Blog

Kids and Pets…So many Benefits!

We’ve been spending our warm summer nights at the park with the kids. We jump on our bikes and sail on over. There is nothing more magical than warm summer days, with a warm breeze, riding with happy, smiling kids. I swear, it is pure bliss. Our kids are nighthawks…so we don’t ever leave the house until about 7:30/8pm.

This week we’ve had the fortune of bumping into some of our neighbourhood friends. This family has four kids ages 10-2 and they are just lovely. The recently have welcomed a dwarf bunny named Drako into their house and he accompanies them to the park. My kids are obsessed with this little guy (and I must admit he is incredibly cute). When we come home, all we do is talk about Drako and the kids now want a bunny instead of a dog!

We have two ageing cats in our household who have stood the test of time (and the test of children chasing them). They are warm and loving towards the kids now as are the kids to them. My parents have two dogs, so my kids also have ample opportunity to play with both small and big dogs frequently.

All this brings me to the lovely benefits of pets for children.  A quick look through all the books, clothes and movies your children have will remind you of just how much imaginary animals are entwined with little ones. As I type, I am smiling as I remember our kids saying moooooo and quack for the first time! Animals and kids, kids and animals….it’s just a thing!

Pets and Learning:

Researchers and educators are finding that all children can benefit from the presence of animals. In one recent study, children were asked to read in front of another child, a dog and an adult. Stress levels of the kids were monitored, and the study found that kids were most relaxed around the animal!

Pets and Nurturing:

Pets give unconditional love. They are non-judgmental and gives a child someone to talk to. A pet can comfort, support and listen to a child’s troubles without judgement or consequence. A bet can also be your child’s best buddy!

In terms of your child learning to nurture, pets help in this way as well! Caring for a pet that is dependent on you teaches empathy. Children learn to read their pet’s cues. Are they thirsty, hungry? Are they scared? Are they happy? Empathy is a huge skill to learn and caring for a pet supports that growth.

Pets and Responsibility:

Children can gain confidence when they care for pets. Children as young as 2 (we’ve got one in our house!) can manage the simple tasks associated with having a pet, like filling the water dish.

Pets and Activity:

Pets can get your kids moving! Taking the dog for a walk or run is inevitable. Even with Drako the bunny, the kids let him hop away and they run to follow him and bring him back to the center of the field!

Pets and Communication:

This is something we’ve noticed with our kids. When we are out for a walk, they stop to meet every dog we see. When doing so, they ask the owner what the dog’s name is, how old the dog is and all sorts of other questions. We think is really interesting to watch our kids get more comfortable having conversations with adults and older kids and being comfortable enough and curious enough to ask these questions.

We'd love to hear about your kids and pets! Hope you all are having a great day!

All the best,

Vanessa

Water and Kids

It is starting to get beautiful out and one thing we are really missing is swimming. With COVID19, all the pools in our community are closed. I think this is the longest my kids have ever gone without swimming. I’ve been a water baby my whole life and am so happy that my kids love to swim as much as I do. During the winter, we swim at least twice a week as a family (I swim 4 times a week) and in the summer …. that all just increases. Not this summer though, so we’ve had to get creative! We’ve been using the sprinker, watering can, hose and water tubs/buckets and we’ve been having a ton of fun (and learning along the way!).

Water play with kids is so important in terms of development. Water play helps develop motor skills, sensory play, problem-solving and social-emotional growth. I will walk through these points below and give some examples from our little family unit.

Motor Development

Water play gives many opportunities to develop fine and gross motor skills across all age ranges. Fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination will be developed through actions such as pouring, scrubbing, stirring, squeezing and squirting!

Sensory Play

Water play is an awesome sensory experience. Kids are introduced to textures such as slippery and slimy and also temperatures!

Problem Solving Skills

If you put a stick in a tub of water, doe it sink or float? How about if you put a rock in? What would happen if you sat in the tub of water? Would the water go up or down? What happens when you get out of the water tub? Tons of problem solving opportunities!!

