Maximize Children’s Learning

Milwaukie, Oregon - After a year in the making, Museum Tour Catalog unveils its new 2011-2012 educational toy and game catalog and its new e-commerce website with enhanced educational features. Both the Museum Tour website and catalog are focused on assisting parents with the in-home learning process and aiding educators with new ideas for teaching with standards-based and ready made products requiring little preparation for use.

To maximize the in-home and classroom learning experiences, Museum Tour secured a great deal of exclusive products which are all available in the 2011-2012 educational catalog and on the new website.

Features and Educational Products to Support All Styles of Children’s Learning

The new educational toy catalog and website are designed to help parents better understand the learning styles of their children. The catalog now lists the attributes of each product to help parents and educators select the most appropriate educational toys, books, games, puzzles and other materials. Museum Tour allows parents to sort by age, grade and learning styles.

Educators have long been aware that learning is not one-size-fits-all. Today, 92% of educators are now spending their own money on educational materials. Museum Tour now offers curriculum-based educational products to meet their needs. These items are available in the new Educational Resource section on Museum Tour’s new website, as well as in the Learning Center on page 88 in the new educational catalog.

Children should be allowed to learn at their own pace and in their own style. Learning is effective and fun when parents understand their child’s learning style. Museum Tour suggests parents provide children with play opportunities that support different kinds of learning styles such as auditory-musical, bodily-kinesthetic, spatial-artistic and logical-mathematic learning. Museum Tour recommends toys, games, puzzles and other items that encourage open-ended play and "do more than one thing" such as blocks. A child needs lots of unstructured play time to explore. Too many scheduled activities can add stress to your child's life and distract him from exploring the pleasures of learning.

Museum Tour donates to organizations that support military families, disaster victims, low income schools, clubs, and shelters. In its endeavor to extend the museum learning experience into homes, Museum Tour shares its profits with its 22 museum members.

Museum Tour Catalog is located at 2517 SE Mailwell Drive, Milwaukie, Oregon 97222. For further information, please contact Barbara Lund. All items are available at www.museumtour.com.

Web: www.museumtour.com | Blog: http://blog.museumtour.com | Email: barbl@museumtour.com

Educational Toys Appropriate for Your Child's Learning Style

Museum Tour is an educational toy, book, and learning game catalog founded by former President of the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, Marilynne Eichinger, and endorsed by 22 national museums and educational institutions. Following a hands-on approach to children's learning, our goal is encourage education as a fun, lifelong endeavor. Our selection of educational toys is based on different learning styles, following the philosophy of two great educators, Jean Piaget and Howard Gardner.

Piaget's studies focused on cognitive development during the different stages of a person's childhood. According to this theory, newborn babies through 2-year-old children are in the 'sensory motor stage' of child development. During this time, a child's knowledge is based on limited physical interactions and experiences. Between the ages of 2 - 7, children move to the pre-operational stage with magical thinking, acquisition of motor skills, and egocentric behavior. The concrete operational stage follows for children between 7 - 12-year-old. At this point, children begin to think more logically, though they still need concrete practical aides such as learning toys, educational games, and developmental puzzles. These kids are less egocentric and more willing to share and socialize. Development of abstract reasoning begins in children at age 12. This is the formal operational stage which we remain in through the rest of life. By this time, children have the ability to remember information and think logically.

Howard Gardner took a different approach in his studies of learning. His philosophy emphasizes six children's learning styles, also referred to as intelligences, which frame how the individual interprets information. They are: visual, auditory, interpersonal, intrapersonal, kinesthetic, and tactile. When parents and teachers take a child's learning style into account, they can improve his or her reception to learning.

Museum Tour combines these two perspectives by selecting educational toys, developmental books, and learning games that are stylistically appropriate for the different ages and learning styles of children. We believe that a well-educated person develops mind and body in a lifelong pursuit of learning, health, and well-being. Parents set the stage by example and also by providing educational toys, learning experiences, and developmental games that foster children's learning.

Educational toys offered by Museum Tour focus on children's physical activities, art games, kid's crafts, creative play activities, early childhood games, educational books and software, educational electronics, engineering and architecture toys, kid's games and puzzles, health and food sciences, history learning toys, language arts toys, math games, money management toys, music education, natural science, optical equipment for children, vehicles and radio controlled toys, performing arts, and physical science kits and games.

Museum Tour
2517 SE Mailwell Dr, Milwaukie, OR 97222
Barb Lund : barnl@museumtour.com
503-794-7100

This release was published on openPR.