Perfect book for early preschoolers

I homeschool my preschooler and have a strong educational focus on STEM and learning through play. Quality and engaging age-appropriate material are always on my radar, so I was very excited to get my hands on the new Magblox Activity Book for 3-5-year-olds. Activity books are a perfect way to challenge your kids thinking, exercise their minds and keep your kids busy. They are ideal if you are quarantined at home, waiting for food at a restaurant, or on the go.

It surprised and delighted my 4-year-old when I told him to grab his magnetic tiles because this activity book works together with them. He heaves his big box of tiles to the floor mat and excitedly sits down, all cuddled up next to me, saying, "I'm so excited, I'm so excited". His eyes light up when we caught a sneaky glance at the bright, interesting illustrations inside the book that encourage you to place your Magblox geometric shapes on top of them.

I feel this Magblox activity book is a pivotal way to advance your child's learning skills and set them up for success. My son had already developed an understanding of many basic geometric shapes (e.g. square, triangle), but it was great to see this book build on his knowledge by reinforcing his knowledge of the attributes of his magnetic tile geometrical shapes he will be working with. In addition, it was interesting for both of us because we had never spent any time learning the name and attributes of different types of triangles and how they make different shapes when joined together.

LEARNING THROUGH PLAY

As we move into the rest of the book, we were taken away from school on a whimsical journey to the zoo to discover hiding animals. I love how this activity book teaches children to learn without even realizing it and improve their skills without feeling any pressure.

We first meet a friendly lion and a tall giraffe, whose heads mysteriously look like the shapes of our magnetic tiles. My son instantly knows what to do and feels like he is teaching ME as he identifies the shapes and places his square and isosceles triangle over the animal, like a puzzle. Each page is filled with something new, fun facts, comparison words, or discovery of new shapes.

I liked how some pages had simpler beginner activities that I feel young kids would appreciate and which made my son feel confident, and others were more complex with more pieces to further challenge him. After completing each page, he felt a sense of accomplishment and enjoyed flicking to the new page, making the tiles fly all across the room. I enjoyed how engaging and fun this book was to shake up our traditional learning ways.

ENGAGING FROM COVER TO COVER.

I think children find it challenging to sit still and concentrate at the best of times, but this book contained tasks entertaining yet straightforward enough to keep his brain active and absorbed for a long time, thus improving his cognitive functions. Yessss! My son managed to finish the whole book, and I managed to sneak away at one point and get a load of laundry work done. Thank you Maglox!!!

THE PACKAGING NEEDS A WORTHY MENTION!

Now, I can't go without mentioning that this book came in a bag with big words on the front, saying, "This is a biodegradable bag”, with clear instructions that you can compost this packaging.

What is Biodegradable? Biodegradable is still often plastic but can be broken down by microbes, chewed up and turned into biomass, water and carbon dioxide (or in the absence of oxygen, methane rather than CO2). A subset of them are compostable and can also be turned into compost, alongside food and other organic waste.

I was seriously impressed by this and feel this is very forward-thinking and powerful. However, I think people would buy sustainably packaged products if more were available and labelled like this.

Since then, I have been super sensitive to my awareness of how much un-needed 'one-time-use plastic there is with all the packaging of products that I buy. It's crazy! Magblox Activity Book

Did you know that Magblox is the only magnetic tile company made from recycled plastic, and all their packaging is recyclable?

We used to prize how plastic can remain stable for hundreds of years, but now it's an environmental concern. Now here are some facts about this you need to hear! The National Geographic state," 40 percent of plastic produced is packaging, used just once and then discarded". Packaging is the primary source of the 4.9 billion tons of plastic carelessly left in landfills and the natural environment. Oceans are clogging, and pollution is expected to exceed the weight of all fish by 2050 at current rates. Wow, It makes me feel scared for my son's future and the world we are leaving for them.

But the good news is that "Single-Use Plastics Bans" are meant to come in around the world, starting with the UK and Canada, forcing companies to think about environmentally friendly alternatives. In the meantime, as far as eco-friendly packaging options go, for now, Magblox's packaging makes it a little easier for us. Thank you!

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