Gorgeous Educational Toys {Review of Mirus Toys}

I have a review of some fabulous educational toys from Mirus Toys for you today!

Disclosure: To help you know more about Mirus Toys  products, I was given a number of Mirus Toys materials to review. (I was never required to write a positive review for Mirus Toys, and any opinions expressed are my own.) This post also contains some affiliate links (at no cost to you).

I had previously purchased the Mirus Toys hundred board and absolutely loved it. So I was excited to have the opportunity to review some Mirus Toys materials and host a wordwide giveaway on Instagram!

I received everything carefully packed and in perfect condition. And every material has been gorgeous and of the highest quality!

There are SO MANY amazing educational toys from Mirus Toys! These are just a very few of them.

Read build write board – spelling board – writing board – CVC word building mat

Directions for the  Read Build Write Board from the Mirus Toys shop (also available on Etsy):

Students read (or see and say), build and then write words.

Includes a pdf of moveable alphabet and words for you to cut and use.

Wooden moveable alphabet and animals not included. Shown as an example. If you would like to buy moveable alphabet, this works great

Measures 11×11″

Made of maple

This is so adaptable and can be used for a number of levels. My favorite use for it is for Montessori puzzle words (sight words). This would work well for any words, but it’s especially nice for puzzle words because they can’t be built by phonetic sounds. So it’s perfect for the child to see the word first and then build it. 

I used this with my 3½-year-old grandson, Caleb. I’m just starting to have him use a pencil for tracing letters, and I don’t want to force that when there are so many other ways to develop his hand for writing. He already blends words and reads many things very well, but I wanted to emphasize a few puzzle words. He’s interested in both print and cursive, so I was going to use our small cursive movable alphabet for the writing part.

But Caleb said the chalkboard part looked like a road, and vehicles are a huge interest of his. So, I got out some Micro Machines and made three small labels with the letters “t,” “h,” and “e” that I taped on the tops of three vehicles. Now the chalkboard part really is a road for Caleb, and he’s still focusing on the spelling and reading of puzzle words. I’m going to change out the word and vehicles whenever he’s very sure of the current word! So much fun! 

Original Hundred Board with Numbers

Direction for Original Hundred Board from the Mirus Toys shop (also available on Etsy).

Playtime is learning time! Our traditional Montessori hundred board has been modified for a bit more open-ended play so it can grow with your child. Introducing your younger child to a hundred chart will help him/her learn to count and recognize numbers and find patterns. It’s an amazing hands-on learning tool and fun too!

Modified Hundred Board
· Educational and creative toy inspired by Montessori and Waldorf approach of education
· Open-ended play to grow with your child
· Available in butter white maple or reddish cherry
· Eco-friendly and sustainably-sourced wood
· Board measures 11 x 11 inches
· Holds .75 inch balls or less
· Can use balls, acorns, eggs, pom poms, marbles,stones or whatever creative idea you have!
· Number engraving available upon request
· Third party tested and CPSC approved and compliant

Ideas for playing with the wooden hundred board
1. Put objects in the board for fine motor skills development — first with fingers and then with tongs
2. Color sort with colored balls
3. Try out some simple counting exercises
4. Practice forming/creating shapes
5. Start adding and subtracting — add balls and take balls away to practice counting
6. Move on to some multiplication and division — place balls in different rows and then count away!
7. Available in buttery white maple (light wood, engraving is much clearer) or darker red cherry (dark wood).

HOW IT’S MADE
All of our toys are made using the highest quality maple wood, non-toxic paints, and sealants that are food safe. The CPSC approval is made by third party labs and we maintain an up to date compliance certificate at all times.

WHAT IS INCLUDED
Plain board : Wooden hundred board without any numbers
Engraved board: Wooden hundred board with numbers 1-100 engraved in the ball holders.
Balls: Either wooden balls or wool balls (Please note the balls are NOT engraved, the wooden hundred board is)

I have the engraved hundred board with the wooden balls and the wool balls. Both are great. The wooden balls are especially appealing from a sensorial standpoint, but I love the wool balls for creative activities. The ideas are endless. Here’s Caleb’s 8-year-old cousin, Zoey, teaching him how to count to 100 with the hundred board!

 

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Deb Chitwood | Montessori (@livingmontessorinow)

I saw an idea on Instagram of using 100 miniature fruits and vegetables. That’s such a fun idea for kids like my grandson, who’s obsessed with farmer’s markets and healthy foods.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Suba Jagannathan (@mirustoys)

UPDATE: For our rabbit unit, I found this adorable 100-piece set of miniature rabbits! These would work well as counters for DIY rabbit cards and counters, too. I used them with my Mirus Toys hundred board. They aren’t made to fit perfectly with the hundred board, but I had Caleb put each rabbit in its hole tail first. It worked well that way (and was also a great fine-motor activity). Caleb completed the whole board! 

