Educational foam toys

There are a huge number of ways in which foam can be used to entertain and educate children. In fact, as foam is a versatile material, it is an appropriate choice for when playtime is restricted to the home, whether inside or in the garden. Many parents and caregivers may often struggle in keeping littles ones entertained when social contact and journeys outside the home are limited, for whatever reason.

Due to the material composition of foam, it offers a variety of textures for children to experience. These can be incorporated into many of the craft activities which can be developed using foam components. For example, as foam supplied by eFoam is non-toxic and made to the highest of quality standards, foam shapes can be ordered cut to size in different foam densities such as firm, soft and memory, as a sensory item for young children.

With the weather warming up, foam offers the perfect opportunity for educational art and craft paint projects that can be done outside. Using flat foam sheets, shapes can be drawn on and subsequently cut out to make a number of different paint sponges and stamps. For example, you can create simple, shaped stamps by printing out the required shapes and tracing around these on the foam. These stamps are perfect for use with children’s washable paint and are incredibly easy to clean.

Alternatively, foam can be used for many sporting-type toys. For example, relay race batons can be created by cutting rectangular shapes from a high-density foam flat sheet and decorated. Alternatively, if you are preferring a more traditional shape and want to eliminate the DIY craft element, cylinder-shaped relay batons can be ordered cut to size from eFoam. Furthermore, if you have spare fabric to hand, then foam offcuts can be used to stuff handheld and larger foam ‘bean’ bags which can then be used in catching and balancing games.

For larger and mat-based games such as snakes and ladders and noughts and crosses, custom shapes can be cut and constructed from a flat, high density polyethylene foam sheet. By cutting various components, ‘crosses’ can be made either as one whole shape or can be constructed in 3D form using an adhesive spray glue. Should you wish to make a cubed dice for a game, you need not order a 3D shape cut to size. Alternatively, cut four to five equal size squares from a 2 inch-thick flat sheet and use adhesive to stack these together to form a cube shape. Children and adults can then decorate as they wish!

Another popular indoor and outdoor game that helps to build children’s co-ordination skills is a foam-based bowling alley and ‘pins’ game. Using foam of any type, different shaped pins can be created in order to make various themed bowling games. For example, using one large flat sheet approximately 1 – 1.5m in width and length, and 3 inches thick, two sets of different pins can be stencilled on and cut out offering variety to the game. As these pins are made from foam, they are safe for younger children and are – brilliantly – safe for the indoors!

If you have a toy or game idea in mind, please do contact us. If you can imagine it, we can help create it!