Inside PE: Hallway Shufflepuck

I often hear parents express concerns about what toys are age appropriate for their kids.  They want to dump all that baby stuff and move to big kid toys stat, but they also don’t want to give their kids toys that are over their heads.

With my own kids, I find that they can learn from and enjoy toys on both ends of the spectrum.  Allow and encourage your kids to be creative in their play, and you’ll extend the life of your toys as well as the opportunities to grow and explore.

We continue to find new ways to play with this classic nesting/stacking toy from Fischer-Price.  It’s great for learning object permanence, colors, numbers, and fine motor skills, for ordering by size and spectral color order, for introducing even and odd numbers, and so on.

Just when I thought it was tapped out, my almost-four-year-old came up with another idea: hallway shufflepuck.  If you own this toy and are looking for a way to occupy your kids inside on a dark, dreary winter day, here’s a game of strategy, precision, and skill!  For older kids, you could even use painter’s tape to mark off a shuffleboard court and really get a sophisticated game going.

Encourage your kids in creative, open-ended play, and their out-of-the-box ideas might bring some fresh new fun to a rainy day.