Educational

Picture yourself, if you will, as a child experiencing the middle of summer. It’s that time of year when the soft threat of school looms over a child’s head, almost destroying the lazy days that they have grown used to. Your biggest worry might be what teachers you will have soon, or whether your sister will leave you alone during an upcoming slumber party. It is a magical, happy time, full or wonder and endless confusion about how the world really works.

For many people, the above scenario is one that they wish they had never left. Adulthood can be difficult, and thus there are times when one wishes to escape to just about anywhere else. But being a kid wasn’t just about fun, games, and supposedly unfair parental rulings. In order to succeed later in life, a child must be educated; this is not an endeavour that most of them would be enthusiastic about. Therefore, if you want your offspring to learn what they should at certain crucial stages, without realizing they are learning, you should consider educational toys.

These exercises should start when they are very young. Perhaps, as a toddler, you should present them with simple toys that help them grasp the concept of colours, shapes, and so on. At this stage, they will see them as nothing but something colourful and interesting to occupy their seemingly endless free time with; the concept of education will not enter their minds. Make sure, however, that any pieces of the toy are not so small that they could be easily swallowed. Throw away or hide anything of this description that you do find.

As they grow older, it will be a bit more difficult to get them to interact with learning toys. As this is true, you will have to become clever in what you give them. Do not pressure them into playing with these specific toys; you may quickly find that they will rebel and refuse to have anything to do with them at all. Instead, sneak them in with their other playthings, and see what happens.

With technology always changing, there are always new innovations when it comes to interactive toys. Some come in the form of video games, while others integrate a lot of sounds and stimulants to keep their attention. When truly successful in its goal, the child may know that they are supposed to be learning something, but they will not care. But this does not mean that you should drive to the nearest store and buy everything you can grab. The educational toys you purchase or receive as gifts should complement the child’s personality. If you know something will never get their attention, don’t bother with it.

It is a fact of life that children and toys go together naturally. So if you want certain milestones to be met in their life, you must consider investing in the entertainment that will get their brain thinking; even if they are not aware of it. You may replace one for another as the years go by, but never doubt that they are important. Remember to mix these options with more physical activities, such as biking or swimming, and your offspring will have the perfect balance of body and mind. What parent would not want that? They are our tomorrow, and every step must be taken to get them on their way.

Generally, most babies show a willingness to learn. Moreover, they are born with an enjoyment of hearing tones of all types. Before long they will be capable of recognizing the differences in sounds of their assorted rattles. They will get excited and their legs will move along with their interactive toys. Their hands will appear to be poised, as if they were reaching out to clutch their playthings.

Parents should recognize this infant type dance movement their child seems to be doing. They should develop their infant’s brain with musical tones, sounds and rhythm from birth. In due time the child will reveal their ability to favourably react and reveal a love of music.

As the child ages, his or her interactive toys should be adjusted to match their maturity. A toddler, who is capable of sitting without falling, should be able to sit at a miniature toy piano. They will instinctively pound on the keyboard with their fists and laugh at the sounds. Many will merely use a finger or two on each of the keys. Assist them to listen to the various pitches they create when they touch a particular key. Show them that a piano has high sounds and deep sounds, depending on which side of the keyboard their little fingers touch.

Other instructional engaging toys that help a child to develop an eagerness to play a musical instrument are the hand held drums. Allow them to hear the various sounds that tom-toms make. Have them hit bongo drums lightly with their little fingers at a count of three. Indicate the distinctive sounds that each of the drums make. Allow them to strike them softly or bang on them with their clenched fist.

Buy a harmonica and play it along with your child. Keep time with the beat of the drums. Dance together keeping time to the music. Play an Indian type game and hop around the room. Purchase musical learning toys that you can play along with your child.

If you own a regulation size piano, or a keyboard, introduce it to your youngster early in life. Have them sit next to you as you play. Teach him or her about the fingering, tones, scales and the various sounds that occur the piano is played. Tell them how they can easily make each of the notes get louder or softer as they play.

Permit the child the freedom to roam. If he plays with one finger, to compare the sounds, do not stop them. Furthermore, do not yell or tell them in a harsh voice that they are banging.

As soon as he or she appears to be satisfied with the tones, show the way it is played by using the proper fingering. A middle C is in the centre. Indicate it to them and play the key. Move your hand to the right and show them yet another C key. Explain that every C key repeatedly contains one black key plus three whites.

