muji and lego

this is something cool from two cool brands, muji and lego!!! i never thought that you could add a layer of paper to lego bricks in this manner. idea for my toy?

http://www.muji.net/store/pc/user/campaign/campaign091113_01.jsp

Constructive play is another type of play in which children love to build and create. Not only do children play with blocks and build structures, but they develop fine motor skills and self-esteem through artwork.

http://www.toyassociation.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=TINFO_Stages_of_Play1&Template=/TaggedPage/TaggedPageDisplay.cfm&TPLID=112&ContentID=1880

self esteem can be doubly developed when that piece you build produces the sound that you want?

Creative Play is what children do when they are just being children, and there are plenty of things you can do to encourage creative play in your home. Whether it is drawing, painting, cutting, pasting, modelling or making, all children love being creative if they are given the chance, and the act of being creative brings with it so many benefits.

http://www.kiwifamilies.co.nz/Topics/Toys/Benefits+of+Creative+Play.html

making sounds too. making sounds is often neglected as a form of creative play.

Four year old's can do the dishes and fold clothes as well us!

I let my 4 year old daughter stand on a chair and ''wash'' the plastic dishes and silverware. She really feels as if she is doing something impotant for me by helping and thinks it's fun. She also helps me fold towels and washcloths. For strength in her hands, I usually find a play-dough activity to help build muscle in her hands.(Lego's are great, too!) Good technique! They really feel important doing these ''job's'' and it improves their motor skills. My son is 10 and he absolutley loves lego's and has started a collection. He can build just about anything he imagines (cars, spacesip, star wars men, ect.). I believe ''hands-on'' jobs and things like like lego's help strenghten your mind and body by use of movement, thinking strategies and creativity.It beats video games!No offense to playing video games but finding hands-on projects minimizes so much time with the t.v.Thanks for the chance to win! My kids would love more legos!

http://www.blogher.com/duplo-spon-disc

Children are born designers

Designing and Redesigning LEGO Games

All LEGO Games are designed to be designed. The board is built out of LEGO pieces that can be assembled and reassembled into countless configurations. Each face of the LEGO dice can be changed, its functions endlessly redefined. Even the rules are written so that they are not only clear, but easy to change.

Designing a new variation is as much a part of the LEGO Game experience as playing it. Children are designers

Children are born designers. They design dances and music, they paint with food and build with cups, they play whenever, when they are by themselves or with us, sometimes even despite us.

They don’t have to be taught how to design a game. They can create a game out of anything.
But, like all things children do anyway, given the companionship of an adult, the permission and the tools, children will learn how to make even better games, even more beautiful art.

So this is written for adults, specifically for parents. Your children won’t need your help. But they might want it. And when they do, this article will help you understand a little more clearly what they are about, share the adventure of making something fun, and make your wisdom and love a little more available to them.

Think of it as playing together, you and your child. Not only playing a game, but playing with the game, to see what you can make of it together.

Why games?
Given dance, art, music, and all the other amazing gifts of childhood, for adults, children’s ability to design games is probably one of the least appreciated. It’s one of those things that kids do that amuse us, but, more importantly, amuse them. When we see our ha busily engaged in making up their own games, we generally let well-enough alone. They’re happy. They’re occupied. And as long as they are, we can get on with all the other significant adult activities we have become heir to.

Art, music, dance, these we recognize as “important” activities, valuable, directly impacting our children’s growth. Games, not so much.

On the other hand, the skills that our children learn to master in the process of making-up games are as basic to their development as reasoning, as the scientific method, as discovering how to make and keep friends, as learning about system dynamics and systematic thinking, as understanding rules, fairness, reciprocity, as the practice of kindness and empathy.

http://games.lego.com/en-gb/parents/parentsguide/default.aspx?id=Designing%20Redesigning%20part%201

Some research

Development skills
http://www.literacytrust.org.uk/talktoyourbaby/play.html#playingitup
Child development falls into the two main categories of physical and neurological. Physical skills involve both gross motor skills such as rolling over, crawling and walking, and fine motor skills such as hand-eye coordination, grasping objects, drawing and later writing. Sensory development is also physical and includes sight, sound, touch, smell and taste. Intellectual and cognitive development centre on activity in the brain including use of language, smiling and giggling, imagination and working out. Our children's emotional wellbeing also develops in the brain and comprises many areas such as self awareness, self esteem and the ability to interact with others. Playing in some form or another helps to refine these different areas of development in babies and young children.

toys are simply the best
http://www.literacytrust.org.uk/talktoyourbaby/play.html#simply
Traditional building blocks and Play-Doh are far better for children's learning than high-tech educational toys and videos, experts have revealed. Psychologists are warning that many expensive games might actually restrict children's progress by stifling their creativity and hindering their social skills. American child development expert Professor Kathy Hirsh-Pasek believes youngsters spend too long in front of television and computer screens when they could be playing with basic toys. In a new book titled Einstein Never Used Flash Cards, she claims that so-called 'smart' toys fail to teach children to play imaginatively.