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Preschool Learning
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Call and Chat Learning Phone
2-5
YEARS

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Call and Chat Learning Phone

Developmental Benefits

Creative Play
Creative Play
Letters Names Phonics
Letters Names Phonics
Imaginitive Play
Imaginitive Play
Motor Skills
Motor Skills
Role Play
Role Play

Developmental Benefits

Call and Chat Learning Phone

Creative Play
  • Use imagination in a variety of ways and contexts to communicate ideas
  • When children engage in creative play they are showing that they have the ability to produce something new and original. Children benefit from opportunities where they are free to use their imagination and explore. In order for creative play to occur children need to be in an environment that is rich in stimulation. Curiousity will drive children to take part in creative play.
    Creative play is different from other forms of play; it enables children to develop confidence in their own abilities as they begin to think and work independently. Games and activities that provide choices and also a number of alternative solutions encourage a certain amount of risk-taking. Games with alternative answers can lead children to think creatively and differently. Children need encouragement to play and think creatively. Opportunities to engage in creative play boost children’s confidence and enable them to come up with better ideas. Children benefit from the knowledge they gain through creative play.
Letters Names Phonics
  • Teaches letters and their sounds, the building blocks of reading.
  • Phonology is the term used to describe the rules governing the structure and order of speech sounds. The journey towards reading proficiency starts in the pre-school years. Once children understand that there is a correspondence between the marks on a printed/electronic page and spoken language they are able to begin to read. They can then translate the units of print ‘graphemes’ to units of sound ‘phonemes’. Phonological awareness is the ability to detect and use phonemes in words. This skill is crucial for children when learning to make sense of text; they need to be able to relate the sound structure of spoken language to symbols on a page.
    The national curriculum states that children should be taught phonemic awareness and phonic knowledge to decode and encode words. These types of skills can be encouraged in young children by giving them opportunities to notice changes in sounds within words and listen to lots of nursery rhymes. Young children enjoy interacting with toys that give them the opportunity to play with letters and words. The words and letters are often repeated by the child. Young children like to hear letter rhymes and songs repeated over and over again. This is all part of their learning experience and is preparing the young child to become proficient at sounding out words.
Imaginitive Play
  • Imagination and exploration through interaction with characters.
  • Children’s imagination is active from an early age. Imaginative play has links to what psychologists call ‘social pretend play’. Young children pretend or imagine that, for instance a wooden block is a cake and they carefully ‘cut’ it. A large proportion of pretend play tends to be social. Imaginative play begins when infants play and pretend with adults. As young children develop they begin to try to engage other children in social pretend play. Young children in nursery benefit from engaging in imaginative play. It helps them to begin to understand that other children think differently to them and have different ideas.
    Children can engage in imaginative play with other children where they have agreed on a story or scenario that they want to act out. Young children playing with toys use their imagination to invent scenarios and play out the consequences. They can use characters to explore scenarios and act out scripts such as going shopping or bedtime. Imaginative and social pretend play is beneficial for children as it allows them to explore different ways of viewing the world. Children who use their imagination when playing with other children are increasing their social competence and their understanding of other people. In a study where we observed children playing in a nursery we found that young children engaged in imaginative play, often using the toys in unexpected ways. Children’s imagination benefits from the opportunity to play with all types of toys.
Motor Skills
  • Encourages fine motor skill development.
  • An infant’s growth and development in the first year of life is rapid. Many movements that young babies make are in preparation for the next stage of their development. When young babies watch a mobile they are constantly moving their head, arms, legs and even their mouths in response to the movement of the toy. Sound and movement attract a baby’s attention; if a toy is placed almost within reach of babies their movements become more animated. Bath toys provide opportunities to develop and use motor skills to great effect. For example, a young baby has greater control over their leg movements than their arms. You will often see young babies in a bath reaching with their legs towards a floating toy and kicking. All these movements strengthen muscles in readiness for the next stage - walking.
    As babies develop they become more adept at grasping objects. Young infants learn to grasp an object, for instance a cube. The grasping, at first, is quite clumsy but through repetition, and across time, infants become adept at grasping and develop fine motor skills. Infants first use the ulnar grasp where their fingers close against the palm when trying to hold an object. Within another month they are able to move the object from hand to hand. After the first year, infants adopt the ‘pincer grasp’ where they use their thumb and index finger to grasp even very tiny objects. Shape sorters help infants to fine tune their visual perception and hand coordination. Soon infants are building towers with two cubes; this also requires fine coordination skills. As the child grows computer games have been shown to help with hand and eye coordination. Spatial skills can also be enhanced when playing games that require concentration, quick responses and finely tuned motor skills.
Role Play
  • Develops imagination and encourages cooperation, listening and turn-taking.
  • Role play is a form of social pretend play. Children benefit from social pretend play because it can help them to revisit events that may have provoked some anxiety in the past. For instance, after a visit to the doctors children often play at being doctors and nurses. Role play not only reflects but also contributes to children’s cognitive and social skills. Playing out an experience enables children to understand more about it.
    Research has shown that during social pretend play, young children’s interactions last longer, are more engaging and also more cooperative. Nursery school children who spend more time in socio-dramatic role playing are also perceived as more socially competent by their teachers. Role play enhances many cognitive abilities such as sustained attention, memory, language and literacy skills, and helps children to understand and manage their emotions. Role play is generally a social activity but some children can engage in solitary role play where they create imaginary companions. Games where children can create worlds and populate them with their own characters can be beneficial.
Best for ages:
2 to 5 Years
Highlights
A modern smart phone with microphone and 10 learning apps that encourages educational and role play.
Description
Learning’s on the line with the Call & Chat Learning Phone™ by VTech®. Play and talk just like mom and dad on your very first smart phone. Make a real phone book by entering up to 5 phone numbers. Learn with 10 games and apps that feature letters, numbers, time concepts and more. Personalize your toy phone and choose from 5 ringtones. Plus, with voice activation your little one can chat with a friendly bird or pretend to call friends and family. Get talking and learning with the VTech Call & Chat Learning Phone™.

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