We started buying Toobs when Daegan was about 18 months old—past the sticking everything in his mouth phase—and they have been one of the best toys we have purchased. Both boys still play with them, in some capacity or other, virtually every day...more than 5 years later. The range of sets is very broad; click on ‘toobs’ and ‘mega toobs’ here to check them out. They are popular with both boys and girls, are an easy gift suggestion to relatives for Christmas and birthdays, and work well as prizes in party loot bags. I have also used them to stuff plastic Easter eggs for a egg hunt, an alternative to candy and poorly made dollar store items. I also like that the figurines are easily portable and hardy: our boys have played with them in the tub, the sandbox, and the snow without damage (though, as we recently discovered, polar bear figurines tend to get lost in the snow and not found again til next spring!) :-)
Each toob contains about a dozen animals, each with the full name printed on the bottom (e.g., ‘chinstrap penguin’, ‘macaroni penguin’, ‘Emperor penguin’—not just ‘penguin’), right away giving reading practice and incentive to develop research skills. When we got the penguin toob, for example, we did a bit of online research and learned that different species lived in different places—South America, New Zealand, Africa—only a few lived in Antarctica! Here are some of the other ways the boys have played and learned from these toys:
Learned geography from the ‘placing the animal on the world map’ game we played recently. Many toobs are grouped by biomes (rainforest animals, arctic animals, etc.) reinforcing the concept of different living environments as well.
Classification of animals into different groups. Daegan keeps his figurines in containers labelled ‘birds’, ‘reptiles and amphibians’, ‘mammals’, ‘dinosaurs’, ‘insects’, etc. You could also sort into herbivores, carnivores, omnivores and scavengers to demonstrate food chains/webs, or living animals vs. extinct, domesticated vs. wild, endangered vs. abundant, etc.
The boys have used the figurines in many ways to reinforce learning from elsewhere. Many times while reading a book or watching a DVD we’ve ‘paused’ while they run to their room to get the figurine animal being discussed. (Young children seem to learn best from concrete, rather than abstract, representations). Daegan has also matched figurines to the pictures in field guides and his animal encyclopedia. When we returned from our trip to Vancouver (and its aquarium) last spring, the boys played with the sea animal figurines for weeks afterwards, acting out what we had learned on our visit.
Daegan demonstrated his understanding of the evolution of birds using toob figurines and others here.
The boys have created many play scenarios with the figurines, especially those featuring family dynamics: a mommy, daddy and baby animal and their adventures. Not unlike how other children play with stuffed animals or dolls. They often fall asleep with their favourite figurines alongside in bed as well. :-) Gareth has lately taken to building zoo-like enclosures out of blocks (Lego, Jenga pieces, etc.) and creating a Prehistoric Park.
They have used them in all kinds of art projects, from making ‘fossil imprints’ and trackways in playdoh, to using them as models for drawing or painting.
But the main thing, for me, is that these toobs help give an appreciation of—and hopefully respect for—the wonder and diversity of nature. As one of our boys’ heroes, John Acorn (aka The Nature Nut) said on one of his shows: “We’re living in the Golden Age of animal replicas.” They are very detailed pieces, a true blend of art and science. Happy playing and learning!
P.S. We found the toobs least expensive at Michaels, the arts/crafts store, when using the weekly 40% off coupon (available in fliers on online). As each toob contains a dozen or so animal figurines, each toy cost us less than 50 cents, in Canadian money.