Grapat Mandala Pieces overview and counting activity
Updated: FEBRUARY 2023
Before we get into some learning activities, we wanted to give a brief overview of one of our most popular wooden toys: What is Grapat mandala pieces?
About the brand
GRAPAT - A family owned business that was inspired by the need for free play for their children. The wood is carefully chosen from sustainable forests. Each piece is hand-painted with water based, non-toxic dye and finished with wax and vegetable-based oil.
Designed in Spain. Made in Spain.
About Grapat mandala pieces
As known as loose parts, these mandala pieces offers endless ways of playing. There are twenty individual Grapat mandala sets in this collection, including two that were just released this year (2023). There are sixteen (16) single color-tone sets, three (3) rainbow color sets and one (1) natural wood set. Each of the single color-tone sets includes 3 colors with 12 pieces each, totaling 36 pieces in a set. The rainbow colored sets (rainbow eggs, rainbow mushroom and rainbow flower) includes 36 pieces in 12 different colors. The natural wood mandala includes 10 different shapes with 12 pieces each, totaling 120 pieces in a bag. So if you decide to go with all twenty sets, that is 804 pieces total! Whether you want to have every piece in the playroom; put half of them away until the little ones are older or show more interest, these wonderful small parts are the perfect tools for your children to exercise their creative minds. We even have happy customers who own multiple sets just to share between siblings! You can find all 20 mandala pieces on our website under Loose Parts, as well as Grapat's other offerings, such as rings, coins, balls, bowls, mates and different variations of nins.
Below is a summary of the twenty mandala sets:
|
Name
|
Color Tone | Size | Release Year | Note |
| Fires | red | medium | 2018 | shares the same shape as Raindrop |
| Flower Petals | coral | small | 2021 | |
| Flowers | pink | medium | 2018 | spins like a top when turned upside down |
| Pumpkin | 2023 | |||
| Orange cones | orange | medium | 2019 | shares the same shape as Green Cones |
| Honeycombs | yellow | large | 2018 | |
| yellow | large | 2022 | ||
| Green cones | green | medium | 2018 | shares the same shape as Orange Cones |
| Trees | green | large | 2020 | |
| Raindrops | blue | medium | 2019 | aka "drops of water"; shares the same shape as Fire |
| Snowflakes | baby blue | large | 2021 | |
| Little Coins | teal | small | 2018 | aka small blue coins; great for stacking |
| Eggs | purple | large | 2019 | shares the same shape as Rainbow Eggs |
| Pineapples | plum | large | 2021 | |
| Mushrooms | brown | medium | 2018 | |
| Stones | gray | small | 2020 | |
| Rainbow Eggs | rainbow | large | 2021 | 12 rainbow colors |
| Rainbow Mushroom | rainbow | medium | 2022 | 12 rainbow colors |
| Rainbow Flower | rainbow | medium | 2023 | 12 rainbow colors |
| Natural Wood | natural | mix | 2022 | 120 pcs in a bag |
!!Caution!! Due to the size of these pieces, they may present a choking hazard. These mandala pieces are not intended for use with children under 3 years of age without adult supervision.
What should I get first?
We recommend Eggs/Rainbow Eggs, Raindrops/Fire and Honeycombs to begin with, since these are the larger ones and they are perfect for little hands to hold on to. The Orange/Green Cones and Snowflakes are great for little ones to balance with. Then, we suggest Pineapples, Mushrooms, Flowers , Flower Petals and Trees for their unique shapes that add a nature theme and compliment small world play. Both Stones and Little Coins are smaller in size.
Popular Activities
Although there are infinite ways to play with open-ended toys, below are just a few of the most popular activities that families enjoy with their Grapat mandala pieces.- making mandala
- counting
- sorting
- stacking
- pretend food
- spinning tops
- small world scenery set up
We will continue to share more play ideas in our Woodberry Toys blog posts and we would love to hear from you too about how your family plays with them!
Today's Activity
The great thing about open-ended toys is that they don't come with manuals. You get to play with them however you want! These colorful little pieces are one of the toys that we play with every day in our house.
Here, we wanted to share a fun counting activity that we just had. The wooden chalk board used here was a very convenient tool and we highly recommend it for it's high quality. It is very easy to clean and leaves no trace - we only used a tissue. No fumes or ink compare to a whiteboard. The size of the board is 9.5" x 13.5" - we find this is the perfect size for young children.
We started with counting by shapes
Then we counted by colors
How about combining the two and counting the exact shape and color?
Connect the dots x counting colors - this was a big hit.
We also did a little addition:
What are the favorite ways to play with Grapat mandala pieces in your house? We would love to know! Comment below to share!
Find Product links here -
Large Chalk board and dust free chalk set: High Quality Wooden Chalk board set
Grapat mandala sets: Fire, Flower Petals ,Flower, Orange cone, Honeycomb, Green cone, Tree, Small coin, Raindrop, Snowflakes, Egg, Pineapples, Mushroom, Stone, Rainbow Eggs.
Sorting tray: Grapat tinker tray
Table : Ikea Flisat (external link)
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