Giant Soft Cubes: Dot, Numeral and Operations Sets

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Special Needs Applications - Key Features and Benefits

Cognitive: 

• Action of throwing, catching and rolling the dice helps a child with attention difficulties maintain focus, which aids comprehension.

• Children work on early math skills using these cubes and by playing with tangible items that enhance these concepts; children will learn, retain and recall that information easier.

• Size of the blocks increases the success rate of stacking and encourages gross motor practice as well as early math skills.

• Because there are only six sides on a cube, children can learn at a slow pace and not be overwhelmed by too many numbers or too advanced mathematics. 

Communicative: 

• Dice are large and inviting for children to play together which assists in cooperative play and learning appropriate social skills, such as turn taking, patience, and conduct.
• A number, representation of a number or a mathematical operation is printed on each side of a cube to assist children in recognizing and identifying numbers and retaining and recalling that information at a later time.

• Because the cubes are large, they are more conducive to group play and the symbols on the cubes are easily seen.

Physical:

• Soft cubes will not make significant sounds when dropped on the floor, lessening the risk of interrupting play due to startle reflex.

• Using the cubes can help a child develop the skills necessary to play catch because the cubes are not round will not roll out of range, have flat sides and are made of soft foam so the child is able to get a grip on it. 

• In throwing and catching, children enhance trunk and head control as well as muscle strength.

• Helps children practice range of motion movements with their arms as they reach to pick up and grasp, move the arm back to “wind up” and move forward to throw. Also aids in balance and coordination.

• Dice are very lightweight, allowing a child with muscle weakness to actively participate in play.

• Because the cubes are so large, children need only have crude motor skills and movements, rather than refined finger dexterity, to be successful in using the cubes.

Sensory: 

• Are oversized and readily seen so children with visual impairments will have a better chance of identifying the graphics due to the size as well as the high contrast colors that are used.

• Helpful for children with sensory integration disorders that find doing whole body, active movement for a short period prior to a cognitive lessen enhances their ability to focus and attend to that lesson.

• Appeals to strong visual and physical learners.