imagination rules at Learning Materials Workshop

The moment I saw the beautiful color range in Learning Materials Workshop’s products, I was hooked. Designed by Toy Designer Karen Hewitt, each item is created to focus on open-ended play and stimulation through color, light and shadows, and three dimensional play patterns. We’ve been happily playing with the new Coloraturo block set (see below), which features 36 Pantone Colors across 54 beautiful pieces. Designed to be both children’s toy and adult’s desktop companion, Birdie and I went straight to work. While she immediately began organizing hers into the longest choo choo train our floor has seen to date, I was busily balancing shapes and finding absolutely stunning color combinations (this could definitely be a future design tool for me!).

Based in Vermont, Learning Materials Workshop toys are made from sustainable hardwoods and high-quality acrylics, with a simplicity that reninds me of Montessori goals. They feel wonderful in your hands, and have a precision to them that I’m enjoying as well. There is a broad range of price points, from $14.99 for Minuta 1, to $199 for the new Tavolino play table (Tavolino would be beautiful in a classroom too), with lots of amazing options for around $45. These would be beautiful heirloom Christmas and birthday gifts – and something you could put on your coffee table when your kids grow out of them!