Along with enhancing child's playtime, Dado Cubes reinforcement of visual-spatial abilities has broad future implications. Many researchers suggest that 21st century employees will require strong visual-spatial skills.

Mark Carson keeps this close to mind, "Our desire is to make progress in developing toys that meet the needs of the next generation of adults. The ultimate goal of Fat Brain Toys is to meet a child's intellect where it is and send minds farther down the road of imagination...we want to put kids on a super highway of developing their learning and success potential. Dado Cubes...with their visual-spatial emphasis, are clearly an on-ramp to that interstate."

What is Your Child's Learning Style?
An excerpt from Talkers, Watchers & Doers by Cheri Fuller
Introduction by Kathy Lorkovic, Fat Brain Toys

Through my son's preschool teacher, I stumbled upon the book, Talkers, Watchers, & Doers by Cheri Fuller. Truthfully, I haven't looked at my son's learning (or my own learning) the same way since.

Enliven your understanding of how we learn...Talkers, Watchers, & Doers grabs the reader with a fresh and simple look at learning styles. In this excerpt, printed with permission from Cheri Fuller, you'll identify your child's learning style. The remainder of the book concentrates on practical strategies to make learning happen and innovative techniques that will allow you to draw upon natural strengths to master new material.

Talkers, Watchers and Doers will give you practical activities, insights, encouragement, and confidence...and you'll close its cover better able to help your child learn by knowing how your child learns best.

Get ready for a fresh look at the special person that is your child. The following is an excerpt from this thought-provoking book:

Identifying Your Child's Learning Style
Did you know that the word teacher means "one who brings out the best in the student"? As parents, we are our children's first and best teachers. The more we know our kids, the more we can help them have successful learning experiences and develop and use their strengths. As a parent, you are actually better equipped than a teacher--with twenty or more students in a classroom--to discover this valuable information about your child, and to notice how the child tackles a problem and what method of study he turns to when under stress or time pressure.

Although individual studies support teaching to learning styles in the classroom, some educators feel there's not enough consistent evidence to justify it. However, there is extensive research on the advantages of helping kids learn to use cognitive strategies, or learning methods, that tap into their strengths. Over and over we've seen that students who know how they process information and use corresponding strategies do best and achieve the most in school and beyond.

Your child's learning style, which is as individual as her fingerprint, reflects her development, aptitudes, strengths, and weaknesses. Remember that there is no right or wrong learning style. It's just another way that people are different. Let's look at three basic areas that will help you as a parent identify and understand how your child learns best.

Clues to Learning Strengths
Think back to the last time you took your child to the mall. Did she wander off gazing at things that caught her eye? Is she captivated by all the colorful sights? She may be a Watcher. (As a grown-up, this visually oriented person may go to the grocery store for several items, get side-tracked looking at things, and come home an hour and a half later.)

If you panicked because you couldn't find your child, did you discover her touching and feeling the merchandise--much to the salesperson's dismay--and twirling the racks around, opening doors, and climbing on furniture in the dressing room? In a toy store these Doers need to be supervised because if left to their own devices, they may take apart a game or toy to see how it works.

If your verbal child gets lost, you may find her chatting with another child, making friends with a salesperson, or talking someone out of a quarter for candy from the machine. Not liking to be alone, the Talker will usually look for someone to play or interact with.

HOW LEARNERS GROW

Visual Learning: Luke
Luke, a child with visual strengths, is a perceptive Watcher who processes and remembers information best by picturing something in his mind's eye and maintaining a mental image of it. This child has such a good visual memory, it's as if he has a copy machine in his brain, which will come in handy later in the classroom for spelling words and studying for tests.

As a little child, Luke was fascinated by his visual surroundings. An astute observer during family car trips, toddler Luke loved looking at the passing billboards on the highway, and often noticed things his older siblings and parents missed. He learned his colors early, and preferred playing with puzzles, drawing with crayons and markers, and watching television to other activities. He was a child of few words who communicated his feelings more with facial expressions and pictures he drew.

