Stuffed Animal House
Objective
The children will name and identify structures that people call home
Primary Market
Pre School
Character Focus
Creative Thinking, Fine Motor Skills
Items Needed
Small stuffed animals, connectors, smaller sized poles
This Idea Was Inspired By
Community themed lessons
The Activity Time
15-20

 

Description:This activity fits into a Community Theme and is designed for the children to name and discuss different structures that people call home.  The children will use the materials, to create homes for their stuffed animals, and discuss how the homes they made are similar or different.  They will then name and discuss different structures that people call home.

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Materials: connectors, smaller sized poles, stuffed animals, hand towels or pieces of fabric equivalent  in size (to be used for a roof or walls if desired)

Instructions:

1. Put materials out on the floor and invite the child/children to come play.

2.Explain that today, they will be building houses for their stuffed animals, using the connectors, poles, and hand towels.

3. Model, if necessary, to show how the connectors and poles fit together and how the towels can be used as a roof for their stuffed animal house.

4.For younger children, houses can be built ahead of time and they can be invited to add onto the house, or simply play with their stuffed animals using the houses.

5. Talk about the stuffed animal houses that were made.  What is similar about the houses that the children made?  What is different?

6. Discuss the different types of homes that people live in.  Name different types of places people call home: apartments, town houses, single family homes etc.  What is similar about these types of homes?  What is different about them?

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Joe Donahue is the manager of day-to-day operations and the person who originally conceived of the TOOBEEZ product.

Joe had a vision to create a life-sized Tinker Toy(TM) for families to play with to help reconnect with each other. It took four years of business planning, market research, manufacturing trips, endless conference calls with engineers, designers and patent attorneys but finally on September 21, 2003, the Toobeez product was born!

Often referred to as Giant Tinkertoys(TM), Toobeez is a life-sized construction building system comprised of interlocking tubes and spheres that can be linked together to create anything imaginable, from a simple cube shape to a complex structure like a lemonade stand, house, airplane or submarine. Just connect, twist and create!

Initially, Toobeez was sold exclusively to the specialty toy market, but due to its open-ended nature, it didn’t take long to realize the versatility of the product and the many different ways it could be used.

Today, the Toobeez system is currently being used by educators, team building/training professionals, occupational and recreational therapists, camp counselors, Boy and Girl Scout troops, church youth groups and the list grows every day. There is even a group of forward thinking dog trainers who use Toobeez to create challenging courses for agility training (we're not making this up)!

Armed with the knowledge that there was more to Toobeez than just a toy, Joe reached out to industry experts and educators with the goal of developing a collection of materials that provide activities, educational tools and lesson plans for use with Toobeez. Among the topics covered: team building, math, language arts, occupational therapy and special needs and senior needs. Currently under development is a corporate team building workbook and a physical education activity book.

Whether in a playroom, classroom, corporation, camp or healthcare setting, Toobeez aims to provide every participant with a positive, healthy and fun learning experience!

Since the inception of Toobeez in 2001, it has been the company’s mission to connect people, inspire creativity and foster imagination. As a testament to their roots, Joe and the entire Toobeez team continuously strive to deliver a quality product that promotes connection and teamwork to ultimately bring people together.
All Activities of Joe Donahue - Inventor

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