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Recognise this
little beauty from your preparation sheet? It is made both from man made
board (in this case plywood) and solid wood (in this case beech which
has been stained or painted). The base is a frame construction which has
four pieces of solid wood butted together to form a square and two
pieces of plywood glued to the top and bottom of the frame. The pieces
are made from solid beech which is a close grained wood which would be
difficult for a child to chew.
| See more about man made
boards and solid woods click here |
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| Similar to the toy above
but the base in this case is made from solid wood as are the pieces.
This toy still relies on shape sorting but each of the four shapes of
the same type are a different colour and size unlike the toy above which
has similar shapes of the same colour. However both toys help the child
sorting shape, size and colour. How do you think the base could be made?
Don't know. Try CNC (computer numerically controlled) routing machine.
This would be programmed to cut the different shaped holes by typing
instructions into a computer attached to the router which then follows
the instructions. (You know, up a bit, left a bit, down a bit cut a bit
ZZZZZZZ (I'm bored). If you want more info on CNC click here
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Once again it
beech. Some naturally finished, some painted. (Don't forget you can't
use toxic (poisonous) paint or varnish cause kids put things in their
mouths). I reckon most of these shapes will be bought in, by the
factory, as long lengths and cut off in small bits to make the pieces.
Some of the long lengths will be half round, some will be rectangular,
some triangular some square and blah blah blah. They will be smoothed
using belt sanding machines and sprayed different colours. This toy gets
a child to use their imagination more. Building (balancing), creating
and sorting by shape and colour are all possible using this toy. |
| Guess what? Beech again,
this time the shape sorting toy is a little more complicated. Once the
shapes are in you have to remove a dowel (a dowel is a round peg of
wood) to get the shapes out of the toy. I bet when you roll the toy it
makes a noise. Notice only one or two dowel can be removed so the toy
doesn't fall to bits. Once more I bet the top and bottom parts are made
with computer aided machinery (CAM).
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| I bet you were expecting to see
a few toys with mechanisms on this page weren't yer (that's Yorkshire
speak for were you not), well you can't you will have to look here. Go
on then click the button
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