Scholar's Choice

Meet the Found It! games by Skillmatics 💙

Found it! is an exciting game that helps children learn as they go on the most exciting ‘Search & Find’ with prompts like Can you find.."Something with a pattern? "Something that grows?” etc! Players must shout "FOUND IT!" as soon as they get their hands on the object! The first one to win 7 cards wins the game! 🙌🏻

These super fun games keeps kids engaged for hours and boosts their observation & logical reasoning skills as they learn; Phonological awareness, Measurements & Opposites, Numbers and Counting, Color Recognition and Mixing, Shapes & Spatial relationships, Self-Awareness & Emotions, Comparative Adjectives!

See the Found It games here: https://tinyurl.com/2j5ca4tp

Counting Leaves & Building Math Skills! 🍂

Turn your little one’s outdoor adventures into a playful math learning experience with this leaf counting activity! By collecting and placing the right number of leaves on each tree, children engage in hands-on learning that blends nature exploration with early math skills. 🌳🍁

In this fun activity, each tree is labeled with a number, encouraging children to match and count the correct amount of leaves. This not only helps with number recognition and counting but also introduces basic concepts of addition and subtraction as they add or remove leaves. Plus, it’s a wonderful way to bring nature into your math lessons, making learning more engaging and relatable. 🌿✨

Why is this activity beneficial?

🧠 Early Math Skills: Supports counting, number recognition, and one-to-one correspondence, essential foundations for early numeracy. 🌱 Fine Motor Development: Picking up small leaves and placing them carefully helps refine those small muscles in the hands. 🌞 Outdoor Play: Encourages children to explore their environment, fostering a deeper connection with nature.

Ways to extend the learning:

🌿 Ask children to sort the leaves by size or colour before placing them on the trees. 🍂 Turn it into a group activity where each child is responsible for a specific number, promoting collaboration and communication. 🌳 Discuss why leaves change colour and fall off the trees, introducing early science concepts.

This activity is perfect for home or the classroom, blending math and nature in a playful, meaningful way! Happy counting!

Tuff Tray White: https://bit.ly/3Xa2sb0
Fabric Fall Leaves: https://bit.ly/3LqPXS8
Tuff Tray Paper Insert: https://bit.ly/3GANRfJ

Love these ideas for how we can raise grateful children 🥰

Happy 85th Birthday Scholar's Choice ❤️

We want to celebrate you with our community our birthday! Save 20% off on orders over $75 with code BMSM20 or Save 25% off on orders over $150 BMSM25!

Thank you for being part of our community all these years and growing with us, we are grateful for you every single day!

Celebrate & Shop online here: https://bit.ly/3a0iR8o
Visit our stores here: https://bit.ly/2Tv61r6

Love all these reasons to brighten someone's day ☀️

☀️ You matter!
☀️ Today is your day!
☀️ How can I help you?

Teacher Melanie Korach's students have a long list of ways to brighten a classmate's day!

Sensory Lamps & Tubes 💡

These effervescent light will stimulate your child's senses, whether for your sensory space, your classroom or your home, the light tube will enhance the room in a snap-of-a-finger. It will be the sensory tool of choice to create a calm and serene atmosphere so that the relaxation and return to calm periods are most soothing. ✨

Educational: Aids in socio-emotional learning through sensory exploration
Design: Sensory and decorative tool
Sensory: Provides a fascinating and realistic visual and auditory experience

See them online here: https://bit.ly/3VMKCZZ

Engage, Explore, and Learn: Play-Based Fall Activities for Early Childhood Development Blog 🍂

We’ll explore a range of fall-inspired activities that encourage exploration, creativity, and learning through play. From outdoor adventures to hands-on crafts, these activities are designed to make the most of the season while fostering essential developmental skills.

This blog includes 3️⃣0️⃣+ fun and easy activities to keep children busy as well as features instructions for how to make the activities as well as ideas for how to extend the activity for even more learning and play ✨

Read the blog here: https://tinyurl.com/mtcwepzy

Matching Leaves 🍂

Bring a touch of nature into learning with this captivating leaf halve matching invitation! Perfect for an outdoor math play session, this activity supports young learners in exploring shapes, symmetry, and pattern recognition—all while engaging with the natural world. 🌿🍁

Invite children to collect a variety of leaves from your backyard or local park, then gently find the middle of the leaf and invite them to cut them in half and spread them all over your tuff tray and challenge them to find and match each leaf half to its missing piece. This hands-on experience not only sharpens problem-solving skills and spatial awareness but also offers a wonderful opportunity for children to connect with their environment. 🌳✨

Tuff Tray White: https://bit.ly/3Xa2sb0

Love these fun activity ideas for fall 🍂

Today is the official first day of fall 🍂

What are your favourite fall activities? Tell us in the comments below!

Download all our favourite fall activities here: https://bit.ly/3DBlHRr

Nature Playdough Small World Exploration 🍂🌿

Invite your little ones to step into nature with this open-ended nature inspired small world! Perfect for sparking imagination and developing fine motor skills, this nature-inspired tuff tray is designed to encourage creativity, sensory play, and early childhood development. Children can press, roll, and shape natural elements while exploring the wonders of the outdoor world.

Here’s how to set it up:

Use playdough as a base, adding leaves, stones, wooden discs, and nature-themed sensory items to create a rich, natural landscape. 🌳🍂

Incorporate wooden blocks, tree trunks, and nature molds to enhance the small world environment.
Let children create their own scenes with the natural materials—whether it’s rolling out logs, pressing leaves into playdough, or stacking stones.

