Being a qualified HLTA (higher level teaching assistant) and a SEN support assistant for the past 12 years means a lot of the play I do with Ellie is very structured and has some element of learning to it. It’s never intentional but even she has learnt that Mummy plays school and Daddy plays with his imagination.
At the start of lockdown we were very lucky to win a set of cards from a small business called Teddo Play. I’d heard about them through another small business and really liked the look of their cards so was buzzing when I found out i’d won a set. I got to know the owner Keisha and learnt all about the foundations that started Teddo Play and how much really goes in to making a small business successful.
First of all what I really love about Teddo Play is that everything is made in the UK from the designing to the making of the cards, the box and everything inside! It’s very rare for a company to be completely made in one country.
Our giveaway prize was absolutely amazing. A box of learning cards based on Parents and their Young and contained 40 thick learning cards which has a high-definition photograph of the animal on the front and information on the back. For me, the first thing that stood out was the photograph choice rather than a cartoon image. This helps the child recognise the animals in real world scenarios. These specific cards can be used to teach new words, new links between parent and child and talk about the places that they live – as seen in the photograph. Ellie loved talking about the different animals, what their young was called and matching them to her toys.
Since then we have purchased 2 more sets from Teddo Play – Birds of Prey, Wild Animals, Insects and Farm Animals and a set of Imperfects, which is a mixture of each set in perfectly good condition just have slight imperfections. The Wild Animals set has the spelling of these animals on the reverse which I thought would be good to help Ellie with her reading and recognising the names of common animals she knows. We have used these to listen to the initial sound of the animals and then check the spelling to see if she’s got the correct sound.
We’ve had so much fun with our learning cards, Ellie asks to get them and we incorporate them in a lot of our play and learning. The quality of each card is to a very high standard and everything has been designed with children in mind. For young children they are big enough to be held and also wipeable! For older children they have detailed information, clear photographs and a font that is distraction free allowing the child to focus more on the information.
We have mixed our cards, used them to play matching games, sorting into animal where they live and differentiated between the types of animal they are. The ways to use the cards are limitless.
Keisha has spent months creating a new website, one that really shows off how wonderful her cards are and you can really see how others have used them too. The website is LIVE today with a special LIMITED EDITION set of cards which I can not wait to start using with Ellie, along with others I have my eye on too!
We are very fortunate to be affiliates for the Teddo Play brand and ask for any orders to be made through our very special link by doing so I will earn a commission on any order made.
You can see the wonderful Teddo Play cards in action over on our Instagram and at:
Teddo Play
Teddo Play Instagram
The following accounts are all brand reps for the amazing cards too and definitely worth checking out to see more ideas for play with the cards:
Raising My Sunshine
Reusable Family
Jaymi Leigh
Our Play Journey
Mancunian Mum
Mc Mama 2 Boys
Mrs Montie Makes
Winging Life At No 7
Paper Stories
Eat No Sleep Sparkle Repeat
Nic Balshaw
Play Ideas With Jess
As always, all opinions and views are my own.
Mothering A Rainbow 