GB2252654A

GB2252654A - A teaching aid

Info

Publication number: GB2252654A
Application number: GB9102508A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Neil Martin Skull; Sally Anne Skull
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1991-02-06
Filing date: 1991-02-06
Publication date: 1992-08-12
Anticipated expiration: 2011-02-06
Also published as: GB9102508D0; AU1179692A; GB2252654B; WO1992013614A1

Abstract

A teaching aid for children, comprising a support surface (3), a plurality of movable units (9), each including identification means for allowing differentiation between the movable units (9), and a plurality of means (7) for releasably holding the units (9) adjacent the support surface (3), each said holding means (7) having identification means (5) associated therewith corresponding to the movable unit (9) identification means, whereby a movable unit (9) can be matched to a holding means (7) by reference to the identification means (5). The teaching aid enables a child, of between, say, 18 months and 4 years, to progress through a number of different learning processes using the same equipment throughout.

Description

A TEACHING AID This invention relates to teaching aids, and in particular to a teaching aid for children between the ages of approximately 18 months and 4 years.

Many forms of toys for young children are known, some of which are considered to act as teaching aids for the children whilst they play. In general, however, many of these toys are bought because they appeal to the child's parents as being good teaching aids, but are in practice not appropriate to the child. This is because parents often do not understand how the learning processes of a child actually take place.

Further, many toys are designed for use by specific age, or ability, groups of children and, therefore, become obsolete very quickly. In this regard, young babies use toys purely as playthings, before beginning to learn fine motor skills, such as hand dexterity. Hand-eye coordination then develops, and later on colour recognition and understanding occurs. Hence, it will be appreciated that a child goes through different stages of learning, one merging into the other as the child develops. A child may, however, at certain times of stress (such as during illness), regress in his ability to play.

As mentioned above, children's teaching aids are often very age-specific and are therefore not suitable for use by children of different ages, or by a single child through a number of stages of its learning process. The present invention, however, aims to overcome this drawback.

Known children's toys/teaching aids include playthings, "post box" games and peg boards. Basic playthings, such as cuddly toys, are fine for very young children, who simply handle and generally entertain themselves with the toy, in a tactile manner. However, after a certain time, the child becomes bored with the plaything and discards it. The next stage might be the introduction of a "post box" game to the child. Such a game involves a post box having different shaped apertures and a plurality of correspondingly shaped pieces. The child explores the pieces for a while, before inserting them through the correspondingly shaped apertures into the post box. In this way, the child learns the relationship between the shape of the piece and the shape of the aperture. However, as soon as the pieces have been posted, the game finishes.Hence, such a game does not keep the child stimulated for very long, especially once the child has seen the game a few times.

Finally, peg boards can keep slightly older children stimulated, since they are free to put the pegs into and withdraw the pegs from different holes, thus defining shapes and patterns which can easily be varied. Such toys, however, can be dangerous, if given to children of a young age, due to the shape and sharpness of the pegs themselves.

As mentioned previously, the present invention aims to overcome many of the drawbacks of the prior art teaching aids, in particular by providing a teaching aid which is safe for use by children of different ages and which can take the child from its very early stages of learning to a relatively advanced stage. Further, a teaching aid according to the invention is cheap to manufacture, but may also be colourful and attractive to children.

According to the present invention there is provided a teaching aid for children, comprising a support surface, a plurality of movable units, each including identification means for allowing differentiation between the movable units, and a plurality of means for releasably holding the units adjacent the support surface, each said holding means having identification means associated therewith corresponding to the movable unit identification means, whereby a movable unit can be matched to a holding means by reference to the identification means.

Preferably the identification means associated with each holding means can be changed. This provides variety for users of the teaching aid and helps to keep them interested for a longer time, thus helping to develop concentration.

Preferably the means for releasably holding the units adjacent the support surface include hooks on either the support surface or the movable units or both.

The hooks may engage, in use, corresponding eyes on the movable units or support surface as appropriate. In this regard, it is possible that a material, such as velcro (Registered Trade Mark), could be used to hold a movable unit in contact with the support surface.

In a particularly preferred embodiment of the invention, each movable unit includes one hook for engaging a hook extending out from the support surface such that, during use, the movable unit hangs from the hook of the support surface.

