Our products and support are celebrated by educators and children alike.
Jaci I.
Director of Early Childhood Education @ Congregation Beth Elohim
We have set up a sensory room with many of Kodo’s materials–light table, magnet wall, wind tunnel–and it’s a favorite space for all of our classes to visit. Parents and professional visitors are quite impressed with the uniqueness and open-ended aspect of the materials.
I met with the founder many years ago at a NAEYC conference when he was just starting and had just a few products and was immediately impressed with his understanding of how young children learn. It has been a pleasure to watch the company grow while maintaining the integrity of your knowledge of how young children learn best through active participation and exploration of their environment.
Cathy H.
Teacher @ Tennie Russell Primary School
Our little learners are finding new ways to explore through light, movement, engineering and more. Adding the wind tunnel to our lab has been a game changer in terms of excitement level and inquiry. Students eagerly explore how things blow when the tunnel is adjusted to varying angles, and they discover the differences in materials and how well they move through and out of the tunnel. We expanded our engineering/building area by increasing choices with the Swiss Ramp Stands and the Discovery Ramps set. In doing that, we sparked a higher interest in force and motion, including problem-solving on how to stop said motion. These are just some of the items we purchased from Kodo Kids with our grant, and we look forward to seeing our young minds at work as we continue to expand our STEAM lab.
Anna D.
Nature Preschool Teacher @ Oak Ridge Elementary
The Outdoor Ramps have been a fantastic addition to support outdoor learning at Oak Ridge Elementary. Students in preschool through 1st grade have been able to use the ramps in multiple environments, including indoors, on our playground, in our forest outdoor classroom, and in our prairie outdoor classroom. In addition, all students, regardless of their abilities, have been able to participate in ramp play. Students who are wheelchair-bound are able to participate in ramp play with their classmates due to having longer length sections that reach the child’s chair height.
At Kodo Kids, we believe in creating hands-on experiences that inspire curiosity, problem-solving, and a love of learning. One of our favorite ways to integrate literacy with STEM exploration is by pairing engaging stories with open-ended materials. By integrating ramps, children can experiment with force and motion, fostering creativity and engineering skills while strengthening early literacy connections.
Mighty, Mighty Construction Site by Sherri Duskey Rinker is a perfect book to spark conversations about teamwork, perseverance, and the power of machines. By combining this beloved story with ramp exploration, children can bring the book’s themes to life while building foundational STEM skills.
Ramps: The Ultimate Construction Tool
In the book, each construction vehicle has a special job—digging, lifting, and hauling materials to get the job done. Ramps play a similar role in real-world construction, making work easier by allowing heavy loads to roll smoothly from one place to another.
Using ramps, children can experiment with concepts like:
Incline and speed - How does a steeper ramp change how fast objects roll?
Force and motion - What happens when you add weight to a vehicle?
Problem solving - Can you build a ramp that helps a truck deliver “materials” more efficiently?
Exploring Different Types of Ramps
Ramps can be found everywhere! Consider using a variety of ramps to extend children’s understanding of material properties:
Discovery Ramps - Classic Wooden Ramps for Exploration: The Discovery Ramps provide a sturdy surface for endless construction-based challenges. Children can use them to create pathways for rolling objects, test different inclines, and combine with other materials to simulate real-world construction problems.
Great for: Creating multi-level ramps, testing force and motion
Rubber Ramps - Flexible and Bendable: Rubber Ramps are an exciting way to explore curves and slopes. Unlike traditional rigid ramps, these allow children to experiment with bends and waves, helping them visualize the effects of different ramp slopes and shapes.
Great for: Experimenting with rolling vs. sliding, adjusting curves for different speeds
Clear Ramps - See Movement in Action: Clear Ramps bring an added layer of discovery by letting children observe movement from every angle. They can see how objects roll underneath, providing a visual connection to concepts like gravity and momentum.
Great for: Observing cause and effect, understanding how motion works
DIY Ramps - Recycled and Natural Materials: Find your own materials to extend the understanding of material properties by using cardboard tubes, flattened cardboard, gutters, or even tree logs.
Use the following questions to enhance exploration and discovery of the different types of ramp materials:
How do different ramp surfaces (smooth, rough, flexible) affect movement?
What happens when we change the angle of the ramp?