Luke, like many visually talented children, has a great imagination and loves to draw, so much so that his first-grade teacher--who did a lot of oral work, talking and explaining--wrote on his report card that he was a "daydreamer" who could get more done if he stayed on task. If there's no outline or visual thing to look at when the teacher talks for an extended time, he tunes out and finds something outside the window to gaze at, or he doodles.

Luke gets his homework done fastest at a neat, orderly desk (he doesn't like a lot of visual distraction) and likes to have his assignments written down. He can then be efficient at working alone. He often closes his eyes or looks at the ceiling when he is memorizing or recalling information he is tested on. He depends on seeing information--in print or on graphs, diagrams, and pictures--to learn. A good test-taker, Luke shines in math, where he can easily compute answers in his head.

One night Luke's mom came into his bedroom to say good night and check on him. The lights were out. He lay in his bed, looking happy and busy, but with nothing to do, at least that's how it appeared. She asked him what he was doing.

"When I can't sleep, I work the longest, most difficult math problems I can in my mind, draw the lines, write the signs, and figure them out. Then I can relax," he answered. How much better than counting sheep!

Your child may also be a strong visual learner if she:

Auditory Learning: Amy
Amy, a child with auditory strengths, is a good listener, but what she really likes to do is talk. Amy has a mind like a tape recorder. She remembers what you said long after you said it, and then reminds you. Although more girls than boys have auditory and verbal strengths, like me you may have a son who is verbally talented.

From an early age, Amy talked in sentences and had a colorful vocabulary. In fact, although her mother loved to hear her stories and songs, sometimes she got tired of Amy's incessant chatter and needed a quiet break. Her speech sounded like a little adult's as she related made-up stories and riddles to her family.

Even as a preschooler, she took charge and directed her friends in "let's pretend" play. She was vocal about her feelings and a bit dramatic. If she drew a picture, she wanted to talk about her artwork. Her favorite part of kindergarten was show-and-tell, when she could share about a new pet or happening in her family.

In the classroom, Amy is called the teacher's pet by other kids because she gets called on so often. She follows oral directions easily and is quick to answer the teacher's questions. But she doesn't feel like the teacher's pet when she gets in trouble for talking too much during seatwork time. She spells everything like it sounds, so her words were sometimes written incorrectly until she started using a tape recorder to study her spelling words by hearing them. She also has trouble remembering multiplication tables, which slows her down during math tests. But Amy shines in creative writing and class discussions. Like most kids with auditory strengths, she moves her lips or whispers while trying to memorize facts or spelling words for a test. She verbalizes everything and needs to hear information and then say it in order to learn it.

In addition to the above, your child may be a strong auditory learner if she:

Kinesthetic or Active Learning: Jamie
Jamie, a fifth grader, was burned out on schoolwork and considered by his teachers and parents to be an underachiever. He learned best by a hands-on approach but school was a lot of pencil-and-paper tasks. He was a star on the sports field, but fidgeted in the classroom. His dad, a quiet (and visually oriented) accountant, expected Jamie to be quiet when he studied and exerted pressure to get better performance. He even grounded his son when Jamie's grades weren't high enough or when he "played around" and moved instead of sitting still to study. Evening homework times became a war zone.

For kids like Jamie, "being still" requires so much mental energy that they can't concentrate on their work. He needs an active approach.
When Jamie had a lot of facts to learn for the Geography Bowl, I suggested his mom let him use his muscles in the practice sessions. While Meredith fired off the questions from the couch, Jamie bounced his Nerf basketball and shot a basket with each answer. "Something happened while he was active," his mom said. "He got a better imprint somehow on his memory. It also helped his focus and concentration." After their daily basketball/geography sessions, Jamie won the right to represent his grade in the school-wide Geography Bowl. And although he was the youngest student in the finals, competing against even eighth graders, he placed third--his first scholastic recognition ever. Using this approach, a whiteboard to practice vocabulary and spelling words, and some other strategies that used his strengths, he became one of the top students in his grade.

