Cookie Festival

Product Description

Cognitive 4

Skills

• The different color cookiemen allow children to practice color recognition and identification.
• The 3D puzzle element of Cookie Festival promotes critical thinking skills while encouraging problem solving as children place the puzzle pieces.
• Children can practice spatial relationships as they stack and balance the cookiemen on the Banana Base during play. 

Play Ideas

• Try out a magic trick! Using 3 of the same color cookiemen, caregivers can hide a piece of candy, sticker or small item inside, shuffle the cookiemen around and then have the child select which one has the hidden treat inside.
• Caregiver can create handmade (drawn or computer) cards with cookiemen patterns for kids to mimic like in a game of Tangrams.
• Add numbers with stickers onto the belly’s of the cookimen to practice math concepts like counting, addition or patterns with kids. 

Adaptation Ideas

• Children can start by creating patterns in 2D (flat) on the table or the floor and then build up to stacking the cookiemen in 3D. 

Communicative 4

Skills

• Precision is honed as children use hand-eye coordination to balance the cookiemen on top of one another without knocking over the rest when using the Banana Base.
• Cookie Festival promotes fine motor skills like pincer and whole hand grasp as children hold and place the cookiemen on a flat surface or the Banana Base during play.
• Bilateral coordination is encouraged as kids use both hands to hold two cookiemen and stack them together during play. 

Play Ideas

• Make it a race! Give each person 4 of the same color cookiemen to stack and unstack competitively. This game can be competitive or a race against the clock.
• During play, kids can be encouraged to use their non-dominant hand to stack or place the cookiemen on the Banana Base.
• Fill the cookiemen with different materials like sand, dried beans, water, etc. and have kids guess which fillers weigh the most. 

Adaptation Ideas

• Have kids practice stacking the cookiemen on different bases to work up to the rocking Banana Base. For example, start with the Cookie Festival box.  

Social/Emotional 4

Skills

• With 16 cookiemen, the Cookie Festival allows kids to play independently or cooperatively with peers during play.
• Cookie Festival provides a hands-on demonstration team work, as each cookieman is balanced or stacked with another cookieman to reach new heights.
• Construction toys like Cookie Festival help kids gain an understanding of the world around them by literally manipulating objects in their surroundings. 

Play Ideas

• Take turns placing the cookiemen to have it be a collaborative stack, with each person adding on to the other’s creation.
• Be creative and use imagination with the Cookie Festival! Let the Banana Base become a phone that children can use to communicate with the cookiemen.
• Place different feelings inside the cookiemen based on their color. Colors can represent different feelings and allow kids to express their emotions through play. For example, yellow could include feelings like happy or excitement.