Web-based Learning Units

Learning Through Play with Table Toys

What is this unit about?

Boys playing with table toys

This unit will explore different types of table toys, what children learn from them, and what you can do to make table toy play valuable for the children in your care.

What are table toys?

Table toys refer to a varied group of toys, some that you probably already have, and others you can make or collect. There are a wide variety of table toys: small-scale building sets (also called manipulatives), puzzles, and simple games, among many others. Most child care providers collect these toys over time.

Table toys, or manipulatives, are usually one of the most popular areas in preschool settings. Table toys include puzzles, various blocks and other builders, beads and stringing activities, and collections of objects (shells, buttons, etc.). Children enjoy the mixture, variety, and usefulness of table toys. The many textures, shapes, and colors table toys offer provide a great source of fun and learning.

Girl showing puzzle

A great way to add to your collection of table toys is to ask for donations from parents whose children are now becoming too old for these toys. You can also find these toys at garage sales and thrift stores. Puzzles with all the pieces can be hard to find in this way and may be something that you need to purchase. The good news is that you can make some of these toys yourself. See the box “Make your own table toys” for ideas on making your own.

Be sure to pick toys based on safety. Keep small parts away from children under three and children who put toys in their mouths. If any of the pieces can fit inside a toilet paper tube, then the parts are too small for these children. There are some table toys with larger parts, designed for younger children, such as puzzles and large interlocking blocks.

Here are some suggested toys and materials for you to consider:

		*Building toys* Interlocking blocks Wooden building toys Linking toys
		*Miniature life sets with familiar themes* Doll house with furniture and dolls Farms with buildings, animals, and little people Airports with planes and trucks Parking lots and cars
		*Stringing and lacing* Zipping and buttoning boards Lacing cards or dolls Lacing and stringing beads Rubber bands and peg board Weaving boards Lock and key sets
		*Puzzles and self-correcting toys* Puzzles with different numbers of pieces Shape sorters Nesting boxes
		*Sensory play* Sand Water Play dough
		*Cooperative games* Dominos Lotto Matching games
		*Loose part sets* Loose parts are just things that children can use in any part of the room. Loose parts can be used for dramatic play or as table toys to sort, match, and make patterns. You can put your own sets together from recycled materials: From the kitchen: metal lids from frozen juice containers, plastic lids, plastic bread bag fastener clips From the house: buttons, keys From the outdoors: seashells and rocks

What do children learn from table toys?

Table toys can help children develop a number of new skills:

The children are using their fingers and building the muscles in their hands all while they are having fun. This is called small muscle or fine motor development, and helps the muscles children will need for writing.
These toys also improve eye-hand coordination, which means using eyes and hands together.
Table toys can build math skills in a fun way through games. Children learn math concepts like counting, matching, ordering, patterning, and sequencing. They also get practice in spatial relationships, learning to understand relative size and shapes of different things.
Children also learn social skills, such as working together and sharing, when they are playing together with table toys.
Play with these toys can increase children’s concentration and their attention span. They can learn to stick to a self-selected task even when it can at times be frustrating. This is called frustration tolerance.
Children can build self-esteem through the satisfaction of completing a task and develop a sense of control and mastery.

For all these reasons, table toys are a very important part of your child care day.

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Make your own table toys

You can make wonderful table toys using supplies you probably have around the house. You can make math games by collecting small recyclables, such as the lids from plastic milk jugs. These come in different colors. Draw different patterns on an index card, using the colors of the milk caps. Blue, Blue, Red, Red could be on one card, and then Blue, Red, Blue, Red, pictured with colored circles and the color words written in markers underneath. Ask the children to pick a card and to match the pattern.
Egg carton math game

Egg cartons and beans can make a simple math game for older preschoolers. Simply write a number on each of the egg cups in an egg carton and ask the children to count out beans and place them in that section of the egg cartons matching the number written there. Sewing cards are fun to make — just paste a picture on a small piece of cardboard, punch holes to sew through around the picture, and give children a piece of yarn with the end wrapped in tape (instead of a needle.) Be creative and think of your own table toy games.

How to use your table toys

Setting out table toys in the morning before the children arrive is an easy way to prepare for a good day. In high-quality child care programs, table toys are offered daily and rotated to give the children a chance to use a variety of toys. Make sure you use toys from each of the categories listed above on a regular basis. Rotate your toys frequently, bringing some out and putting others in storage for a while. This encourages children to explore them more.