In addition to developing a more positive attitude toward his homework and himself as a learner, Jamie felt more affirmed by his dad. Some of the stress was removed from their relationship. Pleased with Jamie's achievement, Dad spent less time criticizing and more time supporting his son's active, hands-on approach to learning.

Your child may be a hands-on learner if he:

Blends and Combination Learners
Some kids--about 30 percent--operate out of a blend of two or three strengths. As a preschooler, Jacob often asked to "see things" when his mother tried to explain something to him. He often played dress up with costumes: He put his Batman costume over an elf costume, which was placed over his Frosty the Snowman costume. He was also the one in the family who would first see a jet far off in the sky or find a lost object in the grass.

Yet even as a baby, Jacob was on the move. He was so energetic he almost wore his parents out, broke things from trying them out, and ran away from them at every juncture--at the park, mall, or church. He always loved to work and do "big jobs" at home. He wanted to learn how to wash clothes, so his mom taught him. By age six, he could wash, dry, and fold whites, darks, delicates, and towels with ease. In addition to his need to have his clothes match "just right," Jacob enjoyed this activity so much because it met his need to be doing something busy and productive.

As a preschooler, Jacob was most interested in the nursery rhymes his mom read when he could act them out. He learned them best by pretending to be Jack, "jumping over the candlestick" or Humpty Dumpty "falling off the wall."

While Jacob had excellent teachers who taught him phonics, he still learned to read primarily by sight. Once he saw a word, he usually could remember it the next time. He began reading as a kindergartner, which was a little ahead of schedule in light of a slight developmental language delay. And when he couldn't depend on his sight-word vocabulary, he had good phonics skills to rely on.

By the time he was in the second grade, Jacob was excelling partly because his parents understood his visual/kinesthetic strengths.

Combining Study Strategies
Whether your child in strong in looking, listening, or doing, or in a combination, in the chapters that follow you will discover some strategies that will capitalize on her strengths and enable her to learn more in the classroom and at home. If she has a mixture of strengths, combine methods from the different chapters and you'll find her more motivated and engaged in learning.

Subsequent Chapters Include:

Excerpt from Talkers, Watchers, and Doers by Cheri Fuller
Pinon Press, 2004, Colorado Springs, CO

Available For Purchase At: www.Amazon.com

The Xbox(TM) vs. Building Blocks: Does Technology Offer "Child's Work"?
by Kathy Lorkovic, Fat Brain Toys

Play Today
In our electronic age, toys entertain children with bleeps, blinking lights and predictable buttons to push, characters with personalities and actions established by what's on the television screen. Video games offer fast paced, up-front, in your face action. From Leapfrog(TM) to Play Station 2(TM), PSP(TM), the Xbox(TM), or the new Xbox 360(TM), what happens next is completely determined by what happens in the "mind of the box." Despite their presence for over a decade, electronic toys are not languishing, but breeding faster, more brilliant visuals, catchy sounds, "realistic movements," detailed scenarios and intense action.

The Marriage of Toys and Technology
Parents are concerned about their children's development on emotional, social, physical, spiritual, and intellectual levels. In recent years, "educational toys" have been a booming business. Well-intentioned parents go into toy stores and department stores with these things in mind... "My kids need to be able to read and write and do math. My kids need to develop greater creativity and inspiring thought. My kids need exposure to technology to succeed - no, to survive, in the world today."

Not surprising. Parents today come from an age when logical-sequential thinking was highly prized, and reading, writing, and math was the most widely inculcated focus of educators. Enter technology...exploding in its influence in everyday life and there's a new interest in exposing children to its possibilities. Catching the profit bearing winds and finding a niche in a booming market...toy manufacturers have incorporated technological advances that wow children and present the golden calf of electronic learning toys to parents.

Window into a Child's Playtime
Recently, my daughter received an electronic game for a gift. For the last two days, I have watched her visit her toy, repeating the same action of pushing letters again and again - not appearing interested in anything but getting the thing to speak as rapidly as possible. Within a few days, the newness wore off. Proving that initially, these toys do draw children in, but does the interest last?

