Choose Toys that Support Your Child’s Development
Navigating the countless toys available on the market today can be a difficult task. With numerous features and labels proclaiming educational benefits, it can be challenging to figure out which toys might genuinely enhance your child’s play experience. To help you find the toys that are most likely to benefit your child’s development, we delved into the research and created a list of some of our favorite toys supported by the evidence.
Researchers at Eastern Connecticut University conducted a 10 year study, called TIMPANI (Toys that Inspire Mindful Play And Nurture Imagination), to identify the types of toys that maintain a child’s attention and support development of creative, social, and verbal interactions. The study found that the toys that inspired high-quality play among preschoolers had three characteristics in common. The toys were:
Simple. A toy's simplicity plays an important role in stimulating children's imagination and problem-solving skills. When a toy is simple, children explore creative ways to play with it. For instance, the simplicity of basic wooden blocks allow for diverse play purposes, such as building roads, driving pretend cars, creating imaginary characters, and much more. In contrast, a toy electronic laptop with buttons, is limited to its singular function as a laptop and may lead to more button pressing rather than creative and language-rich interaction.
Open-ended. An open-ended toy offers versatility, allowing children to explore numerous ways to play without predetermined instructions. Examples of open-ended toys include play kitchen sets, figurines, blocks, and toy vehicles. These toys are great at holding children’s attention for longer periods of time and encouraging creativity during play.
Non-realistic. Non-realistic toys (i.e., toys that don’t look like specific real life items) lend themselves to more imaginative play. For example, legos don’t look like real building materials a child would encounter, whereas realistic toys (e.g., plastic plate, pretend phone) have an assigned function from the child’s world. In addition to fostering greater creativity, non-realistic toys may also lead your child to communicate more about their play ideas with their play partners.
Overall, the research suggests that the type of toys your child plays with matters. Keeping it simple and selecting toys that let’s their imagination run free can help them get creative and interactive. Here are our top 5 toys that help us do more with less!
While these toys can benefit your child’s development, remember that you can also be as fun and engaging as toys. Sing songs or play interactive games like peek-a-boo and patty cake with your child. Get creative and use day-to-day objects as toys. For example, use empty delivery boxes like you might use blocks or to create a fort. Rinse out plastic milk or juice cartons. Perhaps they transform into a swimming pool or a house. Collect several of them to start a game of bowling. There are so many possibilities!
References
Trawick-Smith, J., Wolff, J., Koschel, M., & Vallarelli, J. (2015). The effects of toys on the quality of preschool children: Influence of gender, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. Early Childhood Education Journal, 43, 249-256.
Trawick-Smith, J., Wolff, J., Koschel, M., & Vallarelli, J. (2014). Which toys promote high quality play? Reflections on the five year anniversary of the TIMPANI study. Young Children, 69, 40-4
*Note that this page includes affiliate links. If you make a purchase using one of the links above, we may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. Our team has personally vetted each of the products linked above. Check out some more of our favorite toys and games here. You may also be interested in reading our previous blog post for additional ideas about boosting language skills during play.