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These are wooden blocks with magnets embedded inside them. We have two classroom sets that have been combined. You can borrow all or some. Kids can build with them on the ground/table or explore with them on a vertical magnetic surface. ALL AGES

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Discover the creative joy of magnetic wooden building blocks from Tegu. The familiar warmth of wooden toys and the magic of magnets make Tegu blocks the first kids wooden toys in history that defy gravity and inspire new creations as you play!

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Boggle (two sets), Alphabet Scoop, Bananagrams (multiple sets) JUMBO Bananagrams - great for the littlest ones.

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As a mom of seven-year-old twins some of the best ideas for new toys come from my kids' teachers. The games that they play in their classrooms are often ones that they will also want to play at home. The best thing about these classroom toys is that the kids have so much fun playing them, they don't even realize they are educational.

Toys and games that teach kids the skills they need to succeed in school are my favorites. For example, my son came home and told me that they had played a new game called Headbanz in school that day - where players give the wearer of the headband with a word card on it clues in order to guess the word! We got him the game for his birthday and it now has a place among the many other games and toys that have taught both of them valuable skills such as reading, counting, matching, strategizing and so much more.

Here are some of the other school games that will not only provide some educational value but are fun and easy to play at home or in the classroom.

Preschool is Cool

Fun educational games for age 3+

My First BANANAGRAMS - this little kid version of the addictively fun anagram game will encourage your child to match letters, put letters in alphabetical order, and begin to spell simple words. Teachers will love you for having it for the spelling practice alone!

Boggle Jr. - with oversized dice that show letters, kids will have fun matching the letters to the word cards and beginning to spell and sound out vowels. This game is one of the best ways to encourage literacy!

Hoot Owl Hoot - this cooperative game will encourage turn-taking and conversations about nocturnal animals (the object is to get the owls to the nest before sundown!). The concept of working together vs their being one "winner" encourages team-building skills in the smallest players.

I Never Forget a Face - we've all played the classic memory game, but in this matching game kids will gain exposure to faces from different cultures around the world. In addition to helping with cognitive skills, this fun educational game will encourage multiculturalism and acceptance!

Elementary Education

Engaging learning games for ages 4-7

Zingo - it's everybody's favorite game of bingo - with a zing! My kids loved using the tile slider and gained skills in word recognition and expanded their vocabularies (even if one of them may have been spooked by the "ghost" tile lol). Definitely teacher-approved!

Uno - amazingly I had never played this as a kid but now that my whole family is into it it's easy to see why this fun game that helps with color and number matching and strategizing is popular in and out of classrooms across the country. I'm pretty sure my kids don't even realize how much they're learning when we play!

The Allowance Game - teachers who are interested in a hands-on approach to money know that this game hits all the big life skills to use outside the classroom including adding, subtracting, making change and considering those big purchases.

Bigger Kids Choice

Educational games to play at home with older elementary - ages 7+

Battleship - this classic game of strategy can help students and teachers with critical thinking skills as you try to guess the coordinates to sink an opponent's ships. Education has never been this challenging - or fun!

Taboo - getting your team mates to say the key word while some words are off-limits (aka taboo) can be a lot of laughs. This game not only helps expand players' vocabularies, it encourages creative thinking and literacy.

Remember, the ages listed on the games are just suggestions so don't be afraid to try games that are for kids a little older (or keep ones around that are for the young ones that you still enjoy!).

Let us know - what are your favorite games that kids love at home and in the classroom?

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Fun, educational games to play at home or in the classroom | Bananagrams

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As a mom of seven-year-old twins some of the best ideas for new toys come from my kids' teachers. The games that they play in their classrooms are often ones that they will also want to play at home.

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Dash (x2) and Dot are cute robots that make it fun and easy for kids to learn coding but can also be used to teach or reinforce almost any content. We have a "puzzlets" tray for using them with pre-readers and NO screen. Others can use an ipad or chromebook for programming.  I would love to work with you on using these to engage students in learning math and literacy skills. https://www.makewonder.com/classroom/curriculum/

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Time-lapse, slow-mo and more. Ask your kids what you could do with a GoPro camera. We have the Hero4 model. Make sure to let me know ahead of time, so it can get charged up.

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Technology in education continues to astound teachers in classrooms across the nation. With new gadgets such as 3D printers and Chromebooks, educators can bring a whole new level of teaching into their schools.

