Skills Guide

Learn more about the skills our toys are designed to develop!

Cognitive

Speech & Language

Creativity & Imagination

Fine & Gross Motor

STEM

Cognitive

Speech & Language

Social & Emotional

Creativity & Imagination

Fine & Gross Motor

STEM

Creativity & Imagination

Get your kiddo’s creative gears turning with our imaginative play toys! These creative toys can nurture your toddler’s curiosity, exploration, and creative thinking through play.

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Painters, musicians, dancers—these are often the people that come to mind when thinking of creativity and imagination. BUT! Anyone can be creative and imaginative, and it’s important to nurture it in all kiddos. They’ll use this skill set in everyday life, for example, when coming up with solutions for interpersonal conflicts. By drawing on mental images based on our experiences, kids can create new, original ideas that benefit their personal and future professional lives [3]!

The Creative Process

Let’s learn more about how we form creative ideas:

Step 1:
Acquiring Information

We don’t pull ideas out of thin air—they are based on our past experiences and the information we get from them through our senses! Because children haven’t had too many life experiences, their creations will often be copies of things they’ve seen. In order to create original ideas later on, it’s important to explore these pre-existing ideas.

Children can draw from experiences they’ve had themselves, or from second-hand experiences (for example, told by someone else, seen on television, or read in a book) [1,2]. The richer a child’s experiences are, the richer their imagination and creativity will be!

Step 2:
Creating New Ideas

After acquiring information through their senses, kids need to break down this information into elements, then rearrange them into new ideas [1]. For example, if they learned to build a car and then a house with our Locbloc Counting Blocks, they could combine this knowledge to make a house on wheels later on! Our imagination is at work when our brains combine and reorganize these elements [1].

Creative thinking helps us come up with innovative solutions to problems and make unique creations!

Curiosity

Children are curious by nature—nurture this curiosity by asking them questions (for example, if they’re curious about an animal, ask them what they think it eats, where it sleeps, etc.) ! A child’s environment and experiences play a large role in their curiosity’s growth [2].

Exploration

Surround your child with diverse and engaging objects, such as our toys, stationery, pebbles, and twigs, so they can explore their functions [2]!

Play

During playtime, children explore the information acquired from their experiences [2]! It’s where imagination shows itself—so encourage your kids to play, play, play!

Creating

The information and skills children acquire, which depends on the support from their family and surroundings, allow them to create new and original ideas. Just don’t forget to remind your child that mistakes are ok! In fact, they are critical to the creative process: by making mistakes, children can identify issues and fix them the next time around [2].

In Conclusion…

All kiddos can be creative and imaginative in a supportive environment. Creativity and imagination can emerge in different ways, from solving math problems to writing a song — nurture these skills in your child and see where it takes them!

Our Collection of Imagination & Creativity Toys

ABC Railway

Alphabet Learning Train Set

Alphabet Fishing

Magnetic Alphabet Fishing Game

Bright Explorer

Educational Light Box Playset

Dive & Discover

Ocean Learning Color Changing Book Set
Hot

EggXpress Yourself!

Match & Learn Eggs

I Am Responsible!

Magnetic Responsibility Chart

I Can Plan!

Magnetic Calendar

Knock-Knock Who’s Inside?

Lock & Latch Board

Lace-Up & Learn Animals

Fine Motor Wooden Lacing Toy

Learning Ladybug

Ladybug Counting Toy
Hot

Locbloc Counting Blocks

Educational Building Block Set

Mini Barista

Wooden Barista Playset

    References:

    [1] Farmer, T. A., & Matlin, M. W. (2019). Cognition. John Wiley & Sons.
    [2] Bayne, T., Brainard, D., Byrne, R. W., Chittka, L., Clayton, N., Heyes, C., Mather, J., Ölveczky, B., Shadlen, M., Suddendorf, T. and Webb, B. (2019). What is cognition?. Current Biology, 29(13), R608-R615.

    References:

    [1] Farmer, T. A., & Matlin, M. W. (2019). Cognition. John Wiley & Sons.
    [2] Bayne, T., Brainard, D., Byrne, R. W., Chittka, L., Clayton, N., Heyes, C., Mather, J., Ölveczky, B., Shadlen, M., Suddendorf, T. and Webb, B. (2019). What is cognition?. Current Biology, 29(13), R608-R615.