In contrast, Alaina's favorite, enduring playthings are blocks, dolls, toy cars, and animal figures. She stacks the blocks into "houses" and chooses a pointed block for the top, feeds her doll and rocks the "baby" to sleep, drives the toy car across the bumpy brick fireplace and then moves to the smooth wall, makes the lion figure roar and purposefully stalk across the floor. Which toy is of more value to the development of the creative brain?

Bobby Rosenquest, assistant professor of education at Wheelock College in Boston sums it up well, "As the dolls and toys become more animated, the child is put in a responsive mode. The child is responding to what the toy does. That's very different from imagining and creating an entire world through play."

What Children Gain from their Play
The beauty of this observation is that it reinforces basic fundamentals of child's play. Young children are best served by toys that intuitively encourage the capacity for problem solving, open-ended creative thinking, persistence, and communication with others. Toys that generate new thoughts, actions, and feelings are the most valuable in the development of children.

Appropriate playthings can help children to come up with new solutions and ideas. They can help children assess and develop skills and talents in social, emotional and intellectual areas. The most valuable sense of power comes when children are in control of a toy and figure out how to do things on their own. A positive attitude toward learning follows.

When the play scenario stems from the mind of the child and grows to impact the child's environment and relationships in a positive way, the mental wheels turn, minds become capable of thinking independently, internal motivation is established, and pride in accomplishment through effort are the results.

The Best Toys for Young Children...What Wise Parents are Saying
The best toys for young children ages 2-7 from a developmental perspective are those that allow the child to direct the play process....blocks and other building toys, dolls & doll houses, farm sets, toy cooking sets, balls, musical instruments, toy vehicles (cars, trains, planes, boats), puppets, space sets, animal figures, art materials, and dress up clothes.

In my role at Fat Brain Toys, I have the opportunity to review hundreds of comments about toys written by parents. In this endeavor, I have heard scores of parents come upon the irony that for young children, the more advanced the toy, generally the less advanced the thought inspired by its use. The toy that grabs your child's attention first is often a toy that will hold his interest the least over time. Take it from an expert...

Jerry Windley-Daoust, a customer and parent comments, "You know, jumbo cardboard blocks are not the glitziest item to appear under the tree, but they get played with constantly for years afterward. Our kids make lots of child-sized towers and houses for the dolls and stables for toy horses. This is a toy that I remember playing with myself as a kid -- we liked to fill a doorway with them, and then crash through the blocks, or make the outline of a grocery store with them."

The Best Toys for Older Children...What Wise Parents are Saying
As a child develops intellectually, construction toys, art supplies, science kits, sports equipment and more "skill based" toys can hold priority in a child's free time and build the mental muscle. Finding toys that develop the intellect AND hold an older child's interest can be a challenge. Although it is rare, a few manufacturers understand what makes a toy truly educational for the pre-teen and teenager.

Thames and Kosmos offers advanced physics and chemistry sets, natural history kits and more. Well-designed and based in true science, these sets inspire intrigue and are well received by older kids. "Powerhouse" includes experiments developed by physicist Uwe Wandrey, integrating physical science and technology lessons with the adventure of building a home and living on a remote island. (To survive, you must learn how to harness the power of the sun and the wind as well as tap the energy of other physical forces.) Creative Cosmetics provides a hip format for scientific experimentation, focusing on beauty, skin care, cosmetics throughout history, biology, and chemistry.

Elenco Electronics provides fascinating electrical kits designed by electrical engineers. These kits teach the fundamentals of more advanced principles of electricity. Kids design their own circuits to perform tasks with Snap Circuits. With Elenco's Robotics line, kids build a number of ultra-cool robotic toys.

Erector Sets and Geomags offer high quality construction and endless creative possibilities. With advanced design capabilities, these are highly popular mind-building toys even with the adult set.

