Kids are back to school and there are plenty of toys that may be hiding in their toybox to enhance the new skills they are learning during the day. Homework helpers to enhance math, spelling and science are a great way to interact with your child and monitor their learning. Most parents rarely hear "this is what I learned today" so pull out those toys you already bought, sit down and play and you'll be surprised how your child progresses throughout the school year. 1. Get out the puzzles. Exercise thinking skills though strategy, concentration and the completion of a project. 2. Building toys foster spatial relationships, hand eye coordination, imaginative and creative play. 3. Drawing toys assist with focus and attention to detail. Pull out the markers and paper or look for anything that allows a child to follow lines, create pictures out of a variety of materials and make a craft together. 4. Storytelling helps a child learn new vocabulary words, understand sentence structure and practice listening and concentration skills. Play games, use puppets and read to your child everyday and once they learn, have them read to you, even if it is a recipe as you are making dinner! 5. Science and math toys. Use these everyday and encourage your child to understand how both concepts are used everyday in the environment around us. Take a look at more ideas on my new toy tips page on amazon.com- no I don't sell toys, they do! http://www.amazon.com/gp/blog/post/PLNK3TIALGOOSHC7J?pf_rd_p=444419601&pf_rd_s=center-3&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_i=700065011&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=11STH99DRDHCB852DR8V