It`s the start of another year and as usual my class is enhanced with activities and items to engage my new cohort based on their interests. This usually means amongst other things that my class will have lots of superhero themed activities!
I have the usual capes, comics, books, and figures ranging from Spiderman to iron man and Wonder Woman to Super girl. All good so far. However, it’s the same characters every time and they don’t engage everyone. I was therefore intrigued by the superhero figures I saw on Early Years Resources website and was keen to try them out in class.
These superhero figures aren’t like the usual ones I find in shops and I loved the look of them as I could see the appeal they would have in class as they were far more child friendly to look at as well as to hold and interact with.
First of all their size was a plus as they are easy for little hands to hold measuring at 15cm high and are beautifully smoothly shaped, carved out of sustainable rubber wood which means there are no nasty spikey bits or tiny accessories which I have found is often the case with regular smaller superhero figures.
The figures are beautifully painted in bright eye catching colours and stored in a cloth drawstring bag. Each completely different from the next. This has therefore allowed each one to be a separate character and with various colours, has appealed equally to girls as well as boys; even those who may not have been interested in super hero play in the first place.
They are resilient to prolonged play! The children in class have played with these incessantly, they have been thrown from great heights, and handled by many with not a scratch on them; they still look as good as new.
What I have particularly liked about these characters is that the children aren’t fixed by what they know about the characters as of course, they didn’t know them. They are not their usual superhero cartoon characters with powers everyone knows about already. This has meant the children have created their own characters with them. They have thought of their own super powers from them too. One of my favourites so far has been “Night Boy” who has the power to send people to sleep. (I think Night Boy has been using his power on the children in class this week as many seem to be falling asleep around home time!).
The children in class are loving these beautiful figures and I can see that these can be developed into something even more special too. Why? Well if you look at why EYR made them you will see they are actually intended as a PSED resource. You could develop their characters into superheroes which help fight against worries or niggles a child might have. For instance I’m sure “Night Boy” might be used to help children who find it difficult to sleep at night. You could use them as part of circle Time. I can see the superhero with the heart on their costume could one who has the power to mend friendships and so on. That is essentially the great thing about these figures. They can be anything you want them to be if you just use your imagination!
This product review was written by Debbie Fletcher. You can follow Debbie on the following social media channels:
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