Satisfy a child’s intellect with learning toys. Teach him about sounds, tones and musical beats. Let them join in as you play. Indicate to them just how much you enjoy music yourself. Then permit him to discover his own musical uniqueness.

All parents wish to make the right choices and, in doing so, to give their children the advantages available. As such, parents attempt to evaluate the legitimacy of these promises and put their consumer dollars to work in the most efficient ways possible.

What Happened to Blocks?
Unlike when many parents were children, today’s kids’ toys integrate electronics in ways never before imagined to the fledgling toy buyer. Even those toys that are not filled with their own circuitry are often accompanied by DVDs to enhance the play experience. Add to this that parents want to choose toys and activities that will be engaging, but that will not completely disrupt the sanity of the adults, the propensity of toys to make noise is often a whole separate challenge.

The good news is that flashing lights, motion, and interactive challenges all act to provide positive stimulation to developing minds. The repetition that electronic toys can provide helps to reinforce major concepts like colours to young children and alleviates the need for parents to spend quite as much time repeating themselves. Current research suggests that repetition is one of the most powerful learning methodologies available, making simple electronic games amongst the best for teaching many basic concepts.

Does Every Child Need to Be a Nuclear Physicist?
With names that use words like Einstein, genius, and advanced, an increasing number of products suggest that they can help your child to fall into the gifted category. These kids’ toys tout their own ability to give children a head start over kids who are deprived of these modern miracles of play technology. The nasty by product of this push is that many parents are left feeling that if their children are not advanced, they are falling behind. Words like “normal” become pejorative and something to be avoided. The companies that make kids’ toys have discovered that parents will universally open their wallets in order to protect their children’s future place in the world.

Parents of the World Unite
In response to this growing phenomenon, more and more parents have banded to together to form consumer advocate groups with several purposes. Some are as basic and straightforward as providing parents with a forum to review toys and share their experiences – what worked, how their children reacted, and which toys seem of little interest. Others are more ambitious, looking for clinical research to support or refute many of the claims made by these companies. In this latter group, some perform their own studies, while others form coalitions with public universities or industry leaders. These groups have determined that no corporation ever got bad press trying to protect kids. These parents realized that the same fears and motivations that led them to purchase the toys could be used to get them tested.

Overall, the landscape for kids’ toys has become significantly more complex over recent decades. The pace of technology is present in this billion-dollar industry, just as it is throughout society. The best thing a parent can do is to remain vigilant and make conscientious choices.

The first few years of a child’s life are the most important developmentally. The toys that a child plays with during this time can have a direct impact on his or her learning capacity as he or she gets older.

Toys Impact Learning from Infancy
There are toys that can help with a child’s development when the child is as young as two weeks old. Infant’s eyes are not fully developed when they are first born. They can’t discern separate objects very distinctly. The addition of a black and white mobile over a baby’s bed or a stuffed toy that has a high level of colour contrast can help an infant learn to follow objects with their eyes, which can lead to better comprehension of the world around them. High contrast toys also help an infant learn to focus on one item for short periods of time.

Early Learning Toys Enhance Spatial Understanding
Toddlers can gain quite a lot from playing with blocks and other spatial manipulation toys. The best toys for spatial recognition are the ones that require children to put differently shaped objects through the right holes. The child has to recognize the shape, and then find the corresponding hole to poke the object through. Spatial understanding is a fundamental skill that will aid in the child’s ability to learn as he or she gets older.

Developing Hand-Eye Coordination
Small cobbler benches and workshops with oversized plastic tools can help a child develop better hand-eye coordination. The toy requires that the child find the right tool and then apply it properly to turn screws, hammer large nails, and perform other tasks that require fine motor skills. Any toy that allows the child to see something and then react to it with some form of action helps the child learn how to better control physical functions. Older children will benefit from games that require a more detailed sense of dexterity, like mazes or puzzle books.

Reading Aids for Young Children
The right books can seem like a toy rather than a strict learning aid. Some books have electronic elements that read portions of the text for the child or play a sound that correlates with certain sections of the story. These interactive books help children become more comfortable with reading as a fun activity. They also provide ways for children to associate the sound with certain pages of the book, which can lead to a better understanding of how the words on the page relate tell the story.

Learning Social Skills Through Play

One of the most important learning tools that toys provide is socialization. Children who play with various toys have to learn how to share and how to be nice to others while they play. Even if a child is playing with parents instead of other children, social skills are an integral part of the playing. Some toys, like play kitchens, teach children about the daily tasks that everyone has to deal with as an adult. Fun games in childhood prepare children for the real life of adulthood.