Turning off the Screen - Switching on Your Child's Mind
Efforts to expose your child to broader thinking are worthwhile. Viktoras Prizgintas is a parent who understands the value of this approach. In this product review, he describes the real victory...

"I can tell you that Techno Gears - Marble Mania Extreme is a wonderful project that done properly will establish some amazing skills and bonds between you and your child. If you are looking for a toy that will baby-sit your child, you will be frustrated by both this product and your child.

I've read numerous reviews about products that require some careful preparation, detailed construction, and basic maintenance after completion. Often, these toys are criticized for being too difficult to build and keep functioning. My son Alex is mildly autistic and the problems presented by these toys are part of his process towards learning about himself and the world he shares with others.

Not everything works well at first, not everything is easy, and most things work better when faced together with others. Problem solving and success accomplished through a little perseverance are great life-lessons.

I'm not an engineer by trade. In fact, I'm a musician with no technical training. Together, Alex and I learn about the importance of reading directions, taking inventory of parts, the slow process of building. We appreciate the joys of inserting our creativity to shape the outcome. Ultimately, we experience great pride in sharing our successes with others."

Carrying Past Wisdom into Today's High Tech World
Over the last century, many toys have found permanent residence in the National Toy Hall of Fame... Basic Building Blocks, Lincoln Logs, TinkerToys, Jigsaw Puzzles, Erector Sets, Crayola Crayons, Play-Doh, Slinky, Marbles, Silly Putty, Etch A Sketch, and Lego. In recent years, very few toys meet the same standards of excellence in creating child-driven motivation for learning. Intuitively, many grandparents realizing this argue that they don't make toys like they used to.

Throughout history, play has been coined "child's work." Child's work involves preparation for life skills. Does your child play with toys that encourage relationships, motivation for learning, independent and creative thought? As families, as parents, as kids, maybe it's time we just get back to "work!"

Inside the Toy: An Interview with Rock McKinley,
C.E.O. of ImagAbility and Co-Inventor of WEDGiTS

"Inside the Toy" is a recurring feature providing an in-depth look at a new toy manufacturer each issue. "Inside the Toy" will give you new insight into the inspirations and personalities behind your favorite toys.

At Fat Brain Toys, among our favorite toys for young children are WEDGiTS. We tracked down their inventor, the creative and high energy, Rock McKinley, vacationing on the islands of Hawaii and found him to be as pleasant as ever as he takes in a little rest and relaxation on the sunny islands.

What was the inspiration and motivation for starting WEDGiTS?
The inspiration came from geometry in school math books, specifically the rhombus and octahedron. As far as motivation, my wife (Caron) and I wanted to start a family business before the kids began high school. We thought this would be a great way for them to better understand, or apply their classroom instruction before selecting college majors.

ImagAbility is such a neat name for a company. What is the meaning behind it?
The moniker came from the statement "Imagine the Possibilities".

What was it like when you sold your first WEDGiTS set?
The story is quite funny. At the New York Toy Fair, the very first customer that showed interest in the WEDGiTS line actually walked into our booth asked two questions and then took out his checkbook. A minute later he handed us a check and then walked out of the booth. About fifteen minutes later this over-zealous Texan walked back into our booth and said that he wanted to double the order. His company focused on direct sales to pre-schools and church schools throughout Texas. To this day, Jerry O'rear (Salado Marketing) remains one of our dearest friends and a steady customer.

What is your company focus?
We find that we are a solid mix of education and specialty toy. Every year we introduce new products in the WEDGiTS line that offer "learning-value" along with "creative-play-value". Parents and teachers appreciate the basic math and science value that WEDGiTS offer. These are apparent in their simple representation of angles, molecules, levers, and matching associations. So, in addition to the toy--we produce numerous teaching guides and home activity books that naturally guide each child through development of writing, counting, dexterity and cognitive processing.