Social-Emotional Growth

This one is quite relevant in our household right now as we’ve got some water squirters that the kids love to play with. Squirting water at each other is all fun and games …. until it isn’t ;) Both kids are learning to recognize the desires and needs of the other and are working hard to listen to each other. It is a work in progress, but their awareness of both their actions and the other’s reaction to their actions has greatly increased and it has been really neat (but I will be honest - at times trying) to watch and be a part of.

Turn taking is also a big part of social-emotional growth and this is also something we are working on in our household. Talking about sharing and taking turns with the hose, sprinkler and watering can: these are real conversations we are having on a daily basis. All part of growing!

Tell us how you are turning to water this summer! How are you getting creative to keep your kids active, learning and of course cool!?

Gardening with Kids

We are staying home more these days and the weather is beautiful. We’ve been spending a lot of time outside and recently the kids have been interested in helping me garden. We don’t have a huge garden but we certainly make the most of it. What I’ve learned is that you don’t need a big space to have fun or learn the amazing lessons that gardening provides! I’ve also learned … throwing soil seems to part of the fun ;)

 Here are 5 great reasons to garden with kids: 

• Gardening is an awesome family activity:

Everyone can help! We’ve got spades and shovels, dirt and flowers…what else do you need? Oh the watering can! A hit with both kids. From the start – picking the flowers…to the digging of holes to the sprinkling with water after you’ve planted….each phase seems to be a popular one!

• Gardening enhances fine and gross motor skills and development:

We are all about motor skill development at Mobi. You can see this in the games and toys we develop and also in the other blog posts! From picking up tiny seeds, to gently caring for seedling and plants…fine motor skills are at work. When your kids are carrying the plants from one part of the garden to the other and squatting down to dig a hole…gross motor skills are at work. The best part? Your littles won’t even know they are working on them!

• Gardening helps kids understand planning and organizing:

When you garden, you have to think ahead and plan. What plants grow at what time of the year? Some plants like to grow in rows, while wildflower seeds can put sprinkled. How tall are the flowers we are planting? Do they require shade or sunlight? What do we want the garden to look like when in bloom? A lot of great conversations can happen around planning and organizing and allowing your kids to partake will give them a sense of importance and independence.

• Gardening teaches patience:

Whether you are planting flowers or growing veggies…gardening takes time. This is a great activity to teach kids about the rewards of being patient and also lets them practice the skill!

• Gardening involves all five senses:

You know, we at Mobi are all about development and it is so fun to have an activity that is great for the whole family and that involves all the senses! See, touch, taste, hear, smell … gardening covers them all!

Let us know what you are planting and/or growing! We’d love to see!!!! What are your favourite parts about gardening with your little ones?

Benefits of Low Tech Toys

Hi everyone! It is the year 2020 and everyone seems to have a cell phone, table and personal computer. As a parent, I can say, these items do come in handy and do play an important role in our household. I for one am able to work from anywhere because of my laptop and phone. This affords me more time with my kids, less transitions throughout the day and so on. If you are a parent, you know being flexible is paramount…and I thank my gadgets for allowing a little more flexibility.

Now…when it comes to kids with technology…I don’t know what is best for others and I am not here to judge what others do as I truly believe parents all want what is best for their little ones ….and sometimes you need to find a Curious George episode so you can cook dinner!

We all know high tech toys. They are available and many have merit …. But today we are going to talk about the benefit of the old-school, low tech toys we grew up with!!! I do believe, and you can see from what we develop at Mobi, that there are so many developmental benefits associated with low tech toys. From the chance of more physical play to the opportunity to learn how to play fairly…there are lots of benefits we can find!

Board Games:

Board games allow the whole family to play together and often involve a competitive element. We’ve started playing Go Fish and Crazy 8s with our six-year-old. This has really been a lesson in playing fair and emotional regulation for him. He constantly wants to change the rules so that he can win, take more turns to increase his chances of winning and often hides behind the couch with a pout (and sometimes tears) when he loses. Game by game, we’ve seen his ability to regulate his emotions increase. The emotions have also provided us a way to talk about feelings, how we handle them, how we control our own thoughts and actions. It’s been really interesting.