For Charles Moseley, technology and TV production teacher at Switzerland Point Middle School in Fruit Cove, FL., the GoPro is his classroom's special gadget. In 2013, Moseley pulled out the GoPro he purchased in 2007 to use in his eighth grade technology and TV production classes and found great results, according to his article on eschoolnews.com.

"The first thing I did was dust off my old GoPro, purchase a remote control car, and a bag of adhesive mounts," Moseley wrote. "The TV production students started using the remote control car and my old GoPro to drive around school and film different events. I am not sure what was more exciting for the students, to see themselves on the morning announcements or to have them jump in front of a remote control car running down the hallway during class change."

Moseley said that the setup worked for a while, "but as with any type of older technology, there were limits."

I had to find a way to get a new GoPro that had Wi-Fi capabilities, so the entire production would be simplified. Significant time was spent looking for ways to upgrade our equipment and I had my eyes set on a GoPro Hero 3 Black+ camera. After meeting a sales rep for GoPro at FETC 2014 and entering an education contest, I won a GoPro Hero 3 Black+ with accessories for my classroom. In a matter of days the GoPro started to reshape my technology classroom in many positive ways.

Moseley said that he started with the basics with the GoPro: pictures.

"What middle school student doesn't like to see their picture posted on the morning news show or on the school's website?" he wrote. "Simply taking pictures of students in class working on group projects and posting them on our class Edmodo pages started to create interest and excitement. Students would use the camera during class to take pictures for projects and presentations, not only for my technology class, but also for their academic classes."

Moseley wrote that training students to use the GoPro was easy, and they were soon eager to get to work.

"This was a win-win situation for both students and teachers," Moseley wrote. "Students were having their work featured on the morning news show and seen by 1,260 peers, this improved self-esteem along with the quality of student work. Teachers were having incredible projects turned in for their classes, as well as student created content they could use for both review and for flipping their classrooms."

Read the full story and comment below.

Article by Kassondra Granata, Education World Contributor

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Teacher: How a GoPro Got My Students Excited to Learn Education World

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Technology in education continues to astound teachers in classrooms across the nation. With new gadgets such as 3D printers and Chromebooks, educators can bring a whole new level of teaching into their schools. For Charles Moseley, technology and TV production teacher at Switzerland Point Middle School in Fruit Cove, FL., the GoPro is his classroom's special gadget.

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Words games, numbers games (addition-multiplication, coding, tangrams, creative drawing) We have one that could be used as a station/center (includes ipad and manipulatives).

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More than 30,000 classrooms use Osmo to change the way kids collaborate, create, think critically, and communicate. Find out how you can start using Osmo in the classroom.

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We have a set of medium sized blocks. They are lightweight and durable. Kids create all sorts of things with them, and beg to use them.

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They're half the size of our Big Blue Blocks, but there's nothing small about them. Their architectural-scale play lets kids dream bigger-even in smaller spaces.

The Medium Blue Blocks are perfectly sized for smaller indoor or outdoor spaces such as classrooms, private homes, or day care centers.Our Medium Blue Blocks sets have been carefully assembled to provide 100% of the child developmental benefits and play value of Imagination Playground!

These modular, rectilinear parts are easy to stack, line up and move around. Children enjoy an endless variety of play patterns including construction, pretend play, role-playing and inventing their own games. Most importantly, they are deeply engaged, active and have hours of fun.

Imagination Playground is made out of waterproof foam, the blocks are resistant to mold, mildew, corrosion, and microorganisms. Introducing breakthrough technologies, these highly durable parts can be recycled if desired; please contact Imagination Playground for more details.

ages: 2 and up

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Imagination Playground - Playgrounds for Schools, Museums & Parks - medium blue blocks

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They're half the size of our Big Blue Blocks, but there's nothing small about them. Their architectural-scale play lets kids dream bigger-even in smaller spaces. The Medium Blue Blocks are perfectly sized for smaller indoor or outdoor spaces such as classrooms, private homes, or day care centers.Our Medium Blue Blocks sets have been carefully assembled to provide 100% of the child developmental benefits and play value of Imagination Playground!

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I have three different sizes of magnetic poetry/words including a jumbo set that are 2 inches high. Use for poetry or learning sight words, grammar, parts of speech. Primary-8

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Learn All Year Long
Download the flyer (PDF)
ReadWriteThink has a variety of resources for out-of-school use. Visit our Parent & Afterschool Resources section to learn more.