What trends do you see in the specialty toy and educational market?
It is difficult to monitor trends outside your own segment, however, it is much easier to stay on top of your own segment's trends by carefully listening to:
1. Children (likes and dislikes)
2. Parent focus (home, school, travel)
3. Teacher focus (learning-value and tools to support classroom)

What's it like being a big name in the toy industry?
The recognition is truly rewarding. It has significant meaning to be recognized by the special needs market, so you have a strong sense of helpful contribution. There is an additional recognition from distribution (retailers) in regards to keeping a commitment to the Specialty Toy and Educational dealer channel. Being profitable is extremely important because it demonstrates your products acceptance in the market and your value as a successfully operated company. Finally, the major rewards are just starting to mature based around major film studio interest in the WEDGiTS line....WEDGiTS animations are coming to life!!

Tell me about your children.
Rori, our daughter, has recently joined ImagAbilty in the capacity of Project Coordinator. We have always known that she is self-motivated and task oriented. What we were surprised to find is that she works faster and more efficiently than we do, so we are trying to play catch up with her activities. In addition to taking care of business, Rori has added her own creative-mix to marketing and design so, we are extremely delighted with the contribution and energy she brings.
Our son, Roger, is studying International Business and Marketing at CalPoly Pomona. Like Rori, he has traveled around the world with us participating in trade shows and business planning. He will most likely head into the entrepreneurial world as he has the drive, charisma and risk-taking characteristics.

What is your philosophy of child's play and what makes a good toy?
My philosophy of child's play is really quite simple...Playtime should be a natural learning process time. A good toy has reliable design, appropriate age recognition, color, texture and creative challenge. If a product is open-ended it keeps the child returning for play. If the child has the inherent design qualities to continually add a challenge to the toy then it will grow with the child....this means more add-on product sales. It's great for kids and profitable for the company.

Aside from WEDGiTS, what is your favorite toy?
My surfboard...I need some downtime to relax and re-energize. I love word games; games that keep my mind sharp and fast thinking.

Tell me a story from your childhood and what did you do for fun as a child?
As the oldest of four, I found that I had more free time to explore and play fantasy games like Robin Hood, Cowboys and Indians. I loved having the neighbor kids over to build forts out of boxes and to climb the tallest pine trees. For fun, I always had a blast going to the drive-in movies on a Saturday night. Mom and Dad would take us to the local A&W Rootbeer for a chili-dog and a frosty mug of rootbeer before the movie.

What do you do for fun now?
Ride my bike, shoot a bow and arrow, swim in the pond with my dog, play tennis with my wife, read numerous books, and I am really enjoying perfecting the design for our new home.

How do you measure your success?
Smiles, time with family, growing vacation time with my wife and family members, having children spend more time with us.

What has been your greatest obstacle and what has been the most important lesson you have learned from it?
Things don't happen overnight, so, I have to continue to improve my patience and stay-the-course. Along the same line of thinking, the most important lesson I have learned from this is to NEVER SAY NEVER!

Who was the person who most influenced you, and how?
My parents. My mother gave me love and total acceptance. Drive and ambition were learned from my father: "Whatever man can conceive; man can achieve."

What did you do before WEDGiTS?
I was in the computer and semiconductor fields. My previous entrepreneurial focus was within the wireless gaming market...capital, capital, capital intensive.

What's in the future for WEDGiTS?
WEDGoids will be landing on planet earth in the next few years. They will interact with human children to learn how to resolve social and global issues.

If you could choose, what would you be doing X years from now?
I have already started my next business venture in deep-ocean desalination. The next world wars will be fought over water, not oil. Our goal is to create unlimited water supplies around the world at very affordable prices.

If you could have dinner with anyone, living or dead, who would it be?
Leonardo da Vinci...How could one man have so much knowledge and creative ability? I think he would have been a fascinating mentor.

Describe your ideal vacation?
I am currently taking in the sun and surf on Poipu beach in Kawaii...sand, surf, sunsets, ocean sounds, fresh air, swaying palm trees...total relaxation anytime.

Is there anything you would like to add?
Aloha!