In an alternative embodiment, the movable units may be held, during use, adjacent the support surface by means of magnetic attraction. In such an embodiment, each movable unit may include a magnet which attracts the metal of the support surface or the support surface may include magnets which attract the metal of the movable units.

Preferably the holding means are regularly arranged on the support surface. The holding means may be arranged in a substantially triangular formation, which is preferred, but other shapes, such as rectangles or circles, may also be used.

Preferably each identification means associated with a holding means is dictated by a block inserted into a recess in the support surface. If such an arrangement is used, the block is preferably held in the recess by means of a snap fit. This provides a very easy way of changing the identification means, but also enables the apparatus to be kept as simple as possible.

The identification means preferably include a plurality of different colours. Alternatively, a plurality of different shapes may be used.

A back-rest for holding the support surface inclined to the vertical may also be included, thereby enabling the movable units to hang below the hooks which, in one of the embodiments described above, extend from the support surface.

The support surface or the movable units or both are preferably moulded from plastics materials. Wood could alternatively be used. Other materials, such as metal for the support surface, may be used, especially if the means for holding the movable units adjacent the distinct areas are magnets.

A specific embodiment of the present invention is now described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a front view of a teaching aid, according to the present invention, in which four movable units are shown hanging adjacent the support surface; Figure 2 is a side view of the teaching aid of figure 1; and Figure 3 is a side sectional view through an identification means associated with a holding means of the teaching aid of figure 1.

With reference to the drawings, a teaching aid 1 according to the present invention comprises a support surface 3 including a number of distinct areas 5a-5e. The distinct areas 5 are divided into rows which form a triangular configuration as shown in figure 1. The distinct areas 5 in each row are all shown as having the same colour, different rows of distinct areas 5 having different colours.

Alternatively, different shapes could be used, instead of different colours, to identify the different areas 5.

Above each distinct area 5, a hook 7 extends out from the support surface 3. During use, movable units 9a-9e, having colours corresponding to the colours of the distinct areas 5, are hung, by their own hooks 11, onto the hooks 7 integral with the support surface 3. The movable units 9 include body portions 13 which are supported by the hooks 11 adjacent the distinct areas 5.

The whole teaching aid includes enough movable units 9 of the appropriate colours to cover all of the distinct areas 5 of the support surface 3.

As will be seen from figure 3, each distinct area 5 is formed by means of a plastics plate 15 which covers a recess 17 in the support surface 3. The plate 15 is held in position by means of a snap fit between its edges and the opening of the recess 17 in the support surface 3.

Alternatively, the plate 15 is replaced by a block (not shown) which slides into and fills the recess 17. In either arrangement, the plate 15 or block can be removed from the recess 15 if required, so that the colours of the distinct areas 5 can be changed around. Such variation helps to keep the child using the teaching aid interested, and also serves as a good check to see whether the child has actually learnt the concept of colour by showing that he or she always places the correctly coloured movable unit 9 adjacent its correspondingly coloured distinct area 5.

A back-rest 19 holds the support surface 3 slightly inclined to the vertical, such that the movable units 9 lie back against the distinct areas 5 when hanging from the hooks 7.

As will be appreciated from the foregoing, the teaching aid of the present invention can be used by children of many different ages, but preferably by those between the ages of 18 months and 4 years. In this regard, when the child is only 18 months old, he or she will simply use the movable units 9 for exploration, thereby learning to grasp objects.

The child will probably chew the units 9 also. This is not dangerous, because the units 9 are all moulded from plastics materials in one piece, thereby ensuring that the hooks 11 are rounded (rather than sharp) and cannot be separated from the body portion 13 (and hence cannot be swallowed).

As the child practises, he begins to develop his fine motor skills. This begins by unhooking the movable units 9 from the hooks 7, firstly by accident and then on purpose.

The child then practises hooking the movable units 9 back onto the hooks 7. All this will take many months, but the child will continue to be absorbed throughout.

When the child's motor skills have developed, the next stage in his or her learning process is colour recognition.

Once again, the teaching aid described herein enables the child to go through this stage due to the different coloured movable units 9 and distinct areas 5. In this regard, the teaching aid enables the colours of the various distinct areas 5 to be altered, thereby challenging the child.

