Stages Blocks Timberdoodle Review

 

Homeschooling littles with older ones in the home? Timberdoodle's Stages Blocks are a quick fix to get those wiggles out while working on diagramming sentences with your teen. Just kidding, we don't diagram sentences, but you get the picture! 

Finding educational "busy work" is imperative while homeschooling multiple children that span across several ages. We want to keep our little ones busy and entertained while homeschooling the others, but we want to know that their minds are being sharpened in the meantime. Stages blocks are a two-fold learning tool, perfect for homeschooling families. First, it does lend for the opportunity for parent-child instruction. There are plenty of ways for this product to be used as a teaching tool where the parent takes the lead, but second, there is absolutely room for free play and creativity. 

This product contains forty blocks and one hundred and twenty cards. Regardless of the age of your child, they will become proficient in counting to forty once you purchase this toy! Well, if you require them to count and make sure all of the pieces are there when clean-up time arrives. I will tell you right now that the purple ones are the blocks that roll under the furniture every. single. time. But as long as you are aware of this, you, your child, and older siblings can be on the lookout for rolling purple blocks whenever you bust out this box! When you are aware and alert then they are less likely to be lost. When I first got these blocks I allowed my preschooler to play with them on the floor but it is now a "table time" toy which has helped tremendously with clean-up. In our house, the pieces are less likely to be lost in the dining room than in the living room but your home may be different! You know your home best and where toys with many pieces can most effectively be played. The reason I point out the fact that you need to keep track of the pieces is because of the one hundred and twenty cards (and app for Mac users) have dozens of creative ideas. You will want to make sure all pieces are available in order to create each of these designs. As long as you are aware of this going in, you are good to go!

Now the fun can begin! The cards start with simple structures, are numbered, and move on towards more difficult ideas. I love how it doesn't just throw a bunch of cards in your child's face saying, "try one!" since this could set them up for frustration and failure if they don't know where to begin or they start with a hard one.

 

Starting simple and working their way up, builds confidence. My preschooler was just as excited when he completed card one as he was when he did a more difficult one later on. These cards are incredible. They have a place on the back to write the progress your child has made with each structure. You may write the date when your child attempted the structure and when they mastered it. This is perfect for young children and those with special needs, to help not only the parent or caregiver stay on track with a child's progress but it presents tasks in small, bite-sized pieces. This allows for mastery and building of self-esteem regardless of how long it takes them to complete a specific project. 

I have had this product for several months and there is still plenty of playtime left in these. We have yet to go through all of the cards and for those of you with a Mac there is an app you may download for additional practice. I highly recommend this for children ages six and under or older if your child has developmental delays. Six might seem old but I used this with a four-year-old and a six-year-old and the six-year-old found just as much value in this as my four-year-old. Consider purchasing your own Stages Blocks set today!

Disclaimer: I received this product for a discounted rate for the purpose of this review. All thoughts and opinions are my own