It's that time of year to start stocking up on back to school materials and we can't wait to share with you which merka products are our all-time faves for preschoolers.     Toddler Placemat Set This set is for toddlers and beyond and is so versatile for preschoolers to play and learn with. Our wipe clean Educational Placemats are reusable and durable, with a handy non-slip back. The set includes four placemats- shapes, colors, numbers and letters, covering all the fundamentals for a preschooler.     The most obvious way to use these placemats is during meal time and of...

Flashcards are a great addition to play and learning set-ups. They add a subtle but important splash of learning to the activity without taking away from the hands-on experience for the child. In this blog we are sharing 3 simple activity ideas for preschoolers which combine early literacy and numeracy learning with our Educational Flashcard Sets.     Pom Pom Addition Pom poms are a great manipulative to use for early numeracy learning. The soft texture and bright colors are always appealing to preschoolers. We used colorful pom poms, our Learning Resources Squeezy Tweezers™, a fun activity tray from the...

Merka's Coloring Mats can be used for so much more than just coloring. Our Let's Practice Numbers Mat, which comes as part of the Alphabet Set, is great for encouraging number recognition, counting, and number formation. In this blog we are sharing a fun idea for combining loose parts and one of our most popular coloring mats in order to support your child's numeracy learning.     What You Need As well as your Numbers Coloring Mat, you will ned your dry erase markers which come with the mat, and some bright and colorful loose parts. Loose parts are simply...

Activities which encourage preschoolers to learn about using their senses are always lots of fun. We teamed up our sensory flashcards from the Educational Flashcards Explorer Set with a fun materials tray to explore. So much play and learning happened!     What You Need Gather up a fun selection of materials from your art supply boxes and kitchen cupboards. The materials really don't need to be fancy, just everyday items with a good mixture of textures and colors. Try to include a few which will make a noise when crumpled. We included metallic pipe cleaners, tissue paper squares, wooden...

Flashcards have so many versatile uses for both play and learning. We decided to use our Educational Flashcards Animals Set for a fun hands-on sorting activity. Read all about the simple set up, as well as the range of skills being developed through the activity.     The Set Up The set up for this activity is so simple and that's one of the reasons we love it so much. Simply create three sorting areas- one for land animals, one for sky animals and one for sea creatures. We used large pieces of poster board to make these zones, but...

Our Educational Placemat Toddlers Set is one of our best-sellers, but did you know that it can be used for a whole host of fun hands-on learning activities with your littles? In this blog we are sharing a fun activity for each of the Color, Shape, Letters and Numbers Mat.     Counting & Colors Game This simple game is the perfect way to encourage both counting and color recognition. You need your Merka Color Placemat, a dice (we used our Learning Resources Dice Popper!), and some sort of loose part (we used Plus Plus pieces).     Ask your toddler...

There's nothing sweeter than seeing your child excitedly exploring nature and all the beautiful colors associated with it. We've got a great outdoors use for our Color Educational Toddler Set Placemat and we wanted to tell you all about it!     All you need for this fun activity is one of our Color Mats from the Educational Placemat Toddlers Set, and a beautiful outdoor space full of natural treasures to discover. Challenge your little explorer to find something in nature which matches each color on the mat.     It was no surprise to use that our explorer sprinted...