Can we design a ramp system like the ones we see on construction sites?
Bringing the Story to Life through Play
After reading Mighty, Mighty Construction Site, set up an exploration area using Kodo ramps, blocks, and loose parts to encourage hands-on learning:
Can you build a worksite where trucks must use ramps to deliver materials?
How would the construction crew in the book solve a problem using ramps?
Big Ideas Through Play
At Kodo, we know that children learn best through hands-on exploration. By pairing Mighty, Mighty Construction Site with ramp-based investigations, we create opportunities for literacy, STEM, and problem-solving-all essential for early learning skills.
Roll into learning with ramps, loose parts, recyclable materials, and other block materials to inspire creative construction play!
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We want to see the way you play! Join or log-in to the Kodo Community to share your experiences learning with ramps!
At Kodo Kids, we believe in creating hands-on experiences that inspire curiosity, problem-solving, and a love of learning. One of our favorite ways to integrate literacy with STEM exploration is by pairing engaging stories with open-ended materials. By integrating ramps,...
This month on Kodo Community we are discussing outdoor play-based learning in winter conditions which makes, Making a Friend by Allison McGhee, a great pick for our Book of the Month.
In this story, our main character recognizes the signs of fall changing into winter anticipating the arrival of snow and the friend that snow will bring. Our character lovingly creates their snowman friend, paying attention to their features and even what they wear, a gifted red hat. We can intermingle information about earth and space science with the social story of making a friend.
Creating a Snowman: The Beauty of Earth’s Seasons and Science
Beyond the social story of making a friend, this narrative offers an opportunity to weave in fascinating earth and space science concepts. The changes in the seasons, as experienced by our character, are caused by the Earth’s tilt and orbit around the sun. Our geographical location on earth gives us information about when we experience the changes of the seasons. This tilt is what causes the seasons to change, and it’s why winter feels so much colder than summer.
As winter approaches, the character anticipates the arrival of snow, which is created when the temperature drops below freezing, allowing water vapor in the clouds to freeze into snowflakes. Each snowflake that falls is unique, and the process of snow formation is a perfect example of the beauty and complexity of nature. The more we understand the science behind snow, the more we can appreciate the magic of it. When we build a snowman, we’re participating in the seasons, the temperature changes, and the nature of snowflakes.
A Friend in the Snow: The Story of Connection and Creativity
But it’s not just about the science. Our story reminds us of the value of connection. By creating a snowman, our character is engaging in an act of creativity and companionship. The snowman, though made of snow and ice, takes on life through the thoughtful actions of the creator—just like how friendships are often built with care and attention. When children reach out to others, whether through a smile, a kind gesture, or a shared experience, children are developing crucial gains in their social and emotional development.
This idea of building a friend out of snow could also be seen as a metaphor for the way relationships are formed. Just as the snowman has a solid base of snow to give it structure, a friendship needs a foundation of trust and shared experiences. Adding the red hat and carefully shaping the snowman’s features reflects the little things we do to nurture a relationship—thoughtfulness, understanding, and care.
Check out some materials you might pair with this book to extend the learning!
Environment:
The environmental setup is simple, snow and loose parts! Our education team had a snowstorm that produced 16 inches of snow that we played in for almost the entire month of January. How much snow have you had in your area?
Materials:
Choose materials that will get children exploring new ways to 'make a friend' with the snow. At Kodo, we love open-ended loose parts for this very purpose. Here are some of our recommendations for snowy conditions:
Rainbow Pegs
Sensory Play Stones
Kindness Hearts
Natural Sorting Stones
Korxx Building Forms Color Mix
Earth and Space Vocabulary:
Seasons - Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter
Cycle
Weather
Snow
Ice
Temperature
Social and Emotional Vocabulary:
Friend
Emotion
Facial Features
Miss
Presence
Share images of how your program builds in the snow on the Community Launch Pad.
This month on Kodo Community we are discussing outdoor play-based learning in winter conditions which makes, Making a Friend by Allison McGhee, a great pick for our Book of the Month. In this story, our main character recognizes the signs...
In our increasingly digital world, the fundamental importance of outdoor play cannot be understated. Children who engage in outdoor activities develop advanced motor skills, improved physical health, and enhanced social relationships.