Another cool thing about board games is that you can often play them inter-generationally! At Mobi, we’ve got 5 games on the market now and we’ve made a point of this being a key feature of all of them. There is nothing better than seeing our kids play a game with their great grandmother! It’s amazing and something both the littles and great gran cherish. Mobi, Mobi Kids, Ultimo, Bllox and Stello ….. they can all be played with all ages!

Stuffies:

We’ve just gotten into stuffies as a household. It all started because my son was afraid to sleep in his new bunk bed on his own. We talked through it and I gave him my old stuffed bear from when I was a kid … Bert. Bert has become a favourite and sleeps in that bunk every night. Bert can be thought of as a transitional object …. He provides a feeling of consistency and security when our son was adjusting to the new bed.

Bicycles:

We’ve got a six-year-old and a two-year-old who are extremely active. Bikes have been wonderful thing for our family. Our son can ride a two wheeler now and our daughter is on a balance bike. Not only do the bikes provide physical activity and therefore burn off a ton of energy….they provide an opportunity to learn about road safety and help develop balance and motor skills. 

We’ve notice our son grow up a lot since he began riding a two wheeler. There seems to be a huge sense of freedom, independence and empowerment that comes along with riding a bike. Our son has begun to trust himself to make more decisions on his own and we’ve also encouraged him to lead us on family bike rides … to be “the leader”. It has been so neat to watch his confidence grow.

We’d love to hear from you! Tell us some “old school” or low tech toys you love!

Mobi Kids and Sudoku!

Hi everyone! We are mixing two of our favourite games in this post… Mobi Kids and Sudoku! You can go ahead and print off the grids we’ve made!!

One thing that we love doing as a family is playing games. We happened upon a Sudoku for kids book at our Nana and Papa’s house last weekend and our 6 year old took to it immediately. We were honestly kind of surprised as sitting still does not happen too much with this little…but sit he did!

One tricky things that was pointed out was how the little grids were. Our son found it difficult to make his numbers so small. If you follow us on Instagram…you will see that our numbers are VERY BIG right now! To make Sudoku work for us…we simply took the grid and drew it on a bigger piece of paper – perfect! This worked in terms of fitting our numbers into boxes and also gave us some room to write down the possible numbers at the top of the boxes. Win, win, win!!!

 Awesome things about play Sudoku with Mobi tiles….

• You can move tiles around at will and try variations of play very easily.
• There is a tactile approach added to the game.
• The game becomes more colourful
• You can play the same grid over and over because once you take the tiles off, the grid is clean!
• Playing with numbers will get your littles comfortable with numbers. The fact they can try and try again without have to commit to a move proved to be really positive for our family. “What if we tried this?” …. Hmmmm “What if we put this tile here? Would that work?”
• The game becomes cooperative for multiple players. We were able to play as family. With a pencil, that is a little tricky, but with Mobi tiles, Sudoku became a working puzzle.

We’d love to hear about other ways you play with Mobi tiles! The possibilities are endless! We've included some here for you to play with!!

How do you play with Mobi?!?!?!

Bubbles, Bubbles, Bubbles

Okay people! Who is ready for some warm weather????? We certainly are! Mobi Headquarters is located in Toronto, and in Canada we do winter!  Winter is now a thing of the past (fingers and toes are currently crossed). The kids are itching to get outside. As you probably know we have two kids: age 2.5 and 6. Although their ages are different we try to do activities that both can enjoy as it is just easier for the family as a whole and nice for the kids to have fun together.

One of our favourite “Fresh Air” activities that you can do right in your backyard = BUBBLES! Not only are these great for entertainment …. but they are also great for development! At Mobi, you know we are all about kids’ development and open ended play. Bubbles are the perfect resource for both of these! There is no “right way” to play with bubbles and we’ve got a list of some amazing developmental benefits of bubbles below.

Developmental Benefits of Bubbles!

Fine Motor Skills: Pinching that skinny wand!? You got it – fine motor at its best! Opening and closing the little lid will also provide some fine motor work. There is also coordination at play with two hands: one holding the wand and one holding the bottle while the child dips the wand in it.

