Why are educational toys so important?
Why educational toys are so important.
I’m sure you have all heard the phrase ‘children learn through play.’ They learn through using their senses, observing others, and playing. The extent to which they learn is partly dependent on their environment and their interactions with others and the world around them.
Many people might think that toys are simply given to children for fun or to keep them entertained, but the truth is that toys provide much more value than this. Toys are tools to help children learn about themselves, their environment, and to develop the skills that they need in life.
What are Educational Toys?
An educational toy is any toy that provides a child with an opportunity to learn – it effectively stimulates learning. It can help develop a particular skill, or teach a child about a particular thing for example cause and effect. It also, most importantly, provides fun.
The Benefits of Providing your Kids with Educational Toys
- Play is fun – any learning through play is enjoyable; from a baby discovering his hands or sucking on a toy to a school-age child playing with a bat and ball.
- These toys teach valuable life lessons – including cause and effect; like playing with blocks: building a tower then knocking it down.
- Educational toys can help grow a child’s IQ – through memory retention, motor skills development, coordination, and even numeracy and words.
- Educational toys can build social and emotional development – playing with others, sharing, bonding, taking turns, leadership and teamwork.
Educational toys keep kids busy.
As parents, it's a continual challenge to keep our kids entertained without putting a screen in front of them. Educational toys are the perfect solution for boredom, as they offer continual challenges and ignite the imagination.
Suggestions of age-appropriate toys.
Babies:
They need to have bright-coloured toys of many textures.
Babies are interested in looking at toys, touching them with their hands and mouth, fitting pieces of things together and making sense of their worlds.
1-12 months old:
At an early age, sensory play helps stimulate your child’s senses.
- Small portable toys with lights or sounds.
- Stackers or blocks. Our pyramid stacker is a good example.
- Crawl around learning centres, or activity cubes.
12-24 months old:
As your child reaches the one-year mark or older, they will soon become very mobile. Introducing the right toys to them will help to teach balance and coordination and will increase your child’s curiosity with their new-found mobility
- Push cars
- Stride and ride toys
- Walkers
2+ years:
As your child becomes older and more active, you can also introduce toys that promote more physical play.
- Kinetic sand
- Drawing easel
- “See and Say” games or books
- Magnetic building blocks
- Counting toys and logical games
These are of course just suggestions as each child will grow and learn at different rates.
