Blog

Tips for Choosing the Right Toys for Kids

One of the most rewarding experiences of parenting is to see our children grow and learn. In this exciting journey, toys often play an engaging part. Thoughtfully selected toys can go a long way in promoting skills that are vital to the development of your little one. Right selection of toys for kids can help children, particularly in areas such as language and literacy, creative thinking, social-emotional growth, and problem solving. A number of recently conducted studies have established that hands-on, interactive toys can contribute to our children’s success in school by boosting their cognitive skills.  

With so many toys available around us, making the right choice for our kids is certainly easier said than done. However, with a little bit of guidance, you can certainly choose the ones that are most appropriate for the development of your child.  

• Always opt for toys that match the interest and abilities of your child. A toy can only contribute to the development of your child, if he or she is interested in playing with it. For example, if your child in intrigued by dinosaurs, look for toys and games focused around prehistoric concepts. Similarly, for children that like building things, you can encourage letter and sound recognition by choosing a set of alphabet blocks for them.  
• While selecting a toy, always take your child’s age into account. In order to be fun, a toy needs to be challenging enough. However, if it is too difficult, kids are likely to get frustrated and stop playing with it.  
• Open-ended toys such as arts and crafts materials, building bricks, builders, and blocks are excellent choices for kids because they can be used in different ways and over and over again. Many of these toys also encourage STEM learning in a way that is non-intimidating and fun.  
• Always try to find toys that can spark imagination in kids and create opportunities for them to engage in pretend play. By taking part in pretend play, kids can develop their language and literacy skills while promoting creativity. These games involve taking on different characters and facing new situations, which helps build new vocabulary.  
• If you want your child to develop social skills at a young age, select toys that promote collaborative play and social skills. Board games, puzzles, experiment kits and many other toys and games can help children understand how to work together and solve problems as a team.  
• There are many toys that encourage children to explore the world around them. These toys can not only stimulate their desire to learn, but also spark natural curiosity in them.  A set of binoculars can provide hours of discovery for kids and prompt them to ask lots of how and why questions that are extremely important for their critical thinking.   
• Finally, don’t forget there is so much for kids to learn from outdoor play. There are many ways you can incorporate learning into outdoor play. Also, though it’s important to limit your children’s screen time, they can still learn a lot from electronics. There are many low-tech toys that can help kids develop problem solving and even social skills.   

 

Please contact Valley Heights Preschool Long Day Care Centre for more tips and guidelines related to your child’s developmental requirements.