Review: Wooden Sorting Box

This is something I bought for EV for her birthday last month. Made of solid wood and rather heavy, this educational toy is designed to:
- improve hand-eye coordination
- help the child develop their observation skills
- understand various categories, eg animals, fruits, vegetables, and their corresponding English words
- develop a child's language skills


Featuring a red top lid with many slits, this toy comes with eight category wooden pieces and 80 smaller square wooden pieces, all with pictures on one side and English words written on the other side. The categories are: numbers, shapes, vegetables, fruits, animals, transportation, clothes and household objects. Everything is neatly kept inside the box.

There are four methods of playing this toy, which means that it will grow with EV and yet still keep her entertained. Three methods fit EV's age, and is designed to develop different skill sets. The first is to place each square picture piece randomly into the box through the slots, while naming the item or saying a short sentence if she can. With time, this should improve her cognitive skills. 


The second is to go through the pictures and words randomly before slotting the cards into the correct slot in the lid. This helps in image and word recognition.


The third method involves using the large category cards, and finding and matching the smaller picture cards by slotting into the respective slots. This develops observation skills. In fact, I find that this sorting game can also be applied to the first two methods, which means there are even more ways to play this toy.


The fourth method is for children aged one year old. With the box open, the child is required to place cards into it. Once the child can do this, he can be challenged to a more difficult task by placing the picture cards through the slots into the box. This involves hand-eye coordination, which is very important at this age.


Effectiveness
I like that everything is packed neatly in a box. I also like the colourful pictures. For EV, I started her with a game that combined the first and third methods, focusing on the fruits and numbers category, while she called out the name of each. She was also intently interested in the other category and picture cards, and enjoyed looking through them. I let her do so freely and independently, as it is also a form of learning. Another way of playing this toy!


My ultimate rave
Value for money, as it will keep EV entertained and learning for a few years. It's great for AA too, once he turns one.


My ultimate rant
Because of the slots, and the way the games are played, the square picture cards are kept randomly inside the box. This means that they have to be sorted out into the various categories either before or after each play.


Overall value (4.5/5)