We were really impressed with this product by Colemoi. It’s a board with a sticky sheet inserted in the centre that allows children to complete puzzles etc without the pieces moving around too much. 

What did we like about it? 

• Multi use– We discovered so many ways to utilise this board and found it helped children with a number of tasks. It was useful for jigsaws, tangrams, creating shapes with wooden sticks, letter formation, spelling etc.  For example, small jigsaw puzzles were made easier as the pieces didn’t slide off the table and once connected they stayed in the correct place. 

• Reduces Frustration– In my opinion it’s a brilliant resource for giving children a helping hand with fine motor tasks (without physically helping them yourselves- allowing for independence). Children can practise block building, puzzles and shape formation- knowing the parts touching the board will remain in place. 

• Show Work– there’s nothing more disappointing for a child creating a puzzle, than to try and show their caregiver and the puzzle pieces fall on the floor. That’s one of the reasons we really liked the GOSTOP as it enabled children to create something then hold it up to show us. In a classroom setting it would enable children to show each other and move it round the classroom without the fear of prices falling off. 

• Practical– My initial concern was that the sheet would stick to everything and therefore get covered in fluff and dirt. However, it doesn’t seem to be the case and their website explains that it is washable, in the event that it did.