Boost your budget – and boost learning – with MTA’s end of financial year sale

The end of the financial year – June 30 – is soon approaching, and for many early childhood education and care (ECEC) providers, it can be a strategically sound time to spend their full budget allocation or look to make the most of funding. 

 

If you’re closing out your budget for items such as furniture, equipment, learning environments or resources, why not maximise your funds with quality trusted products that are multifunctional, appeal to a wide age range and are learning outcome focused?

 

Modern Teaching Aids (MTA) and The Sector have joined forces to bring you eight of the best EOFY bargains for your service. MTA’s end of financial year sale offers up to a big 64% saving on some items. Let’s take you shopping.

 

Explore through sensory play

 

Sensory play encourages children to learn, develop and grow whilst they have fun.  Promoting exploration, sensory toys are designed to stimulate a child’s five senses: sight, sound, touch, smell and taste – the more senses that are involved the better.

 

Create a sensory or exploratory space with this Surfloor Liquid Floor Tiles Super Set. 

 

Each of the 16 large tiles features colourful liquid that moves when stepped on. Creativity is unlocked as children step on the liquid floor tiles and investigate in the movement. The bright, contrasting colours and textures can provide tactile rewards and help children develop their senses in a safe, calm environment using play. The movement of the internal liquids can also help children to begin to understand cause and effect. 

 

These tiles are great for little ones from just six months of age. As a bonus, these tiles are a way to help support social and physical distancing in your learning space. 

 

Promote problem solving skills with magnetic construction 

 

Magnetic construction is a wonderful way to encourage the development of problem solving, logical thinking and creativity in young children.

 

This Magnetic Polydron Sphera and Wheels Set is part of the ‘construction revolution’ that is happening in pioneering educational toy brands now, helping children create new worlds from the ground up. As they create, this 152-piece set allows children to easily recognise and learn how magnets work with coloured pieces that include red, yellow, green and blue. 

 

The internal magnets are completely hidden inside the coloured pieces, resulting in a smooth and durable finish. 

 

Compatible with all Magnetic Polydron (except for Mega Mag), this set is excellent for promoting geometry and design, and supporting a STEM based learning environment. Social and language skills are also improved through playing with construction resources, plus children build skills in perseverance and teamwork as they build thoughtful structures together.

 

With various shapes and magnetic wheels, this set now lets you add movement to your construction sets. 

 

Develop motor skills and mobile independence through role play

 

Toddlers and young children love to explore their environment as they build on their motor skills and mobile independence. For a toy that keeps pace with a child’s development, the classic BRIO Toddler Wobbler Cart comes equipped with an adjustable handle and brake, letting you adapt it to each individual child’s progress.

The Toddler Wobbler Cart has a generous area to load up with favourite toys to transport around for young ones on the go. BRIO has been creating quality products since 1884 and is part of MTA’s range of specialty educational toys designed to be welcoming, playful, safe and interactive. 

 

Build hand eye co-ordination and mathematical skills

 

With timeless appeal, children from ten months of age onwards will enjoy using this Giant Wooden Square Pyramid. Children can stack, count, sort and line up these chunky shapes. They can use the open-ended wooden pieces on their own or stack them onto the pole to form the wooden pyramid. 

 

 

Beautifully made, each piece is carefully smoothed and crafted, and the shapes neatly rest on the central pole. Exploring with different sized shapes is a great way for children to develop mathematical skills, including grouping objects according to their size – from smallest to biggest or biggest to smallest. Increase children’s mathematical vocabulary while discussing the size of the square pieces – small, medium and large; bigger, bigger and biggest; small, smaller and smallest; heavy, heavier, heaviest.

Because the pieces are giant sized, children have an added interest, using their curiosity to further develop their hand eye co-ordination skills. 

 

Made from ash and birch woods, the 40cm high pyramid set includes the stand and nine squares in descending sizes. 

 

Magnificent exploration and imaginative pretend play

 

These giant dinosaurs, all moulded from soft, squeezable vinyl, are sure to captivate little dinosaur enthusiasts, as they learn about the creatures that walked our planet all those millions of years ago.

This Giant Soft & Safe Dinosaurs Set lets children get up close to five of their favourite prehistoric creatures, from brachiosaurus to stegosaurus. Each giant dinosaur has its name printed on it for easy reference. 

 

The set comes from Lakeshore, resources that are specially designed to motivate and encourage little ones to investigate and engage with their world and prepare them for learning success.

 

Pretend and play with these detailed dinosaurs (suitable for children aged three years and above) and help children reach developmental milestones and achieve educational goals while still having fun. The possibilities are endless!

 

Built for years of hard driving block play

 

Hail a taxi. Deliver the mail. Be the fire chief driving the fire engine. With this Hardwood Community Vehicles Set, children can play and explore while creating a whole community of busy commuters on the go. 

 

The vehicles have easy-rolling wheels, and this set comes with ten detailed vehicles, including a taxi, mail truck, fire engine, bus and more.

These beautifully decorated vehicles are built from solid hardwood to withstand the most creative and active driving pursuits. Children can explore, discover, play and learn for years and their community vehicles will stand the test of time.

 

Measuring between 10 to 11.4 cm in length, they are easily grasped by small hands (ages three years and above) ready to pretend and play. Start your engines! 

 

Explore healthy eating and early maths skills

 

Great for pretend play, dramatic role play, exploration of healthy eating and early maths skills, MTA’s range of Pretend and Play products always makes an impact as everyday go-to resources for toddlers and preschoolers.

The colourful fruits in the Melissa & Doug Cutting Fruit Crate allow for all sorts of open-ended play and development of key skills. Children can learn what these fruits are, why they are good for you and how you eat them. They can organise them into different groups helping to boost sorting skills. They can add to a supermarket or shop or a play kitchen with other food items to carry and take on a pretend picnic. They can even make a fruit salad and share with their friends. Because they are cut in halves and quarters, they also make a great way to introduce the mathematical concepts of part, whole and fractions!

 

This wooden set features a wooden knife and seven pieces of sliceable fruit that can be cut into a total of 17 pieces. The food makes a realistic “CRUNCH” sound when sliced. Suitable for children aged three years and above, experience-based toys such as these are right on trend in the educational toy space this year.

 

Creating a welcoming learning environment 

 

An effectively designed learning space has the potential to positively influence all areas of a child’s development, including physical, social, emotional and cognitive. Young children will respond differently, based on the design, resources and materials used.

 

To create a peaceful and cosy environment, this soft hanging Raindrops Canopy makes a wonderful centrepiece or focal point. Combine your canopy with a variety of cushions, fabrics, colours and materials to create an environment that is visually appealing and stimulating, but also calming. These types of room settings can facilitate collaboration with others, discussion, demonstration, feedback and reflection, guided learning or independent learning modes.

 

The Raindrops hanging canopy fabric measures approximately 230cm long, and the front features a large front split opening. It also features a reinforced, metal slip ring for attaching to the roof or beams, and a rust resistant circular frame. For a relaxing learning environment, perhaps it will be on your service’s EOFY list? 

 

To view MTA’s full range of end of financial year sale products, click here. For support with purchasing any of the products, or anything else in the MTA range, contact your local consultant, reach out to MTA by phone on 1800 251 497 or email [email protected]