Blocks With Magnetism...and a Mission

This is a sponsored post for a product I have not personally used...while I usually don't post about things I haven't had a chance to try, I will sometimes make an exception when the product that supports a very good cause...and this is one of those.  

It's also a product that just sounds cool and fun for kids...so, please, read on.

I'm sure many of you remember playing with toy blocks you played with when you were a kid.  I do.  They had a set at my preschool and I liked to see how tall I could stack them up.  And at home I would make toy block houses for my dolls to play in.

When my kids were little we would set up "Angry Birds" sets to knock down, bringing the modern and the classic toys together.  

Yeah, blocks are a classic.  Seriously, I did a little research and found out kids have been playing with them since at least the 1600s, when John Locke sang their praise as an educational tool.

While standard wooden blocks are still fun, what Tego does with blocks may just blow your mind a bit  (again, I haven't tried them myself yet...but I've seen the video below and it's pretty cool).   While they look like regular blocks on the outside, Tegu blocks come with tiny magnets embedded in the them, which means that kids of any can create unique structures typical blocks can't.  

What Moms are Saying About Tegu

Christina is a mommy of three who shares fun activities for kids on her YouTube channel, The Purple Alphabet. During her video review of the Tegu blocks, she says "It really encourages your child to think creatively... you're gonna get a lot of use out of these over the years.

Here's what some other mom's had to say...

Bought these for my 6 year old grandson for Christmas and we now call his creations "the work of a City Planner." The different shapes and structures take on the look of city skylines with random items like trees, bridges, etc. Geometry was never so much fun." -Deborah F. 

 My first reaction was "These are pricey!" but they were highly recommended to me so I gave it a go. Now I can tell they will be loved for years. My 3 year old loves stacking them and clicking them together and a part. I even have fun playing with these and I'm an adult. They are high quality and the colors are great.
-Summer H.

The Social Impact

Not only are Tegu blocks fun, but they have a social impact. The business was founded in Honduras with the idea of helping out a country with an unemployment rate of above 30%. Local Hondurans are regularly hired and receive opportunities for growth and leadership within the company. If that weren't enough, with every purchase of a Tegu product, the company plants more trees or funds a whole day of school for a child without access to education.

(Click here to learn more about how Tegu's charitable mission).

With a product this fun and a company that is so caring, it's hard not to love Tegu, and the products listed here are only the beginning! Be sure to check out the full Tegu catalog to find out which one is right for you.

 

 

Classic 40 Piece

Create amazing structures and wonderful memories with the classic Tegu block 40 piece pack. Coming in four styles (tints, natural, jungle, and Nelson), the classic Tegu pack is the perfect purchase for kids who want to experience as many combinations as possible.
 

What's included:

• 40 Magnetized Tegu Blocks in seven shapes
• Large storage box
• The Tegu Story booklet filled with build ideas and the Tegu story

 

On-The-Go Sets

This Tegu pack is perfect for families who are constantly on the go. Available in four sets, these Tegu mini packs come with their own carrying case to make sure you don't lose any of the pieces.

What's included:

• Six magnetized Tegu blocks
• High quality carrying case
• Building ideas

 

Classic Wood

.This set is perfect for more retro-minded families. The classic wood Tegu package includes 22 slick wooden blocks that can be used to create tons of different wooden structures and shapes

What's Included:

• 22 magnetized blocks in four shapes
• Storage box

SCIENCE NEWS: Gravitational Waves Discovered (Maybe)

A possibly major development in science has occurred, if future research bears it out.  A team of scientists has announced that they had recorded the first evidence of gravitational waves, something Einstein theorized about, but could never prove.   A giant detector, with arms 2.5 miles long, recorded what is believed to be the gravitational "reverberation" (if that word even applies*) from black holes colliding a billion light-years away.

*Reverberation usually applies to sound waves, but without vocabulary appropriate to gravitational waves, I'm doing the best I can here.

 

Read Full Article Here

"Einstein said, matter and energy distort the geometry of the universe in the way a heavy sleeper causes a mattress to sag, producing the effect we call gravity.  A disturbance in the cosmos could cause space-time to stretch, collapse and even jiggle, like a mattress shaking when that sleeper rolls over, producing ripples of gravity: gravitational waves."

ACTIVITY TO DEMONSTRATE EINSTEIN'S THEORY

Here's an easy demonstration of Einstein's theory.  Take a sheet and have two to four people  hold the edges of the sheet out as tight as they can.  Then place a large ball on it.  See how it bends the sheet.  Now, place another smaller ball on the sheet near it.  The smaller ball will roll towards the bigger ball...which shows how gravitational pull works in this theory.  If the sheet is large enough and you hold it tight enough, you can place the two balls far enough away so they will not roll towards each other, showing how distance affects gravity (two smaller balls work better for this).  You can also roll the smaller ball towards the larger one and see how it will curve around the larger ball before being pulled in towards it.

You could also demonstrate  this on a large trampoline, if you hand one available, with a person and a ball in stead of two balls.

Here's a good video that demonstrates this theory, and how it conflicts with Newton's theory of gravity.  The explanation of waves come at the very end..but the rest builds up to that.  This video was made BEFORE the recent discovery.

Pinnable Images

(They're larger than they Look)

This Post Is Linked Up on Various
HOMESCHOOL LINKIES & HOPS

including Throwback Thursday