This nature playdough small world activity not only fosters imaginative play but also strengthens fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination, all while connecting children to the beauty of nature.

Ways to extend the play:

-Explore different by pressing various natural items into the playdough. What textures do they create? 💚
-Talk about the natural world—what do you notice?
-Encourage storytelling and creativity as children build their own small worlds.

Tuff Tray White: https://bit.ly/3Xa2sb0
Large Play Stump: https://bit.ly/3MByIf6
Roll Around Nature: https://tinyurl.com/nhvhncc4
Rustic Wipe Boards: https://tinyurl.com/yck25p5d
Earth Natural Scene Set: https://bit.ly/3V4CPWI
Sensory Play Stone Birds, Butterflies, Leaves: https://tinyurl.com/56fadtkv

It truly is a gift 🦋

The Enormous Benefits of Small World Play in Early Childhood Education Blog 💚

In the realm of early childhood education, creating rich, immersive learning experiences is key to stimulating young minds and fostering comprehensive developmental growth. One of the most captivating and educationally beneficial activities that educators can offer is small world play. Utilizing miniature setups that replicate the real world, small world play engages children in complex, imaginative scenarios that build foundational skills in a playful and engaging manner. 💭

This blog post explores the importance of small world play and outlines how it can be effectively integrated into early childhood curriculums to enhance learning through play, literacy, and the use of loose parts.

Read the blog here: https://tinyurl.com/2p8m9zcs
See our small world play activity guide here: https://tinyurl.com/2avcb65x
See our small world play collection here: https://tinyurl.com/3kyy2d48

Meet the new Magna-Tiles microMags 🌈

The MAGNA-TILES® microMAGS line is the next evolution in magnetic building, but it’s also 100% compatible with every MAGNA-TILES® piece that has come before it.

These smaller pieces are great to play with on their own, and also provide added details to kids’ builds with existing MAGNA-TILES® sets. Experience the big potential to take creativity, learning, development, and imagination anywhere – with the power of a portable piece that’s 75% smaller than traditional tiles. At 70 total pieces, there’s a whole lot of play value in this microMAGS Deluxe set!

Magna-Tiles microMags: https://tinyurl.com/2y8ndeum

So true ❤

Need some fun, quick and easy activities to do with your children or in your classroom? We have you covered!

Our team has created a collection of free fall, Thanksgiving and Halloween printable activities🎃 There are activities, crafts, language and math worksheets and more! Pictured are just some of the activities available!

Click the link to get your FREE printable activities: https://bit.ly/3DBlHRr

Such a powerful reflection ❤️

So special. 🩷

Have a light panel or are interested in the light panel and need activity ideas? Look no further! 👏

Our team created a mini guide of all our favourite light panel activities. The guide includes 20+ activities for your light panel as well as features instructions for how to make the activities as well as ideas for how to extend the activity for even more learning and play ✨

See the Light Panel Activity Guide here: https://bit.ly/3QpQntE
See our Light Learning Collection here: https://bit.ly/43Q7vh7
Illuminating Creativity: Exploring 30+ Open-Ended Light Panel Activities for Kids Blog: https://tinyurl.com/v92kzuz8

Nature Counting Tray 🌿 🔢

Can you count and sort all the nature treasures? This activity is a fun invitation to explore numeracy and different opportunities to represent numbers with different loose parts and natural items!

Did you know an environment rich in loose parts naturally encourages math skill development? Children love to explore and group items as they are interested and incorporating math into an open ended activity will naturally lead them to inquiry! 💭 Through loose parts in this tray children can explore counting, number recognition, sorting, patterning grouping, beginner math equations, and more! 🔢

Ways to extend the play:
-Create patterns
-Represent numbers smallest to largest
-How many ways can you make and represent a number?

Tuff Tray: https://bit.ly/4dFTMPH
Chalk Blocks: https://tinyurl.com/4wzvytj8

The thought of mess can be tough for some of us. Mud. Soaking wet clothes. Oh boy, and GLITTER. 😳🆘😳

But hear us out on the benefits: Research shows that messy play is so, SO good for your toddler’s brain development. 🧠Yep—messy play promotes problem solving skills, sense of self, focus, fine motor skills, creativity, and even MORE good stuff.

So when it comes to art projects, jumping in puddles, or getting dirty in * appropriate* ways, try to tame your reaction. Start by making a plan for a stress-free, low clean-up messy play experience: Contain the mess to a designated space, dress your kid in an outfit that can get messy, and stick to materials you’re comfortable using. (Hate glitter? Don’t put out glitter.)

If the stress starts to creep up again, lean on one of these mantras. Repeat it as many times as you need to and don’t be afraid to say it out loud.
You can do this! 🎨💃🕺

via Little Feelings

Whose Is It Books 📖

These photo-based, early learning nonfiction books use a simple question-and-answer format to provide a fun and interactive learning experience for very young readers. Readers will learn about the characteristics of several body parts of a wide variety of animals as they observe the bold text and stunning photographs!

They are the perfect addition to any animal inquiry and outdoor learning!

Whose Is It book collection: https://tinyurl.com/mrxe9jvt

We are so excited to be adding some brand new amazing children's books to our collection! 📚

Whether you’re reading fairy tales, picture books or board books before bed, reading aloud to children can significantly benefit your child’s life. Early reading ignites creativity, sparks curiosity, and stimulates the imagination in young children. Some benefits reading to children include:
-Increased language development
-Promotes cognitive development
-Understanding of social emotional learning
-Exposes them to different languages, cultures and people
-Create a lifelong love of reading and learning

See our entire collection of Children's Books here: https://bit.ly/3AIaECO