Have you been thinking about investing in a Spielgaben set? Are you wondering how to use Spielgaben in your homeschool? Today, I am sharing the top five ways we love to use Spielgaben in our home, plus a new resource from Spielgaben.
We have had our Spielgaben set for about two years. Every time we use it I wish I had had the set when my kiddos were younger.
Today, I am sharing some of our favorite ways to use Spielgaben in our homeschool in hopes that these ideas will help you on your homeschool journey!
5 Awesome Ways to Use Spielgaben In your Homeschool
*Disclosure: We received a Spielgaben set at no cost in exchange for a review. We are honored to work with Spielgaben. This post is part of a monthly series featuring how we use Spielgaben in our homeschool. All thoughts and opinions are my own. You can read my review of Spielgaben here.
If you’ve been considering a Spielgaben set, you’re going to want to keep reading because there’s a special offer for My Little Poppies readers later in this post.
If you are still weighing the pros and cons of purchasing a set, I wrote a post for you here.
First, let me just say that free, open-ended play is a necessary part of childhood.
My absolute favorite way to use Spielgaben in our homeschool is for free, open-ended play.
Play is so important for everyone, not just children, and Spielgaben is a resource that you just can’t take your hands off of!
But, we do use our Spielgaben set in other ways. Today, I’d like to share my top five favorite ways we use Spielgaben in our homeschool.
1. Manipulatives make fantastic fidgets for busy kids
Let’s cut right to the chase here- I have three really busy kids.
I mean reeeeeally busy.
My boys are even busy when they are asleep! They wake up and have to unearth themselves from their twisty tornado sheets.
To say that my children are “active learners” would be a gigantic understatement. We are in near-constant motion over here!
When I worked in the public school system, we would often provide fidgets to kids like mine. These fidgets would give the kiddo something to do, and they actually help to increase attention in many cases.
Fortunately, homeschooling allows for active learning. If you need to take a break, you can go play catch with the dog in the backyard for twenty minutes and then come back and regroup.
That said, my kids love fidgets!
Do you remember the fidget spinner craze from a couple years ago? My children used our Spielgaben set to make their own “Fidget Factory” and it was such a blast!
The many parts in the Spielgaben set can make for incredibly fun fidgets. I’ll often take out a drawer from our Spielgaben set and leave it on our kitchen island for those who want to fidget.
Learn more about using Spielgaben to create fidgets here:
2. Free play during read-aloud or audiobook time, or when listening to a podcast
Does your read-aloud time look like the photo below?
If so, please know you aren’t alone!
The truth is, kids need to move. Asking them to sit still perfectly while you read aloud, or as you listen to a podcast, just isn’t realistic.
One way to save your own sanity while also embracing your kiddo’s need to move is to provide a play invitation. Set your kiddo up with a Spielgaben activity, or play dough, or a pile of Lego. Invite your child to play as he listens.
When kids are “in the zone,” engaged with hands-on play, they can listen quite well to read-alouds, audiobooks, and podcasts!
Need some ideas for using Spielgaben to keep your kids busy during learning time? Read more here:
- How to Make A Super-Simple, Super-Fun Rainbow Study
- How to Create a Super Simple Color Wheel Study
- Hands-On Animal Study with Spielgaben
Still struggling to read aloud through interruptions? Check this out:
- Reading Aloud Through Interruptions {Episode 36} | The Homeschool Sisters Podcast
3. As a way to reinforce learning after reading a book
Speaking of books, one of my absolute favorite ways to use Spielgaben in our homeschool is to take our read-alouds to the next level with hands-on creative play.
I love to read a book, get lost in the story, and then set my kids free in our playroom. They never fail to recreate the story. They morph into the characters from the story, act out favorite scenes, and get lost in a world of imagination.
You can bet that our Spielgaben set is one of their go-to resources for this type of book-related play!
Read more about using Spielgaben in conjunction with books here:
- How to Make Read Alouds Memorable with Amazing Hands-On Play
- Bring Books to Life with this Hands-On Flower Study
4. Celebrate the seasons and holidays
Do you know how, when the seasons change, the kids get a little restless?
And do you know how, when a holiday is on the near horizon, children have a hard time concentrating?
When my kids are bouncing off the walls due to season changes or holidays, we make more space for play.
Play is so super-duper important for children (and for grown-ups, too!). Please know that play is just as important as any curriculum. These moments are not wasted!
Read more about celebrating seasons with Spielgaben:
- Study the Four Seasons with Books, Play, and Spielgaben
- Summer Picture Books and Hands-On Summer Play
- Get Ready for Fall with Fantastic Picture Books and Hands-On Play
- How to Make Snow Days Fun and Educational
Learn more about how to celebrate holidays with your Spielgaben set:
- The Importance of Super-Simple Holiday Activities
- Celebrate Valentine’s Day with Play and an Incredible Book
- Super-Simple Hands-On Flag Study
- How to Celebrate July 4th with a Super-Simple Fireworks Study
- The Best Halloween Books for Your Homeschool… Plus Spooky Hands-On Play!
- How to Pair Amazing Christmas Play and Fantastic Books
5. Spielgaben pairs well with games… and you can even make your own games using the set!
You knew it was coming, you guys! It wouldn’t be a Cait post if I didn’t gush about our love of gaming. I have used Spielgaben to build upon our learning after playing games (see the world monuments post below), as part of our beloved Lazy Unit Studies, and we’ve even used the Spiegaben set to create our own DIY games!
Learn more about using Spielgaben with games and creating DIY games here:
- A Simple World Monuments Study with Books, Games, and Spielgaben!
- Challenge Kids to Get Creative with Awesome Homemade Games
For those who crave a little more structure, check out these new math workbooks from Spielgaben…
I’m excited to share that Spielgaben has brand-new math workbooks. These resources are sure to add more learning to your Spielgaben experience.
New math resources from Spielgaben:
Spielgaben Math Workbook is a mathematics activity book series for students (preschool- 6th grade). The workbooks offer clear, colorful pages of activities for working on math skills. The Spielgaben set is used in conjunction with the workbook series. Answers are supplied at the back of each workbook.
Each workbook is organized into three content strands and four proficiency strands.
3 Content Strands :
- Number and Algebra
- Measurement and Geometry
- Statistics and Probability
4 Proficiency Strands :
- Understanding
- Fluency
- Problem Solving
- Reasoning
We are excited to explore these workbooks over the coming months!
A special offer from Spielgaben for My Little Poppies readers…
Now, it’s your turn: How do you use your Spielgaben set? Share here!
Caitlin Fitzpatrick Curley
Cait co-hosts The Homeschool Sisters Podcast and is co-founder of Raising Poppies, a community for parents of gifted and twice-exceptional children. Cait is also founder of the Family Book Club at My Little Poppies, a fantastic community of book-loving parents and the Gameschool Community at My Little Poppies, a vibrant community of gameschoolers.
Cait is a contributing writer for Simple Homeschool. Her work has also appeared on The Huffington Post, The Mighty, Scary Mommy, GeekMom, and many others. You can find her on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram
and G+.
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