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The kindergarten and early elementary years are some of my favorites. For 5 year olds,
it's really about rehearsal and refinement, becoming experts in the skills that they know,
such as recognizing letters and numbers, and definitely communicating. For 6 and 7 year
olds its a little bit more of pushing their boundaries, seeing how far they can go, and
practicing new skills. So as you're considering toys and books for children in kindergarten
and the early elementary years, you really want to consider their developmental needs
in terms of their physical, cognitive, and social emotional development. When you're
considering books for children in this age range, you're probably dealing with kids who
are starting to read on their own. So you want to find books that have simple sentence
structures, very clear font, and pictures that match the text. You also want to find
books that have text levels that are just right for your child. They're not too sophisticated,
and they're not too simple. You may want to consider the LeapFrog ultra ebook, which actually
has levels of text that will adjust to your child automatically. So as your child engages
in some of the games that are designed to foster their comprehension or their understanding
of what they're reading, we're actually assessing their reading level under the hood, and when
they go back into the book, they're going to have the text that's just the right level
for them. And we also have the Tag reading system where children can use the Tag reader
to touch on words to help them decode words, as well as learn new concepts beyond simple
story books. For example, learn about the human body. Toys for children in this age
range can take advantage of the fact that kids in elementary school and kindergarten
have longer attention spans, and can follow multiple step directions. So my favorite toys
for kids this age range include things like construction kits, puzzles, workbooks, and
any kind of toy that might involve more than one step. And you also want to find toys that
are going to support the cognitive skills that kids need in school. Things that really
require print, and symbol awareness, including recognizing your numbers, doing simple operations,
and recognizing letters. I love board games because a lot of them involve counting for
example, and more importantly they involve the family getting together, playing, and
learning together. Whether you're looking for toys or books for children this age range,
I would invite you to find things that are going to appeal to their natural interests,
things that they're going to want to do, but things that also support their cognitive,
physical, and or social emotional development. And most of all, have fun.