Tips for Toy Selection
By Lisa Rosen, Ph.D.
With the holidays fast approaching, all you need to do is turn on the television or open the newspaper to see the purportedly hottest toys of the season. Children learn through play, and toys help facilitate children’s play activities. Toys need not be expensive; children enjoy and learn from even the simplest of toys. If you are going to do some holiday shopping, look for toys that are safe, developmentally appropriate, and engaging enough to keep your child interested over a period of time. Children’s play evolves from exploratory play (e.g., fascination with mirrors and rattles early on) to pretend play, construction play, and other more complex forms of play.
I asked Lyn Rodriguez Neisius, who directs the Center’s “Juega Conmigo” (Play with Me) program, to dig through her toy chest to offer advice for parents. During “Juega Conmigo” sessions, Developmental Specialists facilitate play activities with parents and their infants and toddlers using toys, music, and movement. Lyn believes that it is especially important to select toys that are flexible and can be used for multiple purposes. For example, children can use a set of blocks for building, but also for sorting and as props in imaginative play. As an illustration, red blocks can be pretend apples in “kitchen” play. Lyn also recommends avoiding electronic toys for children less than four years of age because these toys may limit children’s exploration and communication with others during play.
Lyn offers the following suggestions for toys for young children based on her work with the “Juega Conmigo” program:
- Dress up items. Clothing items such as hats, beads, cowboy boots, rain coats, ballet slippers, tutus, and capes can be used by children in pretend play.
- Riding toys. These toys can be especially popular for children who just learned to walk. As they grow older, tricycles and wagons and eventually skates and scooters will help children develop their motor skills.
- Toys which allow the child to make believe they are engaging in adult activities. Children may enjoy “cooking” with a toy food set or even play with a spray bottle and rag to practice cleaning. Doctor’s kits and tool boxes will also allow children to pretend.
- Age appropriate games. Playing games teaches children skills such as turn taking and gives them the opportunity to communicate with others.
- Art supplies. Crayons, paints, and paper will let your child show his or her creative side.
Happy Holidays from the Center for Children and Families! We hope that you enjoy engaging with your child in play this season.
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