Flockmen: 5 Ways to Play

From building intricate towers, to accessorizing them with colorful necklaces, Flockmen have truly been a great addition to our open-ended play.

We were kindly gifted the Full Flock (32 piece) set of Flockmen used in this blog. All opinions and images are our own and completely genuine. This post contains affiliate links. Use code LITTLEMIND to get 10% off your entire order and Free International Shipping on the Flockmen website.

Open-ended play is a priority in our home. We often enjoy an organized activity once a day, but for me the real magic happens when my kids are allowed the freedom to explore their imagination in a less structured way. Many of the toys on offer are therefore open-ended in nature, meaning they can be used in different ways, with no set outcome. As soon as I saw Flockmen, I knew they would be a great addition to our toy room. We've only had them a week and both my 2 yr old and 5 yr old have enjoyed so many different ways to play with them. Here are five ways which my toddler has enjoyed using her Flockmen, or as she calls them 'Mans'!!

1. Sensory Play

My little one is a die hard sensory play fan and I love that about her. I get through at least three different sensory bin fillers a week with her and I'm always on the lookout for ways to freshen up her sensory play.

Flockmen are a great addition to a sensory bin because they encourage so much role play. I set up a bin of rice, our favorite wooden scoops and bowls, as well as a few of the Flockmen.

I wanted this to be as open-ended as possible so I gave no directions, just simply let her explore the materials. She loved getting to be hands on with the Flockmen in the rice! As always she took great delight in the simple action of scooping and pouring the rice.

She carefully served up a bowl of rice for every member of her Flockmen family. It was great to see her incorporating the figures into her sensory play by feeding them the rice.

A very simple set up but it led to so much sensory exploration, fine motor skill development, language application and of course fun role play. A total hit for my little girl.

2. Engineering Towers

I use the word engineering because with Flockmen there are lots of different ways they connect in order to build a structure. I really like this about them, it's not just a case of them stacking uniformly together. To begin with my little one enjoyed just lining them up so that they could 'hold hands'.

Then she soon realized that she could connect the figures in different ways. I loved watching her little hands working hard to manipulate the Flockmen!

One thing I really like is how sturdy each figure is. As my toddler built with them they were forgiving enough that she didn't get frustrated with them constantly falling down. When she connected them they were secure enough for her to continue building relatively large structures.

3. Loose Parts Play

There's something so nice about getting immersed in wooden loose parts play! I set out some of our favorite little loose parts, the Grapat Rings and Coins which we purchased from Biddle and Bop). As with the sensory play, there was no end outcome to achieve, I wanted to let my little one explore the materials in her own way.

I love that my daughter's first instinct was to accessorize the Flockmen! She used the colorful rings to give them necklaces.

She also decided to color match with a coin for each figure to stand on.

It was great to see her experimenting with getting the Flockmen to balance on their coins.

4. Number Development

We are just starting to really show an interest in numbers and counting. Flockmen work as a great numeracy manipulative, so I used them in a simple Math set up.

I started off by putting the numbers out and we pointed at each number and said it out loud together. As she is only 2, I offered lots of repetition and support for this activity. We carefully counted out the correct number of Flockmen and she added them to each line.

My little one thought it was very funny that all of the 'Mans' were standing on each other's heads! Even though she couldn't do this activity all by herself, the constant repetition and exposure to the numbers is a win in my book.

5. Color Matching

I was so excited when I realized dot stickers are the perfect size to cover the Flockmen heads! It meant that I could set up some color matching activities really easily! I didn't push the stickers on too hard as I wanted them to come off nice and easily.

I simply placed varying numbers of colored dot stickers on the Flockmen heads and let her natural instinct to color sort take over!

She immediately started trying to stack the figures with the same colored heads. As there were different numbers of each color, it meant she was having to think a little harder about how they would all stack together.

As I mentioned earlier in the blog, I love that she was able to explore different ways to build the color towers, with her favorite definitely being when the figures are upside down!

I really hope you can see from this post just how versatile and open-ended Flockmen are. If you get chance, it is also worth heading to their website and reading a bit more about the company. They are parents themselves who value a quality toy, and a fair and moral process of production. So yes the product is not cheap when compared to other available building toys, but you are supporting a good small business who are trying to do the right thing. And let's not forget the awesome product you are getting, which based on my personal experience so far, will be loved by your kids for a long time!

Use code LITTLEMIND to get 10% off your entire order on their website, also with Free International Shipping.