The Educational Benefits of Playing With Shopkins
Surely you have heard of Shopkins™. They are super cute, small characters that live in a BIG shopping world! There’s hundred of Shopkins™ to collect and stores are trying desperately to keep up with the demand for this latest craze.
But for reasons you might not have thought of. We love them for the educational benefits they offer and we are keeping our stores stocked with them to ensure kids have access to these awesome new learning aids. We know what you’re thinking- How could these little tiny figurines be at all educational?!
Here are five educational benefits to playing with Shopkins™.
Creativity and Imagination– The idea of Shopkins™ is to collect them and build your own little Shopkins™ world. Imagine the world of valuable pretend play these little figurines offer. Children will spend hours bringing each character to life and act out scenarios. Children can act out scenes from their favourite Shopkins™ episodes or their own experiences. Make-believe play is often nourished by positive real-life events, and children re-enact what they perceive as positive events by associating them with having fun.
Speech and Language– When children are engaging in pretend play, they tell stories, and they make letter sounds that increase their vocabulary and word comprehension. They also have fun with words as they build their narration skills through role-playing. Ask your children about their Shopkins™ figures. Which are their favourites? Why are they their favourites? These sorts of interactions are extremely valuable for children, creating opportunities for them to further develop social communication skills.
Social Skills and Self Esteem– Shopkins™ are pretty fantastic tools for developing and exercising social skills, such as cooperation, sharing, conflict resolution/self-control, and taking turns. Siblings are encouraged to work together to collect all of the figurines in each series. Shopkins™ are able to be carried from place to place, so children can share their toys where they go, with friends or family. Through play, children also practice how to settle arguments over a toy through discussion rather than aggression. They can later generalize this constructive behaviour into a play situation with their friends.
Fine Motor– Imaginative play with Shopkins™ improves fine motor skills by encouraging hand-eye coordination and honing children’s visual and tactile senses.
Cognitive– Memory, logic and planning are all important skills that Shopkins™ can help develop/strengthen. Children are motivated to memorize each characters name and some key details, such as BFF, favourite hobby and their favourite hang outs throughout the store. Shopkins™ also challenge children to recall scenes from their favourite episodes, or recall a favourite real-life event of their own to act out during pretend play. Through play, children can learn about logical sequences of events. Shopkins™ can also be a great math manipulative. Use them to help children understand basic math facts (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division)- “There are 17 Team Bakery Shopkins™ in Series 1. You have 7. How many more would you need to buy in order to have all 17?”
