What can you do with 6 great big crepe rubber shapes, a rubber die, 20 tall-stacker plastic pegs, and six laces? More than you might imagine! This is one of our most-played with items for toddlers, preschoolers, and early elementary children. One reason it is so popular is that this set makes it easy to incorporate gross motor activity into learning time. This is a very effective way to help small children learn.

I use this set to teach my children their colors. Each large shape is a different color, and the die has a different color on each side. My child will roll a die, state the color (with help from me if needed), then run/jump/hop/crawl/roll to the correct shape on the floor, while calling out the color again once he lands on it. This is absolutely the best way I have found to teach colors and is the only thing that helped my autistic son learn them.

I use the shapes to practice counting. With the tiles on the floor I can ask my child to step on three tiles or five tiles, etc. I can ask her to jump on one tile ten times. I can line up the tiles in a circle and have her count each tile as she steps on it. (By placing the tiles in a circle she can count higher than the six tiles provided.)

I use the shapes to teach lacing skills. They are larger and sturdier than most lacing toys and have a very satisfying feel for children.

The pegs are incredibly fun for children to use. The feeling of firmly placing a peg in a hole is satisfying for children and gives them some excellent sensory feedback. They can match peg colors to shape colors or roll a die and place a peg of that color. The pegs can be used for multi-step directions - e.g. “Put three green pegs on the red triangle,” or “Place two pegs on a square and four pegs on a circle.” Because the pegs stack, you can ask your child to copy a stacking pattern that you created or ask them to remember a pattern that you call out verbally such as “Stack these pegs in this order: red, blue, red, yellow.”

These are all excellent learning and skill-building activities, but the real fun starts when you just put your child at the table, couch, etc. and hand him the box. Children adore these pegs and foam shapes and will find their own ways to quietly play with them for a very long time.