
Since having my own family Play has been a big part of daily life in fact it was prior to that as I’ve always worked with children in one capacity or another. So I know how important play is for a child. Play helps children to use their imagination, helps develop both fine and gross motor skills, as well as problem solving skills, early language and much more. Play can happen anywhere you want and that’s what’s great about it.
So when I learnt that Schleich’s new campaign was about Educational Play I was keen to get involved. Schleich have been making figures and playsets which are played with by children around the world for over 80 years. Their figures are incredibly life-like and full of detail which makes them very appealing to children. We were kindly sent four of their figures to take a look at, a horse, a pig, a giraffe and a tiger.
I was as taken with the animals as much as the children and since they arrived last weekend every child, both my own and the ones I look after have played with them. In fact they are the first thing they have picked up every day, they have been played with both inside and in the garden, taken on the school run and even to the shops. So I think it’s safe to say that all the children love them. Usually my lot want to remove all tags from toys but for some reason Erin in particular did not want me to take the Schleich labels off the animals! I can’t explain why but to keep the peace I have left them on.
As part of the campaign to encourage children to play, Schleich have produced a 16 page booklet as a guide to the best imaginative play and development. The brochure is free to download and is full of information about play and how it helps children and also some game ideas. The brochure is really colourful and eye-catching and I enjoyed reading through it. I then tried a couple of the game suggestions, Zoo keeper and then I read some stories using the animals as props which the children really enjoyed. The Zoo keeper game was also well received and the children spent ages making enclosures for the different animals. During both activities I got on the floor with the children and asked them questions like what sound does a pig make, and what is this animal etc, a couple of the children I look after have speech problems so this was a particularly useful game for them. I have downloaded the brochure as it is always handy to have somewhere to refer to when you want some ideas and I’ll certainly be using it for play ideas again. There is also a great competition on the back of the brochure which is well worth entering.
If you would like more information about Schleich and their products which start at £2.99, you can visit www.schleich-s.co.uk
Disclosure – We were sent the animals from Schleich for the purpose of this post however the content is 100% my own.