2013 Timpani Toy Study

Timpani: Toys that Inspire Mindful Play and Nurture Imagination

Each year, The Center for Early Childhood Education conducts research to look at how children interact with toys in their play. The annual empirical study looks at how young children in natural settings play with a variety of toys and identifies toys that best engage children in intellectual, creative, and social interactions in preschool classrooms.

Magna-Tiles by Valtech were chosen as a Timpani Toy for 2013 along with the toy My First Railway by Brio!! 

The results of this study were announced on December 4, 2013 by Eastern’s Center for Early Childhood Education. From the Press Release:

“Today’s announcement of the highest-scoring toys in the fifth annual TIMPANI Toy Study demonstrates the depth of empirical research that is occurring at our Center for Early Childhood Education,” said Eastern President Elsa Núñex.  “At the same time that Eastern faculty and students are identifying and testing toys that promote the intellectual, social, and creative deployment of children, we are also helping out students prepare for careers as professional early childhod educators.”

“It’s not surprising that Magna-Tiles did well,” said Professor Jeffrey Trawick-Smith, the Phyllis Waite Endowed Chair of Early Childhood Education at Eastern and the study’s principal researcher. “They have been nominated every single year that we’ve conducted this study – teachers and parents recognize their value… they tend to inspire a lot of problem-solving as children figure out how to construct different objects, but we also see a fair amount of pretend play and social interaction.”

Dan’s Daily Destination: Kazoo and Toys!

Dan Daru from Fox 31 visited our friends in Denver, CO at Kazoo and Toys!

Store owner Diana tells us that Magna-Tiles allow children to use their creativity for architecture or engineering in open-ended play. 

Magna-Tect Addie built a house! Dan Daru says that with your imagination, it could be a house, garage, a dog, it can be whatever you want!

Advice from Dan Daru in DENVER — It’s a challenge every parent of young children faces at the holidays. How to find fun toys their kids will like that will engage and teach the children something at the same time. Dan Daru has some tips for you to accomplish all of those goals in his video reports (click the image below to watch the video clip):

Visit your local toy store to play and LEARN! Toy stores are a wonderful part of the community! What do you love about walking through a toy store? They have knowledgeable, expert staff and are full of fun games and toys! Parents, grandparents and children of ages!

Check out the flying helicoptor! Do you think it will land near Addie’s Magna-Tiles creation?

Magna-Tiles on Project Runway All Stars: Unconventional Challenge

Designer Christopher Palu created a cool (symmetrical) neckline and clutch with Magna-Tiles in his winning fashion on the Lifetime television series “Project Runway All Stars”!

The Unconventional Challenge was to use materials found in an elementary school classroom. Christopher found Magna-Tiles! The design process begins with a sketch! It seems as though he was looking for something colorful to add to his black piece… Magna-Tiles Clear Colors!

Magna-Tiles on the runway! The clutch is the Shape of a Triangular Prism! 

The neckline has a Symmetrical Pattern!

Lincoln Park Cooperative Nursery School

Making It Work: A Sustainable Designer’s Quest

“This painting by Shannon Finley reminds me of Magna-Tiles” We love shapes and this beautiful artwork!

 

Play: An Important Tool for Cognitive Development

Magna-Tiles were used to assess the play of Gabrielle, a three year old.

Learn how and why Magna-Tiles play contributes to your child’s cognitive development by developing key functions:

• Working Memory and Recall
• Activation, Arousal, and Effort
• Controlling Emotions
• Internalizing Language
• Taking an Issue Apart, Analyzing the Pieces, Reconstituing and Organizing it

Read the feature article, “Play: An Important Tool for Cognitive Development” in HighScope Extension’s Curriculum Newsletter! Click this link to read the PDF:

http://membership.highscope.org/app/issues/142.pdf

The Little Couple

Did you see Magna-Tiles on the television series “The Little Couple”?!

Bill made a pretty cool structure with the light shining in from the windows! Jen says that he is getting better at building!

Teach Preschool: Top Ten Toys for the Preschool Classroom

Teach Preschool listed Magna-Tiles in their top toys for preschool!

Click the image to read the full blog post!

Magna-Tiles For Our Class!

Congratulations! Ms. Slattery succeeded in her Technology Project via Donorschoose.org to purchase two sets of Magna-Tiles for her classroom in Chicago, IL!

The Project: I have experienced the benefits of having Magna-Tiles in the classroom directly in the other schools where I have taught. I believe that there is a need for an abundance of materials for children to explore at a deeper contextual level to allow for the development of higher order questioning and intrigue. Magna-Tiles are a material that works better when students have an abundance of them. When the children are building with the Magna-Tiles, the more they have, the more elaborate their structures will become. My children have fewer than 20 Magna-Tiles right now and this leads to a disinterest in the material because there are not enough tiles to build a proper creation or structure.

My students need 2 class sets of Magna-Tiles to build different structures for improving spatial understanding and developing relationships.

The children need these Magna Tiles to develop their spacial understanding and the recognition of shapes and colors. Magna-Tiles create a work environment conducive to the development of positive social and emotional behaviors and allow for the creation of stable relationships and a safe community in the classroom.