Home › Parent & Afterschool Resources › Activities & Projects

Activity

Activity Description Why This Is Helpful

Grades

5 - 10

Activity Time

60 to 90 minutes (can be done on different days)

Publisher

Activity Description
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Believe it or not, grammar can be fun! This activity has children and teens practice using different parts of speech to play a fill-in-the-blank-story game. They then make their own list of nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, exclamations, and conjunctions that they turn into a personal magnetic poetry set.

Why This Is Helpful
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Understanding the different parts of speech is important to reading and writing well. But it can be a challenge to make grammar fun and interesting. Activities like this encourage children to play with language while making sure that they know the difference between a noun and a verb or an adjective and an adverb.

This activity was modified from the ReadWriteThink lesson plan " The Magnetism of Language: Parts of Speech, Poetry, and Word Play."

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Make a Magnetic Poetry Set - ReadWriteThink

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Download the flyer (PDF) ReadWriteThink has a variety of resources for out-of-school use. Visit our Parent & Afterschool Resources section to learn more. Home › Parent & Afterschool Resources › Activities & Projects Activity Description Why This Is Helpful Grades 5 - 10 Activity Time 60 to 90 minutes (can be done on different days) Publisher back to top Believe it or not, grammar can be fun!

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One canister of classic tinkertoys - made of WOOD! K-?

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Get kids engaged - it's like an escape room in a box. They need to discover and solve clues to unlock the box in a certain amount of time. Teamwork is essential and there are breakouts for ALL subjects. Link is about using them to support social-emotional learning. K-8
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5501c7b2e4b00bf48b5640ca/t/5d5bd4d5a3c370000110ff17/1566299351578/SEL4Cs.pdf

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Keva, Kapla, Citiblocs: different brands of the same simple precision cut planks that are all exactly the same size. (I got a 200-piece set for free at the dump!) I know some classrooms have their own sets of these, but if you don't borrow the ones in the library. ALL AGES

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There are a million ways to use legos academically and for enrichment; check out the link below for many ideas on ELA or Math. You can borrow a small collection for a specific purpose or a large bin (or two!). If you tell me what you want to do I'll even make a custom collection for you! ALL AGES

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When I'm not busy working on our teaching websites, I can usually be found playing Lego with our children! It's an incredibly creative toy, but it can also be used to support work in a number of different curriculum areas. Here is our HUGE list of ways to use Lego in the classroom. Many of these ideas have been contributed by our wonderful Facebook community. If you have any other suggestions, please add a comment at the bottom of the page.

Don't forget that many of these activities could use Duplo too!

Teaching Ideas and Resources:

English

​Letter-building - Create letters of the alphabet (or words) using Lego bricks!

Word-building - Lisa Weber says 'I put a letter on each Lego brick and then have the child put a word together. Helps with language and fine motor skills'. You could also put words on longer Lego bricks and individual letters on 1x1 pieces and ask children to build the words using those letters (suggested by Pienky Du Toit).

Word recognition - Write sight words on them and the more words they know, the higher their tower grows! Suggested by Tricia Armstrong.

Story starters - Create a scene using some minifigures and use this as a writing prompt. The teacher could make a scene for the children... or they could create scenes for each other!

​

Characters... Write a character profile about a particular minifigure. Could you give your character a twist of some kind? For example, a witch who is afraid of cats...

Character creation - Create your own Lego minifigure and think of a suitable setting. This could then be used as the starting point for a range of writing activities. Suggested by Clare Hopley.

Random characters - Hannah Victoria Smith puts 'different characters into a bag then each child picks one without looking and has to write a fantasy story about that character. Can use Lego to create the setting as well instead of a storyboard.'

Counting syllables - Give the children a selection of words and ask them to count the number of syllables in each word. If a word has three syllables, they should stick three bricks together to represent it. If a word has four syllables, they should stick four bricks together (etc).

Storyboards - Retell a story by creating 'storyboard' images to represent different scenes. Could you import these images into ebook / multimedia software (and add narration / sound effects / music)? Here is a scene from The Three Little Pigs...

Beginning / Middle / End - Build scenes to represent the beginning, middle and end of a story. Read more about this idea on Lee Parkinson's blog.

Writing Instructions - Create a set of written instructions to teach somebody how to create a simple Lego model. This can include lots of positional language. Challenge your children to test each other's instructions. Diane Tyson explains 'I used Lego with my special needs class to do instructional writing. They built a character, photo, deconstructed it and then wrote the instructions on how to build it. The children then swapped with someone else who had to recreate their character from instructions written'.

