Click-A-Brick Co-Founder Jason Smith has come up with tips for parents to help turn the Feather Friends set into a learning toy to teach their children about the avian world.
The businessman says he wants parents to be able to use the Feather Friends set to teach their children about the various birds the set makes, as well as learning about birds in general. Much like the Animal Kingdom Safari set can foster an interest in animals at an early age, the avian set can be used to help children get a better grasp of birds from an early age, Smith says.
“We always try to keep the focus with Click-A-Brick on learning,” Smith said. “We don’t believe kids should just be learning about the latest movie characters and franchises. We believe they should also be learning about the world around them and we want parents to keep that in mind when they buy Click-A-Brick for their children. Kids love learning about animals and birds tend to hold a special place for most kids because they can fly. What kid hasn’t dreamed of being able to fly? The Feather Friends set is a great introduction to birds for young kids.”
In the interest of using Click-A-Brick as a learning toy, Smith has come up with a list of ways that parents can utilize the set as a segue for children to learn about the actual feathered friends that share their world.
1. Read books that have birds as characters and build the birds that are in the books.
“Even if children can’t read yet, they love listening to stories and looking at the pictures,” Smith said. “We encourage parents to try to find books with the birds that are in the set so they can identify them with their children and build them together. The Feather Friends set has instructions to build a macaw, a toucan, a cockatiel, a flamingo and a kingfisher.”
2. Research the birds in the set and talk about them while helping children build them.
“We don’t mean in-depth research, but parents can read a little about the various birds that the set can make and talk to their kids about them as they’re making them,” Smith said. “Kids love to learn and we believe they learn best when they don’t even realize it.”
3. Visit a zoo and identify the birds in the set.
“If a parent is planning a trip to the zoo, then that is the perfect opportunity for them to talk about and identify the animals in both the Feather Friends and Animal Kingdom Safari sets,” Smith said. “Parents can either ask their kids to build the animals and birds they saw after the trip, or take Click-A-Brick along and sit down somewhere and build them right there at the zoo.”
4. Identify local birds and try to create them using Click-A-Brick.
“The birds in the Feather Friends set are tropical and won’t really be seen flying around most people’s neighborhoods,” Smith said. “However, what parents can do is identify local birds and ask their kids to build those. They likely won’t be as colorful as the tropical birds, but it will still help children learn about the birds in their own backyards.”
5. Identify other birds using books or some other source and try to build them.
“Whether it’s books or birds children see in movies or even on cereal boxes, parents can point them out to children and see if they can build that feather friend from their Click-A-Bricks,” Smith said.