Happy Cyber Monday friends. While you’re online shopping the sales today, we wanted to make sure you don’t forget about all the great handmade learning toys readily available to parents at the tap of a keystroke.
And good news! One of our favorite purveyors of just these types of toys, and also our newest sponsor, is generously offering up a discount to MPMK readers.
Use the Code: for 20% off Your Cyber Monday Purchase (12/2/13)
plus 10% off all purchase made 12/3/13 – 12/8/13
is hands down one of my favorite handmade toy shops. Not only are the toys gorgeous and eco-friendly (lots of wood and hand-dyed goodness here), they’re also incredible for open-ended play.
The shops’s owner, Jessica, has been creating for as long as she can remember – originally helping her mother with her handmade toy store over 20 years ago. With the birth of Jessica’s children, and all the new little people in her life, she found herself searching for toys that met her educational and design standards.
Inspired by her understanding of Montessori and Waldorf methodologies, she began making all of her creations with the belief that children make sense of their world through sensing their world. As a result, her handmade learning toys blend the best of developmental psychology and design to offer a unique learning through play experience.
If you’re a regular here then you know these are my kind of toys. So much so, that I just couldn’t resist asking for a few toys for my own when I first discovered Mama May i last year.
As soon as C got his hands on the stacking and nesting toys, he was drawn to their bright colors and graduated sizes. As I watched, he instinctually started sorting, stacking, and ordering. There were so many opportunities for play-based learning with this toy (counting, colors, size, etc.) – I was in heaven. And C was right there with me, building and destroying, lining up and counting for nearly an hour.
Last year we also got the chance to play with theand the, which are a collection of six 35″ squares of hand-dyed habotai silk (both are pictured in the top photo). All three of the toys have become staples in our playroom. The large size of the play silks, which you’ll find in almost all quality preschools and childcare facilities are good for so many things – capes, tents, skirts – the dramatic play possibilities are endless.
Along with these goodies, the shop also has some items that would be perfect for stocking stuffers.
First up are their . These are versions of the classic memory game you played as child made from all natural wood and available in all sorts of themes including the zoo, outer space, vegetables, transportation and more. The compact size and linen travel bag that accompanies the sets make them perfect for travel.
We also tried out the wooden , which are painted with a nontoxic wash and lightly sealed with an organic mix of beeswax and jojoba oil. Both my son and daughter have gone through phases where they loved lacing beads (C around ages 3 and 4 and S currently).
The beads are great for dexterity and building fine motor skills. Also, the selection of shapes and colors provides a chance to build vocabulary and broaden pattern recognition through play.
Surprisingly, we’ve also found that these can be invaluable while waiting at a restaurant. I actually had a women come up to us and comment on how intently our kids were playing with them while waiting for their food.
If you’d like to add a few of these non-toxic, handmade learning toys under your tree or inside your stockings this year, don’t forget:
Use the Code: for 20% off Your Cyber Monday Purchase (12/2/13)
Use the Code: for 20% off Your Cyber Monday Purchase (12/2/13)plus 10% off all purchase made 12/3/13 – 12/8/13
Happy shopping!
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