About Skola Toys
Skola Toys is a recently launched wooden toy manufacturing enterprise in India. While Skola Toys is their recent venture, their vision had started long ago in 1992 as Kido enterprises in manufacturing Montessori materials. In 2013, Kido launched Kreedo, a preschool curriculum and early education research and training centre. With their extensive experience and background in early education, co-founders Mridula Sridhar and Manikandan VK have launched Skola Toys in September 2017.
Dictation Vs. Discovery – Blogger’s Meet
The 8th of December, 2017 saw us, a bunch of bloggers, educationists and child therapists meet at the Park Hotel, Chennai for a warm discussion on the effects of dictation vs discovery on early learning in children. The meet was organized by Skola Toys where we had the chance to interact with Mridula Sridhar, Co-Founder of Skola Toys. Post the discussion, we took a walk around the display of Skola Toys collection. As a participant blogger, I feel privileged to bring to you the fine points, videos and photographs from the meet.
Which is the right way – Dictation or Discovery?
When Ms. Mridula Sridhar set this question on our tables, it was intriguing to listen to fellow moms and educationists coming out with their unique opinions. The opinions were about a mix of child-led discovery and the combination of discovery with a slight push of dictation wherever necessary. The video below, covering the discussion, was taken live at the meet.
How good or bad is technology for early learners?
An occupational therapist (among the participants) explained that screen time is a form of one way communication and detailed how it can delay speech in children. One of the mothers explained how she uses technology for explaining concepts like the life cycle of a butterfly to her four year old son. A school principal described the ill effects of young children being exposed to social media. Another mother realistically explained screen time can do no good for a child though a tired mother can take a rescue.
What’s unique about Skola Toys?
So, the heart of the meet was to understand what makes Skola Toys unique. Mridula Sridhar, Co-Founder of Skola Toys briefed some key points behind the making of their creations.
- What’s more important is to make children become learners than what they learn. A learner will naturally develop interest and ways to learn. He/she need not depend on an external source for teaching. This particular point was impressive.
- Children have an inherent tendency to get attracted to natural materials like sand, stones, wood, water etc. When given a choice between plastic and wood, wood would be more inviting to them.
- In order to build a perfect balance of social, physical, emotional and psychological development, children need more of play time with hands-on experience which is largely inadequate during a screen time.
The core concept underlying Skola creations are the Learning Journeys designed as Play. Skola toys are not just random play items; rather each one of them make an integral part of your child’s learning abilities. Watch the video below to listen to what Ms. Mridula Sridhar has to stay about the learning journeys concept.
A Walk through Skola Toys
The video below takes you through the collection of Skola Toys. Little V enjoyed playing with most of them, some of the videos of which are also included in the video below.
For the engineer in him, my four year old boy liked the Restaurant Geometry Set the best. He was already imagining his Lego men sitting on the chairs and having pizza on the restaurant tables 😛
As a parent who is curious to make her son learn, I personally liked the Word Wheel the best though I would have to wait for a while until Little V begins to show interest in words. For now, he likes to weave alphabets to form words. So that has brought the Alphabet Finger Puppets home. I shall soon post my review on that.
And I have to mention about the Rainbow Stacker. It looks like a simple stacking toy. However, I am sure Little V will have a great time constructing multiple structures using it. For children who love building and construction games, the Rainbow Stacker is an adorable gift.