Creating Instruction Books - Take photos of the steps in the creation of a Lego model and use these images to make an instruction book, in a similar style to the ones found in official Lego sets.

Prepositions - Norma Vivar suggests using Lego bricks to practise using prepositions (e.g. the blue brick is in / on / under / above / next to the green brick).

Can you build it? - Build a Lego model (can be simple or very complex) outside of the classroom or hidden at the back. Children work in small groups to build a replica. However only one member of the team is allowed to look at the model and the other members of the team have to build it. Great for team work and communication skills! Suggested by Kim Rundle.

Parts of Speech - Lyn Renwood suggests using different coloured Lego bricks to represent different parts of speech. Stack them up to make a sentence and have the kids replace the colours with words.

Minifigure Expressions - Look at the expressions on the faces of different minifigures. What words would you use to describe the emotions that are being shown?

Maths

Counting Studs - Count the studs on the top of each brick. How many are there? Which brick has the most studs? Can you sort the bricks in order of 'size', from those with the lowest number of studs to those with the highest?

Counting Bricks / Minifigures - Ask your children to count out a given number of bricks or minifigures.

Watch this video (suggested by Douglas Spencer) showing how to count Lego bricks in 1s, 5s and 10s...

Number-building - Can your children build numbers using bricks?

Calculations - Practise adding the studs on multiple bricks to find the total. They could also be used for subtraction, multiplication and division. Suggested by Wendy Liggitt.

Multiplication Tables - A 4x2 brick has 8 studs on the top. An 8x6 plate has 48 studs. Can your children see the link with their multiplication tables? Could they make a Lego multiplication chart (although finding bricks for some multiplication facts may not be possible)?

Estimation - Gather a pile of Lego and estimate how many bricks there are. Then check your estimate!

Fractions - Use different coloured bricks to show a fraction. Suggested by Marcus Lang, Tara McNally and Wenxi Chan.

Sorting - Use Venn and Carroll diagrams to sort a mixture of bricks into different sets (e.g. blue bricks / bricks with eight studs).

Statistics - Use them for sorting and tallying activities. Then build a column / bar graph to show the results. Suggested by Rebekah Bholanat.

Patterns - Use bricks to make simple patterns. If you start a pattern, can your children complete it? Could they make more complex patterns too?

Area, perimeter and volume - Multiply the number of studs on the sides of a brick to find the 'area' of the bricks. Could you also use this information to review perimeter and volume?

3D Shapes - Construct different 3D shapes (e.g. cubes, cuboids, prisms, pyramids) using Lego bricks. Suggested by Bridget Rillie.

Symmetry - Use a baseplate and add a line of bricks down the centre. Can your children create a symmetrical image using that line as the mirror line?

Algebra - Introduce children to algebra by collecting a pile of bricks (but don't count how many there are). Represent the number of bricks by the letter n. How would we show the number of bricks if we add two more to the pile (i.e. n + 2)? How would we show the number of bricks if we subtract three bricks from the original pile (i.e. n - 3)?

Ratio and proportion - Give children a pile of coloured bricks and ask them to work out the ratio of red bricks to blue bricks (or the proportion of red bricks). Can they make groups of bricks with specific ratios / proportions?

Make a Marble Run - Ask your children to design a 'marble run' game. This is great for Maths and talking about position, direction and movement. It's also a challenge for children to ensure that the marble reaches the end point. Suggested by Nicola D'Costa.

Lego Flashcards - Download and use the wonderful Mathematics LEGO Flashcards below, contributed by Callum Johnson.

Measurement - Use Lego bricks as a unit of measure, i.e. This book is six bricks (or 24 studs) wide. Suggested by Cara Louise.

Co-ordinates - Place bricks on a co-ordinate grid and use them to play a Battleships-style game. Suggested by Kate Brims.

Cuisenaire rods - Yasemin Gedik Topuz explains that 'Lego pieces can be used as cuisenaire rods. Cuisenaire rods can be used in as many ways as your imagination lets you.'

Problem Solving - Use Lego as practical equipment to help children solve Maths problems. Look at these images for ideas (contributed by Calvin Boh):

More Maths Ideas - Take a look at this blog post for more Maths ideas. Suggested by Chrystèle Windridge.

Science

Habitats - Make a habitat for an animal using bricks.

Forces - Move Lego bricks / minifigures by repelling and attracting them with magnets. Attach them to balloons and discuss the forces involved when they move around the classroom! Suggested by Cara Louise.

