The Grapat Nins, Rings and Coins and Carla Set is definitely the most well loved and used set in our home and many others too!
These sets are so versatile and can be used in a variety of ways for children of different ages and stages.
The most simple ways to use it are colour matching, sorting, stacking and threading but there are SO many more ways to play - just have a read below!
This set is recommended for children aged 1+ years but can be used earlier under supervision.
Both of these sets comes with 6 rings and 3 coins for every one Nin.
The Grapat Nins, Rings and Coins comes with 6 Nins with a total of 60 pieces (pictured above).
The Grapat Carla Set comes with 12 Nins and has a total of 120 pieces.
Here's a video showing the colour and set options as well.
There are also the Grapat Seasons sets which has a great mix of piees from the Grapat range including, Nins, Magos, Coins, Rings and Mates. Have a look at these sets here.
hey are a mix of colours that represent the different colours of the seasons of the year; Summer, Autumn, Winter and Spring.
Pictured above is Spring (left) and Winter (right).
Play Ideas
Before we get started below this reel on Instagram shows you 20 simple ways that you can play with Nins, Rings and Coins!
My favourite recycled items to reuse in play with this set are:
- Egg cartons,
- Tissue Boxes
- Water Bottles
- Pringles Tin & Formula Containers
- Recycled boxes & containers
Here's a quick run down of some DIY play ideas but don't worry there are plenty more if you keep scrolling!
Tie the rings onto a piece of ribbon and secured it to the play gym or by tying them onto a piece of ribbon or playsilk. She loved the sound it made as she batted it and the rings hit together and feeling the different textures of the wood and silk.
Photo by @ollie.andbear.
This is one of the first photos (left) is the first photo I can find of our youngest playing with the rings and she is about 3 months old here. This can also be done on table legs to encourage standing for older children (right) as shown here by @noonacole.
This activity below is by Liv at @wild.and.play. She taped a piece of contact to the wall and placed the rings and coins onto it letting her daughter take them off and also try and stick them back on. She is 8 months old here!
Nins, Rings and Coins are the perfect size for little hands to hold. The Nins have also been our daughters favourite teether, chewing on their little heads to relive sore gums!
Simply placing all the pieces in a basket can be a great transferring activity if you provide a few jars, baskets and containers for them to put the lids on and off and they will also enjoy putting them in and tipping them back out experiencing cause and effect.
Cutting a hole in the top of a formula tin (or Pringles tin) is great for a posting activity. When the items hit the bottom of the tin it dings which children LOVE!
You can also do the same with a cardboard box and add the top of a wipes packet over the top for them to open and close.
Photo on left is by Ashleigh at @ourdiyday and middle by myself. The one on the right is by Liz from @playinginstyle and is a great idea to encourage standing and letting go as a baby is learning to independently stand.
Grapat rings can be used on an existing stacking game to bring it new life, or make it easier for a younger baby as shown on the left by @danielle_vanessa.x.
On the right this little one is threading the rings onto a spatula. This is a great way to make this into a two-handed activity for toddlers and work on their bilateral integration by Tania from @taniamarie16.
This idea by Liz from @playinginstyle is so simple it's genius! Place coins and rings in a cupcake tray to allow your baby to work on their pincer grip by removing the pieces. It also makes a great sound as the wooden pieces hit the metal tray!
Fiona had this brilliantly simple idea, a cardboard roll from some wrapping paper paired with the Grapat rings. Her little one Practiced threading the rings on one-by-one and if your bub is younger, just pulling them off is also a lot of fun!
The Grapat Rings go very well on a mug or jewellery tree.
For young children this activity is perfect for building their fine motor muscles and hand eye-coordination. You might also find that older siblings enjoy doing this with them as well.
I have personally done this activity with my little one since about 10 months old.
Pictures below are by Caris at @little_smiths_play (left) and Liv at @wild.and.play (middle) and by Kate at @kate.the.nanny.
If you don't have a mug tree theres also this great DIY mug tree idea by Kara at @2_sweet_boys. She simply cut holes and put paddle pop sticks into paper towel rolls to hang the rings off.
This activity I have done a few times on the highchair and also in a tray. I simply placed the rubber bands on the highchair (or normal tray) and placed the Grapat rings and coins underneath.
The rubber bands hold the concentration for young children having to manoeuvre them through the rubber bands and a bonus is that the rubber bands also make a great noise when they fling them (just make sure this is done under supervision).
See some examples below by myself (left), @noonacole (middle) and Liz from @playinginstyle.
This activity is by Hannah at @play.and.learn.activities. It was adapted by an earlier activity that I'd made but she had the genius idea to stick it to the wall which kept it steady!
In an egg carton cut holes and thread the ribbons through with rings tied to the ends. Both young and old kids enjoy pulling the rings and following which one will pull in and out.
This idea by Amanda from @amandavonhoff is perfect to tailor to any age. Simply stacking them can be a great activity for young babies and to make it more challenging for older kids you can try a huge stack like this!
Grapat coins and rings are great for practical life skills as this little guy is demonstraiting raking them up in this photo from @jenhadfun.
This activity is by Caris at @little_smiths_play. She made this as a word document but you could also just photocopy the rings and coins. Simply laminate it and children can use it as a puzzle to match the pieces.
Pattern making and sequencing using an egg carton by Lisa at @life.with.moon.and.co. She simply took pictures of different patterns for her children to match.
Another fabulous activity by Caris at @little_smiths_play is this fabulous colour sorting box! She simple coloured the tops of wipes lids and hot glued them onto a box cutting holes in the cardboard for the rings and coins to be posted through.
This activity is by Erryn at @racing_to_play but we have also enjoyed doing this activty countless times over the years. Simply threading the rings onto a Sarah's Silk.
This takes a lot of persistence for children as the silk is harder to thread through the rings than just a string. This is an activity that we have done together with both children as my eldest would thread them and youngest would pull them off, teamwork!
This activity is by @little_smiths_play. On a cube she stuck stickers to roll and move the Nins to the corresponding colours.
You could also do the same with a number dice and move the Nins the same amount of rings whilst practicing counting.
Nins, Rings and Coins can also be used for so much more. Below they are pictured made into mandalas by me (left) and Catherine from @catherine_tarrawalla_biofarm (right). They can also be used for simple colour matching. Our daughter loves to stack the rings on top of the Nins to hide them, stack the coins up high and make patterns.
For older kids this combination of cardboard, rubber bands & grapat rings or coins is sure to be a fun one!
I hope this blog post has helped with some ideas and inspiration on how to play with this set and either get you started or inspire more play!
Fantastic, detailed blog post! Super helpful as a new mum getting her head around all things Grims and Grapat!
This is such a fabulous guide! Thank you