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This is a beautifully designed soft toy that children can carry with them and play at any time. This product encourages role playing and language development. It comes with four soft finger puppet children, three soft animals, and a story book. The Island of Kidtown is where your children can act out their feelings, play hide and seek with the Island Playmat's secret side pockets, count animals, "walk" in the mountains and rain forests, or invent other adventures. When laid open, the Island Playmat reveals pop-up houses, a rainforest, and a flip-down beach ocean scene. This is a beautiful product that includes animals, mountains, streams and more. Fifteen inches in diameter. This company was founded by a teacher and parent educator, Cathy Reiss, who with her husband recognized that toys can reinforce learning and support children at home and in the classroom. The concept was started with a story that Cathy wrote about a little boy who wanted to travel and meet different kinds of people. Her daughter and non-English speaking cousin, were able to play together and bridge the gap of language by being active and having fun. They used gestures and led each other by the hand to the next activity and learned words in each other's language.

100 Best - 1999 Main