In nature, baby animals of all species demonstrate playful behaviours. Wolf cubs wrestle and tackle their siblings as a sort of dry run that teaches them to protect themselves, their food, and their family members. Adolescent monkeys cavort and throw fruit at each other as they develop the social bonds that will cement the clan together for years to come. In these and countless other instances, play serves a vital purpose in the development of young animals, teaching and reinforcing social skills and giving them the opportunity to perfect the techniques that will enable them to survive on their own. In many respects, human children are no different. Because play is a vital part of their development and fills a key role in their future success as adults, it is important that we help them to select educational toys that will facilitate this process. In our over-mechanized, fast-paced world, the need for toys that truly encourage growth and development cannot be overstated.

Educational or interactive toys enable kids to become integral participants in play. Instead of doing all the work for them as many currently available options do, these learning toys may furnish a structure, but allow children plenty of room to use their boundless imaginations and creativity. Contrast, for instance, a video game that takes a player through a scientific process with an actual chemistry kit that allows a budding scientist to perform genuine experiments of his or her own. Without a doubt, more learning will occur in the case of the latter, with its hands-on, trial and error approach.

Recent attention has also been focused on the upsurge of childhood obesity brought on not only by unhealthy diets, but also because of the increased emphasis on activities in which kids only participate passively. Exercising their fingers on game consoles certainly does not lead to physical fitness. Consumer-savvy companies, sensing the trend toward interactive options that encourage more active participation, are now coming up with ingenious choices that marry the glamour of electronics with good old-fashioned motion. One prominent toy company, for instance, offers an exercise bike for pre-schoolers which connects to the television. When the child pedals, he or she can play games which are then shown on the screen. Stop pedalling and the game is over—certainly a motivator that will keep junior pedalling long after he might otherwise have stopped. Makers of children’s DVD’s have also jumped on the bandwagon by producing interactive offerings. No longer does an aspiring dancer need to be content with merely watching the performers on a DVD. These days, he or she can learn techniques step by step, taught by the experts themselves. It might not be a replacement for private lessons, but no one could call this passive play.

Educational and interactive toys have a hidden benefit as well: they foster what might be called immersion parenting. In other words, care-givers can elect to become part of the fun themselves, not just bystanders looking in on games or activities. Whether families use interactive toys to practice a ballet move or to concoct a chemical compound, these educational choices enable families to truly play and learn together. As adults, it’s all too easy for us to assume we know everything or that we have seen it all. There is nothing like immersion in the games of children to show even the most jaded and cynical grown-up that life is still filled with untapped resources and limitless exploration.

Studies have shown that young children exposed to early stimulation of the learning process will gain an advantage throughout their school years with better cognition, learning ability and a joy for learning to last a lifetime. And with today’s line of learning/educational toys, gaining a head start in brain power has never been easier or so much fun.

The Numerical Advantage
Learning/educational toys that focus on numbers are a great learning tool to stimulate the child’s ability to compute and reason, and better prepare them for the mathematical aspects of life. Toys such as clocks, bingo cards, and counting games prepare the child to calculate and gives them a running head start to tell time, exchange money and learn their math tables. When choosing a numerical-orientated toy, be sure the product is geared for the age of your child. Toddlers prefer large, colorful pieces and easy to master formulas, so be sure that you have not set the bar too high that might frustrate them. The child must gain a sense of masterly skill to make the learning time enjoyable and keep their interest level high.

Linguistic Skills
Literacy is the window to the world with a lifetime of comprehension and understanding of language. However, it is essential for young children to grasp the use and recognition of their written language as early as possible to avoid stumbling blocks when they reach school age. Early understanding of language opens the door to better communication, reading and writing skills and enables the child to effectively express himself. Companies such as Leap Frog, Fat Brain Toys and The Land of Nod offer plenty of learning/educational toys that will take your child through rapid retention of the alphabet to the construction of sentences and phrases. Language is a vital element to a child’s early development and should never be left to an educational institution alone. Interacted language toys will give your little one the verbal advantage he needs from home.

Science and Art Skills
Not to be overlooked is the disciple of the arts and sciences, and no child is too young to gain early exposure. The arts and sciences open a child’s mind to discovery, invention and personal creativity that will bring him a lifelong confidence in his ability to be innovated and think outside of the box. This skill is critical to problem solving, discipline and may even prompt a desire to learn a musical instrument or express himself through painting. When selecting the science and art related learning/educational toys, sample a few artistic outlets and let the child decide what he is most comfortable with. This may be puzzle boards, flash cards or an interactive art shop with clay or paint sets. And when your child develops an early interest in art, be sure to encourage him and realize that there is no right and wrong. Art is a unique form of self expression where a blue elephant is just as valid as a gray one.