Chemistry - Luke Busfield explains that Lego is useful for modelling elements, compounds, mixtures, molecules and atoms at an early conceptual stage. Steph Mills says 'I've used them in secondary school to show chemical reactions, where each different colour represents a different element. Can get the number of atoms right too. Also good for balancing equations.'

Computing

Animations - Make stop-motion animations with Duplo and Lego. Suggested by Cara Louise and Veronika Joy. Watch this great example (shared by Douglas Spencer):

Design Technology

Construction - Can you try to recreate local landmarks or famous buildings using Lego? Look at how the original buildings are created and use similar techniques using the Lego bricks. Lego Architecture sets could be used as a starting point for this (suggested by Erik Schwab).

Construction Challenges - Challenge groups of children to create the highest tower or the strongest bridge using a given set of bricks. Discuss which designs are the winners and why.

Earthquake proof buildings - Could your children design an earthquake proof building? Could you test them too? Suggested by Helen Doveston.

Design a Home - Create a home for a minifigure. What kind of home would they like? Suggested by Cara Louise. Laura Chaffey is going to ask her students to create a home using Minecraft and then get them to build it in Lego.

Making Furniture - Use Lego bricks to design furniture! See an example in this Romanian lesson plan. Suggested by Lucian Gherasim.

Play the 'Roll a Dice' game - Children play in pairs (or small groups) and take turns to roll a die. After rolling, they build a tower with that many studs. The child with the highest tower (that doesn't fall over) after a certain number of rolls wins! Suggested by Bridget Rillie.

Lego Challenge - Try this exciting Lego Challenge using our free resource.

Vehicle Challenges - Design a vehicle that will safely carry an egg over a long distance. Can you have a competition with your friends to see which vehicle will travel the furthest?

Art

Mosaics - Can you create a mosaic using 1x1 bricks? Could you work with a partner / group to make a larger mosaic? Could you try to recreate a mosaic from a period in history?

Printing - Press the bricks into plasticene to make print pictures.

Painting - Dip bricks into paint to paint with them! Suggested by Caroline Ruth Smith and Michele Rumble. Read our post with more information about this activity.

Geography

Flags - Create a flag from a country / state and use these as part of a display area about those places. Suggested by Karilee Arnell Gardner.

Population Pyramids - Make a population pyramid using Lego bricks! Suggested by Tor Laney-hubbard and Will Clark.

Drainage Basins - Make and label a drainage basin! Suggested by Will Clark.

History

PSHE

Lego Therapy - Set up a Lego Therapy group to help develop social skills. Suggested by Annabelle Payne.

Team Challenges - Have a model / design at one end of the room and a pile of the same Lego at the other. Take it in turns to run and look and then try to replicate the design. This can be as simple or complicated as you like, depending on age. Can race other teams as well. Great for teamwork, communication, patience memory, scale, maths, waiting your turn, coordination etc. Also leads on well to map memory games and other orienteering based activities. Suggested by Hannah Appleton.

Other Ideas:

Early Finisher Activities - Give children a challenge at the end of their activities by asking them to build a specific object using a limited set of bricks. This could be the answer to a question linked to your topic. Suggested by Sara Edwards.

Give children a chance to use Lego as part of the reward systems in your classroom. Suggested by Cara Louise.

Let children use them as part of your wet play / rainy day activities. Suggested by Ellen Walker Hoffman.

Ask your children! Give children opportunities to explore Lego themselves. Can they suggest ways to use them in the classroom? Suggested by Kris Samson.

Do you have another idea? Tell us in the comments below...

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When I'm not busy working on our teaching websites, I can usually be found playing Lego with our children! It's an incredibly creative toy, but it can also be used to support work in a number of different curriculum areas. Here is our HUGE list of ways to use Lego in the classroom.

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We have one of these kits which could be used as a station by a few students at a time. Or for a whole group lesson.

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These things are amazing and versatile. You can essentially turn anything conductive into a keyboard key. Great for hands-on learners. We have 8 kits, which is good for even our largest class if kids work in teams of 3. Lots of potential for learning and showing what you know. For ideas, go to https://www.instructables.com/makeymakey/ Grades K-8

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MaKey MaKey - An Invention Kit for Everyone

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Like legos for electricity. We have a few of these kits and it's best for kids to work collaboratively on them. I have some challenge cards that kids can progress through independently or they could be connected to content you're teaching. Ideas at https://classroom.littlebits.com/explore/search?type=lessons Grades 3-8