Flow Circus Kids - Skill Toys from Around the World

FlowCircusKids.com - A New, Free Resource: As the summer quickly approaches, we wanted to share with you a new website that illustrates the captivating stories that skill toys tell about culture, trade, natural resources, and human nature. People have been playing with skill toys for thousands of years and as different as one culture may be from another, we are all connected by the desire to play.

 

FlowCircusKids.com provides information about more than 25 different skill toys from around the world. In addition to learning about the history of the toy and how it is used, visitors can:

• Watch: Videos introducing some of the toys and demonstrating how they are used.


• Build: Do-It-Yourself instructional videos .


• Play: Activities encouraging families to use the site, visit their library, and have fun together.


• Teach: Activities for programmers like you. Ideas are broken down into passive programs such as a Skill Toy Bingo card, and active group activities such as a World Map Mural and 21st Century Hieroglyphs.


• Other: Original drawings and photographs of the skill toys, categories of toys to help visitors see connections between various toys, and ideas for skill based play with everyday objects.

We are so excited to have all of this in one easy to navigate site. We originally created this for the 2011 Summer Reading Program theme One World, Many Stories, but now realize that it serves as a year-round resource. Explore FlowCircusKids.com and see how you can use the resource to enhance your programs. Share it with your families, colleagues, and listservs.

Feel free to email me if you have any questions or comments about the site at dawn@flowcircus.com