Year ImagAbility conceived: 1995
WEDGiTS Patent: US Patent #6224453

WEDGiTS Awards Received:

Of course, Fat Brain Toys carries the complete line of WEDGiTS. See the included buyer's guide for some of the best sellers or go to www.FatBrainToys.com to shop the complete line of WEDGiTS!

Toys Are For Kids of All Ages...And We Can Prove It!

As part of our ongoing effort to fully understand the needs of our customers, we routinely ask our customers to complete a short, optional, survey about who the recipient of the toy is and their relationship to them. Most times, the statistics are pretty much what you'd guess, while other times, a statistic will simply jump off the page!

When we asked our customers for whom they are buying the toy, the top responses were predictably for ages 2 and 3. But what age group do you suppose came in a close third? Adults!

This just goes to prove that age has very little to do with the joy derived from a good toy. Play is an ageless pleasure. So, at your next opportunity - give the adults in your life gifts that truly delight. Try some unique desk toys, a riveting brainteaser, an award-winning game, a historic toy treasure or modern toy wonder. Fat Brain Toys have the ability to keep "grown-up kids" grinning all year long!

Fat Brain Toys Introduces The Educator's Corner

Starting in April of 2006, Fat Brain Toys quietly began rolling out a new section of their website, entitled "Educator's Corner", devoted to educators of all kinds: public, private, homeschool, special education, counseling, and even higher education.

It's no surprise that educators are naturally attracted to the educational-based products found at Fat Brain Toys. But educators have unique requirements that differ from those of the average consumer. So we took it upon ourselves to build a site-within-our-site that is tailored to those specific needs.

Educator's Corner provides several tools that make it easier for educators to purchase products from Fat Brain Toys. We've added Wish Lists that can be used for requisitioning products from administrators or parents. We've added robust support for accepting school purchase orders. But the feature we've found educators are most excited about is our "Gold Star Rewards" program!

We've created a variety of opportunities for educators to earn Gold Stars. Each Gold Star can be redeemed for $1 in gift certificates from Fat Brain Toys. These gift certificates can be used like cash for any product at Fat Brain Toys. For example, if you opened an account (2 Gold Stars) and placed an order for $100 (5 Gold Stars) and then wrote a lesson plan around one of our products (15 Gold Stars), you'd earn a total of 22 Gold Stars which could then be used as $22 for any merchandise from Fat Brain Toys.

Rewarding teachers for submitting lesson plans has created a fantastic synergy. Educators are sharing their methods and processes for utilizing toys and materials to effectively reach and teach children.

Teachers from classrooms and homeschools are writing the plans and in exchange, Fat Brain Toys is gifting them credit toward the purchase of additional products for their home or classroom. An example of one of these lesson plans has been included below.

If you're an educator, we encourage you to join our "Gold Star Rewards" program TODAY. There's no cost - but plenty of benefits! To join, simply visit www.FatBrainToys.com and look for the Educator's Corner.

Focus on the Educator: Shereelynn Koehler, North Bergen, New Jersey
Currently Homeschooling 11th, 9th & 6th Grade Students

What do you feel is most significant to being an effective teacher?
I think finding what style your child learns with and then going with that to teach them. If your child is an auditory or kinesthetic learner or visual learner... go with that. I have a child that is an auditory learner, we did the whole Narnia series on audio and worked into comprehension with it...even writing small reports on what they heard that day.

What is most rewarding about homeschooling?
When my children go on in their lives and become successful, I know that I was in their background as an important figure. All parents feel that to a degree, but as a homeschool mom that is even more. I genuinely love working with my children and being with them. I love the relationship we have. Even my adult children and I, we are so close. Because I spent so much time with them...we have a different relationship.

What is your Favorite Fat Brain Toy?
I absolutely love the Learning Calendar! I like the different historical things each day, I love the idea that I can go online at other sites or visit Fat Brain Toys to find great extensions to that knowledge. Every single morning I sit down with my kids and they are so excited to find out what's the next thing for the day. It crosses all age lines. From adults down to little kids we can all talk about it. It is family friendly and usable by everyone.