Smile Education: What are 'core' products?

    Whenever I mention SMILE Educational products, most people's first reaction is: "But I heard they didn't exist anymore?!" Although the company has changed owners a few times in recent years, Smile is still very much with us and I am delighted to be your source for their incomparable educational products. 

For ordering information, please see the bottom of this post.

      Smile Education has set the benchmark for educational toys in South Africa for many years and not surprisingly so. This proudly South African range has very few competitors even in the international market when it comes to quality and pure educational value.  No other range so extensively caters for just about every early childhood skill that children need to master and therapists, teachers and parents alike are spoiled for choice when looking for developmental aids for little ones. 

   The Smile range is an extensive one, but over the years the developers had identified a few of the products as essential for the basic skills all children need to master in their toddler and pre-school years. CORE PRODUCTS, then, are in short, those items that every household with young children should have.H

   Below is a list of Smile's twelve Core Products: 

1,2,3 Go! - Price: R245

Smile's deluxe numeracy-in-a-box set includes:

60 Touch 'n Count cubes

Number spinner

Laminated picture cards

Laminated dot cards

Laminated number cards

Laminated write-and-wipe dotted numbers cards

Desktop number line

Laces (for threading colour patterns using Touch n Count cubes)

Touch n Count book - an essential guide to teaching early numeracy to the basic operations of addition, subtraction, division and multiplication.

As a side note: this set is comprehensive enough that we have been using it as our early maths program in our home school.

Mega Peg & Play - PRICE: R210

A large, chunky first peg board, ideal for little hands. 

Develops fine motor skills and coordination, colour and shape recognition. 

At first young children simply try to put the pegs into the holes, and may even stack them (my children love to build a tower with ALL the pegs - because the shaft of each piece is so long, the tower won't tumble!)

Later on you can slip one of the four colour mats onto the board and the child has to then match the correct shapes and colours to the picture. 

An excellent produbt to practice repeating patterns - either building them on the board or threading the pegs in pattern using the laces provided.

Bridge to Learning - Price: R210

 The creme de la creme  of the core products! If you only buy one, let it be this one. 

For a two-part review of this product by an occupational therapist, please read my posts here and here. 

Bobbles and Beads - R225

Busy Buttons - R225

Geostacks - R260

Elastica - R250

3 D Designs - R300

Geostructa - R250

Growing up with a Smile - R150

Really...no mommy with little ones should be without this book, brimming with ideas on how to playfully help babies and toddlers develop essential skills at home. The best part? Just about all the activities suggested in this gem of a book can be done using things you already have at home! (how about tying the laundry basket to the washing line and having your child try tossing a ball or bean bag into it?!)

LogiShapes Galore - R210

Pegboars Combo - R210

HOW TO ORDER:

• Please e-mail your order, including postal address to joyfulmama@telkomsa.net
• I gladly post to any address in South Africa, postage being for your account
• Once I have received your order, I will send you an invoice for the total, including postage. I will mail your order as soon as payment reflects in my bank account.
• Please allow two to three weeks for delivery, depending on stock levels.