The foremost genius of modern times, Albert Einstein, equated learning with experiencing. His understanding of the complex way in which humans learn led him to state that information was not enough. He promoted a deeper level of learning that is derived only by experience. Parents and teachers confirm Einstein’s assertion that true learning, deep seated knowledge that stays with a child into adulthood and is useful under a variety of circumstances is best learned by tasting, seeing, smelling, hearing, feeling, touching, trying and sampling; encountering the learning experience with all the senses.

Babies still in the womb have been recorded responding when exposed to certain stimuli, such as music or their parent’s voices. Educators and scientists agree that an enriched learning environment is advantageous to even the smallest child; that providing learning opportunities promotes healthy brain development, from infancy forward. Many parents hang brightly coloured mobiles over their child’s bassinette and put vividly coloured shapes on nearby walls. As the baby acquires the ability to focus and discern colours such simple learning toys may be among their child’s first encounter with the world outside his or her own body.

An ideal baby toy stimulates several senses. Simple rattles are great learning toys for babies as young as 4 to 6 months. They will delight in the sound, feel the surface as they grasp it and always, always put it in their mouth for a taste. Soon they will reach for the rattle and begin to distinguish between different rattles, perhaps showing a favourite among several available as early as 6 to 7 months.

From birth on the human brain is developing and creating connections between neurons at an amazing pace. As the firing between neurons in the brain occurs, pathways are created for learning, memories become embedded within the cerebral cortex and muscle memories develop. The processes occurring within a baby’s brain can be compared in complexity to the Universe.

Learning toys are crucial for optimum early childhood development. Brightly coloured shapes that fit in correspondingly shaped holes hold a special fascination for babies 1 year and older. The addition of textured surfaces and music or other sounds when a shape is successfully dropped through a hole makes the toy all the more stimulating for the tot and an excellent learning device.

Simple, large size puzzles blend learning with play and are favourite educational toys. A variety of such puzzles depicting animals, flowers, people and such toys as wagons and tricycles will keep any toddler enthralled. The parent who provides increasingly complex puzzles, including those that incorporate number concepts helps the child’s brain develop new neural pathways. It is estimated that a single neuron has the capacity to link with up to 50,000 other neurons and believed that the early development of such pathways makes continued learning easier for the growing child and mature adult.

Children thrive on challenges and most yearn for the ability to do grown-up activities. Learning toys that help them learn to lace their shoes, button a shirt or zip a jacket are particularly interesting for children 2 and a half to 5 years of age. Toys that give the reward of music or animal sounds when a certain function is performed help children begin to understand in a positive way how their actions create corresponding actions.

Most adults go to work on a regular basis to earn money, stimulate their minds and get more fulfilment from life. Children should play with toys every day to keep them happy, amused and also, to stimulate their body and minds. Almost all toys achieve this goal, though some much better than others.

In the UK, while dolls, action figures, and cars of all types are still popular, both girls and boys enjoy building things from early childhood, be it with blocks or Lego. These specific toys are usually made in bright, primary colours to stimulate the mind. Just as mobiles hanging over an infant’s crib are said to be more stimulating in the primary colours, powerful, eye-catching colour attracts kid’s attention and tends to hold it longer, thereby aiding the ability to focus for extended periods of time.

How can learning toys be fun for kids? Think of the now famous advertising phrase “Play, Laugh, Grow”. This slogan hits right at the heart of what learning toys are supposed to do. Teach, involve and be fun! The more fun and engaging the toy, game or activity, the more the child will stick with it for long periods of time. Interactive video of all kinds gives delightful feedback and encourages children to find correct answers and to solve problems. These are skills that will help them throughout life.

For those who question what riding a bicycle teaches, consider the word used to describe the skill. For instance, it is “learn” to ride a bike. The desire to move under their own childlike power is motivation to attempt to master new skills, such as pedalling and balance. This creates a sense of power, adventure and motivation for the child, which are all important learning tools. Watches, no matter what popular character is on the face, still teach the child to tell time.

Scrabble is ultimately a learning game. Interactive and fun, it teaches children to spell, count, and build vocabulary. While a mask that allows the child to speak like a character from Star Wars is fun, it is also illustrating voice technology recognition. Likewise, building castles and playing Harry Potter games are both avenues to learning and exploring imagination.