Finally, since there are different numbers of each colour of movable unit 9 and distinct area 5, the child will learn to associate the colours and coloured units 9 with the number of distinct areas 5 to be covered. This is an additional and more advanced form of learning, which may not take place until the child is nearly four years of age.

It will be appreciated from the foregoing that a young child can progress through various stages of learning using this teaching aid, without becoming bored at any particular stage, because the learning processes will automatically run into each other and, in any event, the appearance of the apparatus can be readily altered by the child's parents.

It will of course be understood that the present invention has been described above purely by way of example, and that modifications of detail can be made within the scope of the invention.

Claims

1. A teaching aid for children, comprising a support surface, a plurality of movable units, each including identification means for allowing differentiation between the movable units, and a plurality of means for releasably holding the units adjacent the support surface, each said holding means having identification means associated therewith corresponding to the movable unit identification means, whereby a movable unit can be matched to a holding means by reference to the identification means.

2. A teaching aid as claimed in claim 1, wherein the identification means associated with each holding means can be changed.

3. A teaching aid as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the holding means include hooks on either the support surface or the movable units or both.

4. A teaching aid as claimed in claim 3, wherein the hocks engage, in use, corresponding eyes on the movable units or support surface as appropriate.

5. A teaching aid as claimed in claim 3, wherein each movable unit includes one hook for engaging a hook extending out from the support surface such that, during use, the movable unit hangs from the hook of the support surface.

6. A teaching aid as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the movable units are held, during use, adjacent the support surface by means of magnetic attraction.

7. A teaching aid as claimed in claim 6, wherein each movable unit includes a magnet for holding the unit adjacent the support surface.

8. A teaching aid as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the holding means are regularly arranged on the support surface.

9. A teaching aid as claimed in claim 8, wherein the holding means are arranged in a substantially triangular formation.

10. A teaching aid as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein each identification means associated with a holding means is dictated by a block inserted into a recess in the support surface.

11. A teaching aid as claimed in claim lo, wherein the block is held in the recess by means of a snap fit.

12. A teaching aid as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the identification means include a plurality of different colours.

13. A teaching aid as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the identification means include a plurality of different shapes.

14. A teaching aid as claimed in any preceding claim, further including a back-rest for holding the support surface inclined to the vertical.

15. A teaching aid for children substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as shown in the accompanying drawings.

15. A teaching aid as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the support surface or the movable units or both are moulded from plastics material.

16. A teaching aid for children substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as shown in the accompanying drawings.

Amendments to the claims have been filed as follows 1. A teaching aid for children, comprising a support surface, a plurality of movable units, each including identification means for allowing differentiation between the movable units, and a plurality of hooks on either the support surface or the movable units or both for releasably holding the units adjacent areas of the support surface, the areas having identification means associated therewith corresponding to the movable unit identification means, whereby a movable unit can be matched to an area of the support surface by reference to the identification means.

2. A teaching aid as claimed in claim 1, wherein the hooks engage, in use, corresponding eyes on the movable units or support surface as appropriate.

3. A teaching aid as claimed in claim 2, wherein the hooks or eyes are regularly arranged on the support surface.

4. A teaching aid as claimed in claim 3, wherein the hooks or eyes are arranged in a substantially triangular formation.

5. A teaching aid as claimed in claim 1, wherein each movable unit includes one hook for engaging a hook extending out from the support surface such that, during use, the movable unit hangs from the hook of the support surface.

6. A teaching aid as claimed in claim 5, wherein the hooks are regularly arranged on the support surface.

7. A teaching aid as claimed in claim 6, wherein the hooks are arranged in a substantially triangular formation.

8. A teaching aid as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the identification means associated with each movable unit or each area of the support surface can be changed.

9. A teaching aid as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein each identification means associated with an area of the support surface is dictated by a block inserted into a recess in the support surface.

10. A teaching aid as claimed in claim 9, wherein the block is held in the recess by means of a snap fit.

11. A teaching aid as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the identification means include a plurality of different colours.

12. A teaching aid as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the identification means include a plurality of different shapes.

13. A teaching aid as claimed in any preceding claim, further including a back-rest for holding the support surface inclined to the vertical.

14. A teaching aid as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the support surface or the movable units or both are moulded from plastics material.