Child playing with blocks on the floor

Table toys can be used on the floor as well as on a table. You can add more variety by offering the toy on the floor one day and then on the table on another day. Children will play differently based on the space that is available. This is a simple way to get more play value out of each toy in your collection.

Remember that table toys are for children over the age of three because so many of these toys have small parts that young children may swallow or choke on. If you have children older than three years old who still put things in their mouths, it is best to keep these toys away from them. One trick is instead of putting these toys on a table or the floor, put them into a play yard or play pen along with the older child who can play with them there. This keeps the small pieces safely away from the younger children and keeps the toys with many pieces together. This also allows the older child to play undisturbed by the younger children.

Your role in table toy play

Caregiver and children playing with sand

Conflicts are natural when preschoolers play together. Expect them to occur. You may have to help children work out sharing disputes. Teach toddlers that they need to ask for a toy and listen to the words of the other child. Toddlers are too young to resolve problems with words, but they can learn not to grab a toy, to use words to ask to play with a toy, and where to go to get a similar toy if one is available. Learning how to ask for a turn when someone is finished is a very good skill for young children to be working on.

Children who are three and older can begin to learn how to solve a dispute by talking over solutions. Let each child tell you his story and then ask both if they have any ideas about how to solve the problem. When both children agree to a plan you need to monitor it to see if the children are able to make their plan work. You may need to come back again to help them work it out. It is worth spending this time because children are learning real problem-solving techniques for getting along with others that they will be able to use for a lifetime.

If you observe the way the children are playing with table toys you can use your information to enhance what the children are learning during this time. One way to expand the learning is to get kids to talk about their play. Ask children to tell you about their creations. Start by saying, “Tell me about your building (or game).” This is called an open-ended question and can get kids to talk more than a question that just requires a yes or no answer. Another way to expand their language during this type of play is to sit nearby and describe something they have done during play. This can help children link new words to their experience.
Add materials to encourage dramatic play. Play dough time became very exciting when one caregiver added a few birthday candles. Suddenly everyone was enjoying making pretend birthday cakes. Dramatic play has great value for children’s cognitive and emotional development, so it is always important to help children find fun ways to use their imagination.
You can also expand the table toy play by gently and naturally using it as a time to teach concepts. For example, rather than teaching in a formal way the ideas of over and under and first and last, use the words when the children are driving the little cars underneath and over a bridge. (You can make a bridge from a box.) Children learn best while they are playing. If you introduce ideas naturally, you will not disturb their play and may encourage it.

Frustration can go along with this type of play. Sometimes the building won’t stay together, or another frustration comes up. Your role is to help the children cope with their feelings and stay involved in the activity. Your calming presence can help the children keep trying. You can say, “It’s really frustrating that it won’t stay together. Can you think of something else to try?” The goal is to get the children to work out the problem for themselves rather than for you to solve it for them. Remember, they learn much more from the chance to solve a problem for themselves.

Saved lego tower

It can be hard for children to work for a long time on a building set only to have to take it apart at clean-up time. If possible, let children save their work until another time. Some programs set aside a high shelf to put the work out the way until later; others have the children write a sign that says “Saved” to place on their creation. This lets children get more out of play and can reduce the difficulty of clean-up time.

Summary

Table toys have value for preschoolers, helping them develop cognitively, physically, socially, and emotionally. Your role is to make sure that you offer a variety of these toys. You can increase the play value by offering them in different ways, by sometimes putting them on the floor, and sometimes on a table. Help children work out their own problems during table toy play: This will build their ability to resolve their own problems. Encourage children to talk about their play. Sit nearby and, without disrupting the play, talk about what they are doing and stay involved. Encourage children to expand their play by letting them save their work for play at another time.

Assignments

Describe three table toys you have and what the children can gain from playing with these toys.
Offer some table toys and write about what you put out, who played with it, and what type of play they did. What can you do to increase learning and how can you expand the play?
Give children a set of loose parts. Watch their play. How did the children use the parts? What do you think the children are learning from playing with these things?
Why is it important to rotate (bringing some toys out and putting others in storage for awhile) your table toys frequently?

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