Rainbow Architect Set

Beautiful natural solid beechwood nesting shape sets in the seven colours of the rainbow, with a natural finish to show the grain of the wood. The 4 geometric shapes are squares, rectangles, triangles and arches. The inner block in each nesting group is a solid 3D shape.

This wide-ranging enabling resource will provide endless possibilities for creativity, construction and imaginative play, engaging children in learning across several areas of the curriculum: using innovation and creativity to build towers, houses or freeform sculptures; using the imagination to design rooms for filling with small world play people or animals; applying mathematical logic to sort counters into the shapes which match by colour, shape or size; learning the geometric properties of common shapes; exploring size and scale; using mathematical terms - larger, smaller, taller, wider etc; and for improving language skills and broadening descriptive vocabulary.

Supports the following areas of learning:

• Personal Development - collaborative play
• Physical Development - motor skills, construction
• Communication & Language - descriptive language
• Expressive Arts & Design - imaginative play
• Maths - shape & space, sorting, pattern & sequence
• Understanding the World - colour

Nursery World Equipment & Resources Awards 2019
(Gold - Prime Areas category)

What the NW Award testers said:

Described as an "outstanding" resource with "endless" learning opportunities, these sets were used in one of the settings to build different objects, nest together and colour match, and produced lots of "rich language, moving and handling and collaborative play". 

The smooth edges are safe for younger children, and a child with special educational needs in one setting loved them, and said "rainbow" for all of them because of the colours. Testers commended the open-endedness of the product and their value for exploring a range of concepts - colour, size, shapes, curved and straight - as well as how shapes fit together.

A very "versatile and open-ended resource" [said] one setting whose children used them to create patterns and design rooms which they filled with small-world play people and furniture. The shapes are also useful for helping the children to learn colours, shapes and sizes and use mathematical terminology such as "larger", "smaller, "taller" and "wider", which is great for broadening their descriptive vocabulary.

"I would definitely recommend them to other settings - and they are a timeless resource that we look forward to using with the children for many years to come!" enthused one tester.

Specification

Size: height of triangle set 148mm, square set 148mm, rectangle set 148mm, arch set 73mm. Wall thickness 8mm. Pk28.

Age: Suitable from 12 months.