Open ended toys:
This word is quite popular in the parenting world- mostly with parents who follow the Montessori approach. What are open ended toys? Open ended means with endless possibilities. Any simple thing can be an open ended toy – a pebble, a leaf, a spoon. Remember how we used to play with leaves in our childhood? I personally used to pretend having a grocery shop using different types of leaves as items of the store and money. So, here the leaf was open ended, I could pretend it to be anything.
Our childhood was simple with simple things used as toys, that is the concept of open ended toys as well.
To talk about the benefits, open ended toys spark imagination in a little child’s mind. If the child has a battery operated toy, it can be used in the only way it is intended to be used. Press a button, it will do a certain thing, that is all. Children cannot imagine and use it in any other way, they get bored easily with such toys, the noise and lights on the toy is a major distraction to the child and will hinder the child’s imagination and creative part.
As I said earlier, anything can be an open ended toy, it need not be only made up of wood. Give them some pebbles, sticks and see how they use it in 100 different ways 🙂
When I started using rainbow blocks or other wooden blocks for my daughter, trust me I was so blank and I had no idea how these can be played with. They are simple, nothing exciting, mostly in neutral colors and shapes, but I was surprised to see how kids enjoy these toys more and how beautiful their imagination flows with these toys.
Endowtoys:
Endowtoys was one brand which I came across, who manufacture wooden open ended toys. They are based out of Pune and I have seen some amazing replicas of the very popular Grimm’s toys in their website. Grimm’s is a pioneer when it comes to wooden toys but they are super expensive and also not easily available in India. So I was super happy to find an Indian brand which could deliver us similar toys. I wanted to check the quality and picked up a set of their pyramid blocks in medium size.
This post is in collaboration with endowtoys, but be assured my review is unbiased and honest.
Product description:
(As in their website)
Yet another versatile toy to boost children’s imagination, creativity, and building skills. Combine them with Rainbow Stackers/Semicircles/Building boards to make pretend play structures, towers or tall buildings. Use them for counting, size seriation, sorting, stacking and pattern making along with endless open-ended possibilities.
Contains 100 blocks made from pine wood of 2 cms base and increasing length up to 20 cms. Tray dimensions 20 cms * 20 cms. Blocks are dyed with non-toxic water-based dyes which make perfect them for natural play even for babies.
Price: Rs. 2450
My Review:
The blocks come in a wooden tray. The quality of the tray and the blocks is excellent, I did not find any defects quality wise. They are priced affordably and packaged well.
We have been playing with these set of blocks to form patterns, sequencing, counting, build towers, learn alphabets – numbers, colour matching, colour sorting, shade recognition.
One toy used in many ways – open ended âś…
If you have a child around 1 year and you are starting your journey with open ended toys, I would highly recommend to go for wooden blocks like these pyramid blocks over rainbow. For younger children, blocks will be more useful with learning perspective.
We have approved endow toys, would highly recommend you go check their website and check the wide variety of open ended toys available, currently they have some sale going on too.
Website:
Endowtoys:Â Check them here
Pyramid blocks:Â Buy here
Hope the post was helpful to understand what open ended toys are and hope you like the toys from Endowtoys too.
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