MTA kicks off 2021 with brand new product offerings

As early childhood education and care (ECEC) services across the country gear up for another year of learning, laughter and care, the team at Modern Teaching Aids (MTA)  have selected a showcase of new products tailor made to those settings who value aesthetics, safety and high quality resources. 

 

In recognition of the number of children who are attending early learning and outside school hours care (OSHC) environments with additional sensory needs, the first product options balance the need for children to have a cozy space to retreat to, while also being adequately supervised. 

 

The Lace Teepee, produced in house by MTA, offers children a cozy place to play, read or rest and is a great calming resource for children to relax under or play quietly. 

 

As well as providing a space to retreat, the Lace Teepee is a fantastic visual edition to an early learning space, with flowing lines and neutral colours. 

 

Alongside the Lace Teepee sits the Cosy Retreat, a compact version of the popular PlayHouse. 

The cosy retreat features a large, open design which allows for easy supervision but also allows the child to feel secure and in a private space.  Made from environmentally friendly plywood, the Cozy Retreat can help to create warm and inviting spaces for play and learning. Using a variety of textures, fabrics, colours and materials helps to create an environment that is visually appealing and stimulating, but also calming.

 

In the creative space, Creatistics have bought out a collection of Jumbo Coloured Pencils – 480 which come beautifully presented in a range of colours housed in a wooden atelier display box, as well as a durable outdoor easel, which fosters creativity and cooperation while making the most of the outdoors. 

The Creatistics Jumbo Coloured Pencils have a soft colour strip and feature bright bold colours. They come in a hexagonal shape for relaxed and easy use, fitting comfortably in little hands to give a great grip for easy control allowing children to draw and write freely. 

 

Great for drawing, colouring, scrapbooking, sketching, card making and so much more. Children can create beautiful patterns with the different colours, using different techniques to create texture and depth. 

 

Creatistics also teamed up with renowned brand Aussie Play to create an outdoor easel range. Designed and manufactured in Australia, and tailor made to stand up to our unique climatic conditions, the easels in the collection use durable materials such as aluminium, stainless steel and a hard wearing powder coat, designed to stand the test of time and which can be wiped or hosed down after every use.

 

Pack up is a breeze thanks to the spring loaded pin, allowing users to fold the easel open and closed before using the pin to securely lock the easel into place, with trays holding 6 paint pots on each side, which fold up and have been designed to avoid finger pinch points. 

 

Staying outside, the Harmony Education range of furniture has expanded to include outdoor tables and benches with a modern and contemporary look and feel, and the utility to be used either indoors or out. 

 

Moving to the indoor classroom resources, MTA are pleased to offer an expansion of the Natural Storage Baskets range, which allow children to easily access resources on their own, while also providing appealing visual elements in the room. 

As well as contributing to a warm and homely environment, having resources presented for children using this range also supports children to have a sense of agency, choosing which resources to engage with, and in what number. 

 

Supporting diversity and inclusion, a range of Dolls with Down Syndrome are being stocked by MTA, supporting children to understand and accept those with different abilities, cultures, beliefs, languages, families, appearances and lifestyles. 

 

By engaging with the dolls in this range, children can develop confidence and a sense of identity, and introduce concepts of difference in meaningful & unobtrusive ways, further empowering all children to feel a sense of belonging.

 

Services who follow Steiner methodologies, or who prefer a more open ended range of exploration may like Peg People of the World – a simple way to give children the opportunity to learn about diversity through play, using the simplicity of the different shades of the peg people. 

These peg people have a number of practical applications in a learning environment, from dramatic role play and storytelling to math concepts and meeting a variety of schemas for learning, as well as ensuring that people with a wide range of backgrounds and appearances are meaningfully included and represented in the space. 

 

For those services who would prefer a more natural aesthetic to their STEM space, the Natural Maths Jumbo Counting Tray (Set of 10) offers 20 X 12 cm wooden number tracing and counting trays, perfect for “hands on” exploration of number concepts, sorting, counting and ordering. 

Finally, the Eco durable magnetic shapes from Magnetic Polydron not only allow educators to build maths, STEM, science and open-ended sensory play in children, but are also beautiful to look at. 

 

This set includes 72 shapes with hidden magnets, made from sustainable sugar cane plastic in soft pastel colours. The self correcting element allows children to explore and create recognisable geometric shapes, and these magnets are compatible with all Magnetic Polydron (except for Mega Mag.)

 

New Items are arriving in stock weekly and are all available to order now. To view the full range of products offered by MTA, please visit their website or contact your local consultant by phone or email.