Starfish Therapies

A pediatric therapy company operating in San Francisco and the greater Bay Area. We provide physical, occupational, speech and aquatic therapy services in the most beneficial and convenient setting for you and your child, including our clinic, currently located in Burlingame, your home, school or daycare.

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Magnetic Toy Imaginary Play

December 12, 2012 by Stacy Menz

I have always wanted to play with Magna-Tiles especially when I have read about them in blog posts or heard parents talking about them.  I decided to buy a set and had my nephew help me check them out.  He of course was excited (and he’s almost 9) because he had played with them before.  He even tried to convince me to give them to him!  At first we just tried out building structures and seeing what we could come up with.

magnatiles1

Then he went into the closet where his toys are and came out with this other cool toy that I had never seen before.  It was SmartMax Set.  It had two sized pillars and a bunch of balls.  All of which were magnetic.  We combined it with our Magna-Tiles to create a really cool structure.  I will admit it collapsed on us quite a few times until we figure out exactly where the magnetic attraction would be greatest to combine the two toys.

magnatiles3

And then, of course we had to add figurines because this became a fortress with a force field and in the Magna-Tile box were prisoners who we were trying to free.  What you can’t see off to the right became pyramids which is where the controls were kept so that could deactivate the force field and rescue the prisoners.  As you can see we had a guard inside the force field as well.

magnatiles2

I love engaging in play with my nephew because I am amazed by his imagination every time.  I also loved playing with these toys because we got to practice problem solving (when they kept crashing on us), fine motor skills for building, bilateral coordination using helper hands (because otherwise its awful hard to maintain this structure while connecting the pieces).

What magnetic toys do you like?

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Filed Under: Developmental Milestones Tagged With: bilateral coordination, games, imagination, playing, toys

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“Our experience with Stacy and the team at Starfish Therapies has been fantastic. The group is incredibly passionate, very professional, and know how to make therapy fun for a child! Our daughter looks forward to her session — whether it’s in-person or via the convenient tele-health option. The intake process is comprehensive and involves collaborative goal-setting with quantifiable measures and milestones. In addition, we get a list of activities we can work on at home, which has become part of our daily routine! We’ve seen big gains in our daughter’s movements, balance and confidence. Thank you, Starfish Therapies!”

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