Playing is one of the most valuable experiences kids can have. With the goal of designing some educational lessons, I received the Playfoam class pack from Educational Insights. I considered how well the Playfoam would work for different age groups.
Educational Insights Playfoam Classroom Set Review
My first idea was to create landforms. To model different landforms, I created them on a paper plate and I walked my kids through each step. I explained that the green was the land and the blue was the water. Then I showed that you can use the foam to create a reservoir. Carefully, I created a border of green and I filled the inside with blue. As my older daughter Samantha began to understand what the landform looked like, I explained that a reservoir is a body of water, similar to a lake or a pond. She was able to construct her knowledge of what a reservoir is, using not only language but also a hands-on experience.
Another landform we focused on was an island. Samantha was familiar with what islands look like from television. She knew some of the types of trees and animals you might find on an island, but she didn’t yet know the difference between an island and a peninsula. First I demonstrated what a peninsula looks like with the foam. Since our state has a peninsula, knowing what a peninsula is would be valuable. Next, I took some of the land away and added water to show what an island would be.
Determining the difference between an island and a peninsula was a little hard for Samantha because peninsula was a new word. To help reteach the vocabulary, I had Samantha create an island with the foam. It was at this point that I started to notice how hard it was to separate the colors after you build with the foam. Some of the water that she built had green in it. I explained that there might be many little islands. She seemed satisfied with this explanation.
To continue making meaning from the experience, I asked Samantha to build a reservoir. I reviewed what a reservoir is. She already seemed familiar with the meaning. Quickly she got to work creating a large body of water enclosed by land on all sides. Working intently on an education activity indoors was a huge success.
Both of my kids were enjoying the experience. Even though my younger daughter Georgiana was a little young for the material, she did well with it as long as she was supervised. I handed her some blue and green foam. She went to work building a river. The creation looked really nice, which made her happy.
While building landforms, I realized more and more how creating items with specific colors could be tricky in a classroom setting. The river had some green in it. Mixing the colors didn’t bother my kids much, but they are too young to care a lot about what the end result is with a foam-building project. Older kids who are working hard on a project might be upset that a landform doesn’t look right. Also, separating the colors when it’s time to put the foam away could be a hassle for teachers.
I decided to try a new activity geared more towards early learners. I asked Samantha to carve the first letter of her first name into her foam. Creating letters with the foam worked well. Samantha said that it was hard work, but she ended up creating a very nice looking letter S. The activity used tactile learning to help teach phonics. At age five, Samantha knows her letters well, so this is a neat way for her to teach the letters to her younger sister.
With an interest in using the foam to create three dimensional projects, I started building with it. I discovered that it could be rolled into a ball. When Samantha threw the ball, it didn’t fall apart. The material stuck together really well. Together, we built a snowman with the foam.
The texture of the material was really neat. When I decided to switch colors to let the kids try something new, cleaning the old colors off of the paper plate was simple. There was no sticky residue. All the foam left was a little bit of color. As a parent, I much preferred playing with the foam to playing with clay or dough, which both leave residue that’s hard to clean, gets under kids’ nails, and sticks to anything.My younger daughter Georgiana was super excited to be a part of activities with her older sister. On a hot summer’s day, playing with colorful foam was an awesome way to keep my kids busy and happy without sacrificing their ability to grow with educational opportunities. Instead of showing them a cartoon or reading another book, I gave them a neat opportunity to build and create something. Both of my kids really enjoyed getting to choose the color of their next creation.
With technology being such a push for kids, more and more kids are only learning to create using software. Using the Playfoam was a neat reminder that kids need to actually experience what it is to build something in three dimensions using their hands. Building objects can even be a way to reinforce kids’ understanding of how to build with technology later in life. Creating a project in three dimensions using foam as a material taught my girls spatial reasoning skills. My daughters learned that rolling the foam too thin could make it fall apart, but that they could make it stick together to build big objects if they made thick pieces that were packed together tightly.
Another way to use the foam in an educational way for early learners is to roll it. My kids called this creating caterpillars. Rolling small bits of foam into long pieces helps kids gain fine motor skills. The activity worked the same muscles my kids would need to build in order to learn to hold a pencil. Making caterpillars was fun for my kids too. Both of my daughters were impressed with the foam and they plan on playing with it throughout the summer.
The foam came in a lot more colors than just the blue, green, purple and pink that we played with in our pictures. I also received yellow, orange, a lighter shade of green, and a beige-orange color. In total, there were eight colors. The box held two blocks of each color, making a total of 16 blocks. There was plenty of foam for an entire classroom to use.
In over a year as a product reviewer, I’ve played with a lot of toys from Educational Insights. One thing I love about the company is that each item seems incredibly fun to kids while also having an educational value. Whether you’re looking into the playfoam for your own kids or for your classroom, I would recommend it because the quality was good. Playing with the foam led our family to have fun experiences that would transfer well to the classroom too.
I received a free item to help inform my writing.