It was so hard to pick just one toy from all of the choices, but now that I am a wife and a mother, I find toy shopping even more difficult. I try to purchase toys for my son that are fun yet educational, and while there were plenty of toy choices when I was a kid, now it seems as though there are more gizmos and gadgets on the shelves than there ever were before. I usually do my research before entering a toy shop, knowing about all the warranties and warnings associated with what I want to acquire so that I can buy something of quality.
However, sometimes while shopping, my eye catches the gleam of a toy, and I remember just how much I still enjoy playing with kid’s toys. In fact, some of the best times my husband and I have had are when we play with our son’s toys while he is napping. My husband enjoys comics and cartoons, thus the tiny replicas of his favourite comics provide him with hours of utter delight. He twists their little bodies in an effort to recreate epic battles with Spiderman and Captain America, and he even forces the Captain Kirk action figure to duel the Obi Wan Kenobi action figure in order to determine whether Star Trek is better than Star Wars. The figures are so life-like that they can be morphed into any position, which makes for absolutely side-spitting and almost realistic action sequences.
I think the best kid’s toys, however, are interactive toys because they provide more stimulation for children, but also they are funnier for me to watch my husband play with. These kinds of toys make sounds, light up, spin, flip, or move in some capacity. One of my favourites is the Jumbo Music Block made by Neurosmith. This large block toy has bright colours, buttons, zippers, and snaps, and it plays several peppy, little tunes designed teach young children shapes and colours. I laugh every time my husband tries to imitate the toy. He sings along with the music by squealing at the top of his lungs, a sight that would drive even the most stoic person into hysterics. Another toy, Dance Party, a dancing mat that you plug into your T.V., provides endless entertainment for my husband and me as we jerk our bodies in what seems like unnatural ways in order to complete the dance task we are given. While the toy is designed to improve coordination, it also serves to remind me that I have muscles on my body that I did not know existed until I attempted to use this toy.
All in all, toys are more than simple play items, they are a metaphor for a type of fun and excitement that brings out a grown-up’s inner child for an hour a day, enabling him or her to re-examine life through young eyes and renew a positive outlook on the world.

Cause-and-effect is used in toys throughout childhood, although with increasingly more complex actions as the child ages. The basic principle is that the same action always produces the same effect. For example, a jack-in-the-box will always pop up when the crank is turned. Predictability helps build the child’s confidence as s/he learns about his/her world, and begins building a knowledge of the “rules” of his/her world.

There are many classic toys like the jack in the box which are still excellent for today’s kids. Another one is the “popper”, which has five or six little doors. The toddler must manipulate each one differently in order for the door to pop open. As a toddler explores and “works” each button or lever, they are delighted by the figure beneath. Each button or lever always works the same way and always reveals the same figure. Predictability and familiarity provide reassurance for toddlers.

There are a number of electronic cause-and-effect toys available now, which utilize coloured lights and sounds as kids press the various buttons and switches. These are fun, and children enjoy the lights and music, but because they tend to be operated by a single press of a button, they are not as good for developing fine motor control in children as some of the older toys are.

Interactive toys, like games and puzzles, are toys which the child manipulates in different ways. Unlike the cause-and-effect, there is more than one way to move or use the pieces, and the thinking skills needed are more complex. Pretend toys, like dolls, play dishes, a play work-bench or kitchen, cars and trucks are interactive toys also. The child uses his budding imagination, her hands, and a growing familiarity with the way things work in the world to practice doing the tasks s/he sees adults doing.

There are many electronic interactive toys on the market. These toys are fun, and good practice for this generation of kids who need a skill set in which they can operate computers and use a mouse. But children still need to use their muscles, and engage their whole bodies and all of their senses in their playing.

Educational toys are those that help children learn more academic subjects, such as numbers and letters. These can be simple toys such as puzzles and colouring books, or more technologically advanced like LeapPad and computer games. Many educational toys are more appropriate for children three or over than for toddlers.

Toddlers do enjoy learning colours and shapes. Good educational toys for this age would be shape-sorters, puzzles and any toy that helps them understand the concept of “same and different.” Kids up to and even including three year-olds are still learning large motor control, and improving their vocabulary. They enjoy sensory and concrete experiences. Play sets with animals, houses, cars, trucks and people such as the Little People sets are great for this age, and help build motor control, vocabulary, and imagination.

Toys help kids explore the world, both their small world and the larger world. Child’s play should be fun and games, and if a toy isn’t fun, it isn’t really a toy.