Outdoor play provides children with opportunities for big movements like running, jumping, and throwing, which are essential for physical development. But beyond the obvious physical benefits, spending time outdoors helps children relax and maintain better mental health. Research shows that exposure to green spaces can reduce stress, anxiety, and symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
Educational Innovation Through Outdoor Play
Outdoor play materials can transform any outdoor space into an educational playground. The Outdoor Ramps, for example, allow children to explore concepts of force and motion through hands-on experimentation with water, slurry, and balls. Similarly, the Outdoor Funnel Stand introduces children to physics principles of mass and gravity through playful exploration.Rainbow Pegs and Discovery Boards provide opportunities for combining artistic expression with scientific observation. These translucent materials allow children to explore light, color, and construction while developing fine motor skills.
Outdoor play environments also foster essential social skills and cognitive development. Children learn to:
Assess risks and develop resilience
Navigate physical challenges
Build self-confidence
Enhance problem-solving abilities
Creating Engaging Outdoor Spaces
To maximize the benefits of outdoor play, we suggest incorporating versatile materials that encourage exploration. The Water Canvas and Sensory Play Stones offer opportunities for creative expression and sensory exploration that can seamlessly transition between indoor and outdoor environments.
Build Long Lasting Outcomes
The habits formed during childhood outdoor play tend to persist into adulthood. Children who regularly engage in outdoor activities are more likely to develop:
Stronger physical fitness
Better cognitive functions
Enhanced academic performance
Greater environmental awareness
By prioritizing outdoor play, no matter the weather or temperature, and providing children with engaging, educational materials, we invest in their holistic development and set the foundation for lifelong learning and well-being.
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We’d love to see the ways you play! If you’re so willing, join us in the Kodo Community and upload photos so we can learn with you.
In our increasingly digital world, the fundamental importance of outdoor play cannot be understated. Children who engage in outdoor activities develop advanced motor skills, improved physical health, and enhanced social relationships. Outdoor play provides children with opportunities for big movements...
Our latest innovations bring exciting new dimensions to learning, promoting STEM exploration and discovery. “Through intentional design we have built products that not only teach children fundamental core academic knowledge, but also enhance their emotional intelligence and interaction with peers and teachers.”– Chris Hume, Founder
Behind these innovative products are a team of engineers and designers who are passionate about changing the way that children learn, by building products that empower them to build confidence and core physical and emotional growth.
Clear Ramps: Visibility Meets Learning
The new Clear Ramps transform traditional slope play by offering complete visibility, allowing children to observe motion and trajectories from every angle. This transparency enhances understanding of physical science concepts like gravity, force, and motion. Whether used indoors or outdoors, these versatile ramps support the development of prediction and hypothesis-testing skills, understanding of cause and effect relationships, enhancement of spatial awareness and physics concepts, and promotion of collaborative problem-solving.
Stacking Tunnels: Engineering at New Heights
The innovative Stacking Tunnels feature a secure clip-together design that enables stable vertical construction while maintaining flexibility for dynamic play. This system allows children to create multi-level structures with varying slopes, experiment with different angles and heights, develop engineering and spatial reasoning skills, and practice persistence and problem-solving.
Enhanced Ball Holder: Versatility in Motion
The new Ball Holder design accommodates various sizes and textures of objects, making it an ideal tool for comparative play and scientific investigation. Whether mounted on walls or adhered to magnetic surfaces, it supports classification and sorting skills, fine motor development, scientific observation, and mathematical concept development.
Impact on Learning
These products align with Kodo's commitment to providing authentic, inquiry-based learning opportunities. The open-ended nature of these materials ensures that children can:
Engage in self-directed exploration
Develop critical thinking skills
Practice communication and collaboration
Build persistence and problem-solving abilities
When integrated into early learning environments, these tools support multiple learning objectives while maintaining the joy of discovery through play. They exemplify Kodo's dedication to creating durable, versatile materials that grow with children's developing skills and interests.___________________________________________________________________________
Share how you’re using Kodo materials by joining the conversation in Kodo Community.
Our latest innovations bring exciting new dimensions to learning, promoting STEM exploration and discovery. “Through intentional design we have built products that not only teach children fundamental core academic knowledge, but also enhance their emotional intelligence and interaction with peers...
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