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Count and Learn With Babushka: Educational and Fun Games for Kids

Count and Learn With Babushka: Educational and Fun Games for Kids

 

Russian nesting dolls, (most commonly known as Matryoshka or Babushka) are mostly used as decorative pieces as well as gift items. But did you know that they can be used as educational tools? Because they come in pieces, these dolls are great especially for kids who are yet to begin formal schooling. They provide an easy way of slowly introducing leaning concepts in a fun way. To add to the experience, it is prudent to make the learning process fun by incorporating games.

The babushka dolls come in pieces, and they have simple paintings that will make it easy to differentiate. They are also attractive hence easy to capture a child's attention. Below are some of the ways in which you can use the dolls to teach your kids.

Practicing and Enhancing Motor Skills
Although many child development experts suggest that motor skills are inborn, enhancing them is a different ball game all together. Children that do not have the opportunities to play, learn and discover are often at a disadvantage in life. Learning and motor skill development require active learning combined with an interesting environment that activates thinking and motor skills. This is the reason as why kids are able to do different things at different ages. If you want to have to have your kids enhance fine motor skills at an early age, then babushka dolls will come in handy. They are made in such a way that in order to access the entire set, you have to open and close. To do this there is a considerable amount of coordination as well as using the hand muscle.

Number Concepts and Counting
Because most of the babushka dolls come in 3 to 5 pieces, they make a great way to start introducing numbers to the little ones. You start by counting the pieces, then introduce the child in the process and eventually have them count by themselves. This makes a fun way of introducing numbers while at the same time teaching the child how to count. Once the child has mastered the simple concepts you can then increase the numbers and even introduce basic multiplication. With babushka dolls, if you are creative then the possibilities are innumerable.

Ordering by Size
Once a child has mastered the numbering concept you can enhance the learning experience by including the ordering bit. Try to get the kids to arrange the pieces from the biggest to the smallest and vice versa. To make the experience even more thrilling you can add a stop watch and let the kid see how fast they can arrange the pieces. This way, they are able to practice their fine motor skills and face the challenge.

Develop Story-Telling Skills
The pieces in the babushka dolls have pictures that mostly have a story behind them. Even if the pieces do not necessarily depict a story, you can make up a story together with the kids using the pieces as illustrations. This will help the children to comfortable tell stories. You can also engage the older children further by having them write down stories. This will help them improve their grammar and greatly advance their creativity and imagination.

From the above it is clear that apart from their beauty, the babushka dolls are great pieces that can be beneficial in a child's early learning and development. These beautiful items can be used in hundreds of different ways to enhance childhood learning and creativity. Using these dolls as educational tools is a fun and an intelligent choice for parents seeking interesting ways to combine learning with fun activities.

You can learn much more about Russian nesting dolls and Russian culture on my website at http://www.greatrussiangifts.com where we offer hundreds of different nesting dolls for sale, along with a blog and hundreds of pages of information about Russia and Russian culture.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Irina_Hinderliter

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