Connecting Play with Innovation
At innovio, we believe in the power of play to inspire creativity and foster learning. To ensure our toys truly resonate with our young audience, we've conducted numerous playtests with children aged 4-7. These playtests take place in elementary school classrooms, where we dive into the world of innovio toys alongside the students.
During these sessions, we observe and interact with the children to see how they engage with our sets, collaborate with classmates, and immerse themselves in creative and STEM-focused play. Our mission and toys have been validated through over 36 classrooms across 5 schools—and we're just getting started!
Explore our collection to witness the amazing creations born from the incredible minds of these young innovators. The future of play is bright, and we're excited to share it with you!
Testimonials From Teachers
Engagement & Play
"By allowing students to explore the materials freely, they discovered how different pieces connect or balance. They used their senses to engage with textures, colors, and shapes."
"The students were encouraged to touch, stack, or arrange the building materials in various ways, which stimulated both fine and gross motor skills."
"The students enjoyed collaborating to build simple structures such as cranes or windmills. This practice helped them develop teamwork, sharing, and communication skills. They also learned to take turns with the new materials. Through trial and error, the students figured out how to connect different pieces, discovering which shapes fit together and how to create stable structures."
"They practiced their engineering skills by building tall towers or structures that could hold weight, providing them with a basic introduction to engineering principles like balance and gravity. By offering prompts to guide their exploration—such as, 'Can you build something taller than the blade?' or 'What happens if we try to balance this piece on top of another?'—students were encouraged to delve deeper into concepts."
"The variety of shapes allowed them to identify and match shapes, which helped promote early math skills."
"The materials fostered imaginative play, enabling students to create designs and tell stories about their constructions."
"They spent time learning through observation and discussion, sharing what they built with their peers or with you, explaining how they accomplished their creations or what they liked about them. Sharing their work encouraged language development and reinforced their understanding of spatial and structural concepts."
"You demonstrated how to build with the materials, showing students how to manipulate them while introducing vocabulary related to the activity, such as "balance," "stability," "stack," and "rotate." As they worked on stacking or fitting pieces together, the students improved their fine motor skills by manipulating small parts."
Behavior & Interaction Patterns
"Many students showed improved concentration and focus during lessons."
"The tactile stimulation provided by the toys helped some students channel their energy and stay engaged with the material."
"Some students who were typically more reserved began to interact more with their peers."
"The toys served as conversation starters and helped break the ice, fostering a more inclusive classroom environment."
"Students were curious about the toy, willing to jump in and start exploring and building."
Additional Thoughts
"They were very engaging, I loved the open ended part of it and the size of the block for first grade hands was perfect."
"The introduction of innovio toys led to a more dynamic and supportive classroom environment, with noticeable improvements in student behavior and interaction patterns."
"Students enjoyed them and were creative and engaged. Most students used the toys as intended with minimal redirection."
