What can I use a Busy Board for: items used on Sensory Walls?

A busy board is essential for preschool kids development. The alternative name for this item is a sensory wall. You can attach it to the wall of the children's room or a piece of furniture. If it is a compact and cube-shaped model - Busy Cube, you can take it with you on trips. In this article, we will try to explain how to play busy board so that the kids have fun and learn simultaneously.

How to Make the Most of a Busy board items?

First, let's answer the question "What pieces are busy boards made of?".

• Zip closures
• Buttons
• Shoelaces
• Pieces of cloth
• Switches
• Electric appliances plugs (without electricity!)
• Letters
• Numbers
• Bells
• Clocks with hands
• Sandglasses
• Locks
• Latches
• Xylophones
• Gear wheels
• Abacus
• Labirynths
• And so on

The usage of some items on busy boards is intuitive, so grown-ups will not need to intervene. For instance, the child can move the gearwheels and come to an important conclusion: if you touch just one of them, all the others that are connected to it will start to move.

The same with the xylophone. You do not need to explain to the kid what to do with it. They will quickly figure out how to use this musical instrument and will start composing tunes.

But most items require clarifications and instructions. You should show the kid how to lace the shoe and zip the closure. When you convince them to do it on their regular clothes and boots, the task might seem too challenging and the small ones might give up too easily. But when you use a sensory wall, the process of learning turns into a fascinating game. The kids are more motivated to succeed and genuinely enjoy every minute.

After you teach your son or daughter to handle the latch, they will never lock themselves in the bathroom by mistake.

Digital clocks have become omnipresent, so many families do not use analog ones anymore. But the children still need to be able to tell the time when they come across clocks with hands.

With some items, you can hardly do anything complicated. You can ring a bell, or touch the contours of the butterfly, or move a small smiley face a couple of centimeters to the left and then back to the right. While these actions might be insignificant to grown-ups, they require intellectual efforts among kids.

When they explore all the elements that are attached to the boards, you need to tell them the names of these objects and their characteristics. For instance, "This butterfly is small and blue. That butterfly is big and red. Now, we are moving the smiley face to the right. And now, we are moving it to the left". Thanks to such an approach, the vocabulary of your son or daughter will expand. They will learn how to classify and categorize objects as well as identify their main attributes.

How to Tell Stories with a Busy Board?

Parent should help their kids to develop the skill of storytelling. The small ones should learn to think logically and understand cause-and-effect relationships.

Some busy boards are themed while others are not. On themed ones, it is especially easy to invent stories. It might be a panel with a painted background that creates the setting of a magic forest. This is an example of a story that you can tell to your kid, accompanying each phrase with the corresponding actions.

• A squirrel that lives in this forest needs to come down from a high tree every morning and go to school.
• On its way, it needs to complete certain tasks.
• At school, it learns letters and numbers.
• Then, it comes back to the tree and needs to complete more tasks on the way.

The toddler would just listen to this story and watch your moves. When they grow a bit older, you should encourage them to compile their own narratives.

Sensory walls that are not themed do not give such evident hints about the plot of the game. This means kids can exercise their creativity even more, inventing completely different stores each time.

Such kind of play is known as open-ended. It can go on forever because the participants do not need to achieve any particular goals. It stimulates the imagination of the little ones and teaches them to think outside the box.

Activity toys for toddlers - Busy Board

Hopefully, this article came in handy and now you understand what to do with a busy board. In the Bumblee Smart online shop, you can purchase sensory walls and other activity toys for toddlers with worldwide shipping. Thanks to these items, the children will become smarter and will perform well at school. They will be curious and proactive, eager to make new friends and explore the surrounding world. They will be more confident and successful in life.