Parents: You can also encourage your littles to pop the bubbles in different ways: “Pop with your index finger!” “Try to grab the bubble and pop with your whole hand!” So many cues you can give your littles to get their brains and bodies doing different things.

Gross Motor Skills: Encourage your kids to jump, reach, run and skip to catch and pop the bubbles. Bubbles on the ground? Perfect for stomping or jumping on!!

Visual Tracking Skills: Following where the bubbles go will allow your littles to work on visual tracking. Some will go high, some will go low. Some move slowing, some move fast!

Sensory Processing Skills: Bubbles feel a little funny! They are wet and a little sticky! They are different from other toys kids are playing with and therefore provide great sensory play.

Oral Motor Skills: Blowing bubbles is hard work and great exercise for little mouths. Some wands are easier than others. The skinnier the want, the easier it is for a little one to make a bubble, but changing up the wand size is great for oral motor skills and also for focus and concentration skills.

Communication/Social Skills: If playing with others, taking turns will happen (or at least we hope it will J). I’ve got a two year old who isn’t so into sharing right now, but we are working on it! Also, kids will have to ask for more bubbles if their parents are blowing them. Kids will also learn spacing in groups as they don’t want to bump into each other or knock anyone down. These are all small and little things but they all add up. 

As you can see, there are so many benefits bubbles provide – hours of fun, plenty of laughs and a huge amount of developmental opportunities.

Hello everyone! There are so many things we love to do with our kids and being outside is one of them. One activity we’ve been doing is going on scavenger hunts! One of our favourite things to find or pick up = rocks!

Why rocks? I have no idea. It started about a month ago and we haven’t looked back. Every ravine walk we go on yields us a ton of prolonged fun. The kids like to pick different rocks. Sometimes we pick big, heavy rock and sometimes, the little (baby) rocks are the choice of the day.

As you know…. at Mobi we LOVE toys and activities that disguise learning and make it fun, right?! Open-ended, developmental play is the name of the game! Rocks are no different. There is no wrong way to play with them. Well, I take that back. Throwing rocks at someone is not a good idea and as you can imagine with two littles, we’ve had to have that conversation. Throwing at your sibling aside (!!), there is no wrong way to play with rocks! One of our favourite things to do with the rocks has been to paint them!

Painting rocks!

This is a great calm down activity after a day out. The kids love it and love having something beautiful to physically show after all their effort of “hunting for rocks!” seems to really excite them!

There are so many benefits that come from painting and I’ll hit on a few below:

The Brain:

Creative activities like painting exercise a different part of the brain than reading or math. The right side of the brain is often called our creative half. It is responsible for visual skills and understanding what we see with our eyes. Painting and creative play help exercise your child’s right brain.

Motor Control:

Squeezing the paint tubes into little containers, holding the fine paint brush and the act of painting ….we are working both fine and gross motor skills here. The bigger the canvas (if conventional and using paper ;) ) the more gross motor work at play.

Sensory Experience:

Painting on any surface is a beautiful sensory experience. With rocks, this is slightly heightened because there are so many edges, curves and textures. 

Cause and Effect:

We are big advocates of cause and effect play at Möbi. It is huge for development and we have tried to incorporate this into all our infant/toddler products. With painting …. kids are also working on this! For example, when a child starts out with yellow paint but mixes blue in ….. they will be able to see that that one action creates blue!

Verbal Language Skills:

As a parent you can ask open-ended questions like “what are you painting?” or “would you tell me about your painting”? As you can imagine, in our household we can some crazy answers! Rocks have become ninjas, dragons and rainbows.  Asking open-ended questions, just like open-ended play, allows your child to stretch and grow his/her thinking and verbal skills. 

Confidence:

Whether your child’s rainbow comes out looking like a rainbow or a brown clump …. They will take pride in their painting and will see in your eyes that you do too.

We would never have thought that collecting rocks would be as fun for our family as it has turned out to be. We’ve been asked if we will hang our kids’ rocks on the fridge with their other artwork! Instead we are forming a rock garden!!

What are you guys doing to keep creative? We’d love to hear from you!