1 more 1 less 10 more 10 less add on for hundred board and hundred frames

Made of cherry, this little add on is a great for teaching 1 less, 1 more, ten less and ten more concepts. Measures roughly 3″×3″

This is such a simple idea but so helpful! I just found this on the Mirus Toys Etsy shop, but it’s only $2.95!

Coin manipulation board – Money sorting board

Description of Coin Manipulation Board from Mirus Toys shop (also available on Etsy).

Learning to manipulate money is a very valuable skill. This board allows the child to

1. Learn the value of each coin (front and the back of the coin, value in decimal and pennies, common name is all printed right above tbe slot)
2. Pattern matching and sorting into the right spots.
3. Develop counting skills
4. Regroup the coins and move to the appropriate slot.
5. Count the total value.
6. Once the child has mastered learning the individual coin value, the board can be used to build a certain amount. Write a dollar value in the dry erase spot. Let the child decide how many of each denomination is required to build that amount.

Overall it is a great visual and hands-on coin manipulation tool.

Maple of hardwood maple and CMYK inks. Measures roughly a little more than 8″x14″

I did this with my 3¾-year-old granddaughter, Sophia. She was interested in the differences in the coins and enjoyed sorting them. I’m adding this material to the “farmer’s market” that my grandkids set up after some farm work we did last year. The farmer’s market has always been popular with them, and this will be a great addition to it.

Regrouping board – place value board up to 1000s

Description of Regrouping Board  from Mirus Toys shop (also available on Etsy).

Learning objective: Master place value, addition and subtraction with regrouping, multiplication and division

Traditionally, in a Montessori environment, a child progresses gradually from concrete (Golden beads) to abstract (stamp game). This regrouping board is an extension of the Golden beads materials and a variation of the stamp game; sort of in between the concrete to abstraction.

This can be used as a stand alone material for introducing and practicing place value, addition and subtraction with or without regrouping, multiplication and division.

The child will master manipulating 2 and 3 digit numbers using this fun to use regrouping board.

What is it made of and how big is it?
Board measure roughly 8″x14″, made of buttery white maple.

What is included?

• Regrouping board
• 20 of red, blue and green marbles.

Warning: Not for kids under age 3 or kids who are still mouthing. The marbles are a choking hazard.

This is adaptable for a variety of levels. I love that there are lesson plans for it, including a fun poem about regrouping in subtraction. I printed out the poem and had Zoey read the poem as we checked that the poem worked, using the regrouping board. Zoey thought it was cool that it worked perfectly!

Fraction manipulation board – Fraction circles

Here’s the description of the Fraction Manipulation Board from the Mirus Toys shop (also available on Etsy).

Want an intuitive way to work with fraction manipulation? This board is the answer!

You can manipulate the pieces and using the rings, see why the answer is what it is. I am working on a video to walkthrough how ro present the material. You can

1. Compare 2 fractions and see which is bigger/smaller
2. Convert improper fractions to proper fraction and vice versa
3. Add 2 fractions
4. Subtract
5. Multiply
6. And divide fractions

The base is made of cherry and the dry erase area is acrylic. The fraction circle and rings are made of aspen.

These are beautiful materials that can be used at so many levels. I’m looking forward to using them to convert fractions and do problems such as adding and subtracting fractions. It was the first introduction to these materials with Zoey, so I let her explore the materials first. She made a variety of discoveries, which were great to observe. And she said the work was fun! I love that, like many of the Mirus Toys materials, this material can be used for years!

Layers of the Earth wooden puzzle – Great stories, Earth study – With PDF cards and companion guide

Description of Layers of the Earth Wooden Puzzle from the Mirus Toys Shop (also available on Etsy).

Advances in seismology have allowed us to learn a great deal about the Earth and the many layers that make it up. 

Usual puzzles only highlight the standard layers – crust, mantle and core. Simple enough? In reality it is not that simple. Crust is not uniform all across – Oceanic crust is different than continental crust. Mantle is not a solid layer, it is anything but that. It is a dynamic and moving every second. New mountains are being formed by 2 plates colliding. Earthquakes and volcanos are shaping new landforms. 

Every day, every minute, every second, our fragile Earth is being shaped by the slow dance of the crust. 

This puzzle honors our beautiful Earth by featuring all the things that make up our current landforms and the future ones. 

Set has

Base, Measures 11×11″

5 inserts –

1. Top Earth layer showing the plates. Touch and feel!!! The continent areas are raised a little from the adjacent oceans. 
2. Crust showcasing the thicker continental crust, thinner oceanic crust, plates, underwater volcano
3. Inner and outer mantle
4. Outer core
5. Inner core

Wooden Labels

Everything made of maple

PDF research cards – Oceanic crust, continental crust, magma, volcanic island, crustal plates, divergent and convergent boundaries, transform fault boundaries, plate boundary zones, inner mantle, outer mantle, inner core, outer core, lithosphere and asthenosphere.

This is absolutely gorgeous! We used this along with the DK Smithsonian Picturepedia section about the layers of the earth. I printed out the picture from the site as a control. Zoey enjoyed the work and said the puzzle is like a treasure box that opens to new treasures!