create the correct order. As their skills progress, models become smaller and more detailed.
Making just 1 model a week will help preschoolers to learn to “read” instructions, work on their fine motor skills, and discover the joy in finishing a project, one piece at a time.
My three-year-old often pulls these blocks out to play with, and while he still needs my help for some of the builds, his skills are increasing and it’s neat to watch him gain confidence and creativity.
GeoSmart Educational Set
The GeoSmart magnetic shapes were an instant hit with both my kids. We have had various sets of magnetic shapes over the years but these have stood out as durable, stronger, and better at 3D shape building. I let the kids play with these as much as they want, but it’s recommended to do a model at least once a week. With wheels and many accessory pieces beyond the shapes, this set will keep my kids creating for many years to come.
Watch the full review and demo here, including a comparison to other shape magnets:
Final Thoughts
If I had to choose between a basket of “typical” preschool toys or a building set, I’d choose the building set every single time. There is so much educational and cognitive benefit to letting kids build, create and imagine. These sets will last far beyond preschool, and are great for siblings and friends to play with as well.
You can see the full Timberdoodle Preschool Kit here.
