Here is one of many articles that The Creativity
Institute has reviewed and reprinted on nurturing creativity in
children and on educational toys. Infants, toddlers, preschoolers
and school age children can all benefit from the right educational
toys at the right ages, to help them learn that creative choices
are good choices.
Guide To Choosing Educational Toys For Children
by Eugen Lisov
Educational toys for children
In the last few years, parents started getting
more and more interested in choosing all sorts of educational
toys for their children. Because a parent wishes the best for
his child, a toy that is labeled as educational is very likely
to be bought easier than others.
But what is an educational child toy?
Well, there is no definition of the term "educational
toy" from what I know. However, what I do know is that an
educational toy is a toy that helps a child learn something good,
something that will help in the future. Play is the most important
activity of any child. Learning thru play is a reality; it can
and it is done unknowingly every time your child plays. The parent
must however control the play so that it remains on an educational
course.
There are also toys that aren't exactly educational
for children Toy guns and other such toys that somehow tend to
violence and other bad behaviors are not recommended. You must
avoid such toys. Although these toys may be a good source of fun
for youngsters, on the long term they will only do harm.
How do educational child toys and games work?
A I said above, play is a child's main activity.
During the play, a child learns many new things. Toys and games
must be integrated into the play to make their job. This is not
hard, because play consists of several games that require using
toys. Any toy can be educational, as long as it does not develop
a bad behavior, and it is used in your child's play. A toy must
be used in order to be educational for a child.
To be clearer about how educational child toys
and games work, I will take one example: Hide and seek.
Let's take a look at Hide and Seek. You do
remember this game, right? Can you remember the rules? Ok, I will
still list them here, and comment on them and explain its educational
side.
The first rule is that every player must obey
the rules. I know, I know it's obvious, but if players would not
respect the rules, would there be any point for the rules to exist?
Every child must learn and obey them, or else they are not allowed
to play the game. The educational part of this is that the child
learns to accept the fact that he cannot do everything he wants,
that there are some limits and he must not pass them in order
to keep his privileges.
One of the children in the group is chosen
to count to 100 at the home tree (this helps young children learn
the numbers in a pleasurable way, not like in school), without
peeking (this educated the child to use fair play in all areas
of the life). Meanwhile, the others must find a good hiding place,
one that is both hard to discover and close to the home tree.
This stimulates the child to think fast to the best solution to
a given task.
After he finished counting to 100, the child
says "Ready or not, here I come" and then he must search
for the other players. He must be very careful. Once he finds
a player hiding, he must run back to the home tree and shout his
name. He must be vigilant so that he can hear any sound that might
indicate the position of the other players.
The players who are already spotted must not
tell where the others are hiding. This too educates children to
use fair play.
The first player spotted is the next one to
count to 100.
You'd never think that hide and seek, one of
the most common games in childhood, could be so educational, right?
Yes, it is a very educational game. And it's not the only one.
Pick any game you liked playing when you were a child, and analyze
its rules, as I did above. You'll be amazed.
Hide and Seek is oriented mainly towards developing
fair play and physical skills.
Here's another example of educational child
game that helps developing more advanced skills: Monopoly.
I won't bore you with its rules. This game
introduces your child into the basics of modern business life.
Acquiring high value properties, negotiation, taxes. Yup! This
game educates your child to become the biggest businessperson
on the Wall Street. Monopoly has rules that are more complex and
it requires greater concentration. Specific jargon and names that
mean much to the entrepreneurs get your child closer the world
of business.
Toys are amongst the first objects a child
gets in contact. Understanding how things work is a direct result
of solving problems with toys like "Why this fits there?",
"Does that fit here?", "How big is that?".
Toys help your child learn to grab, pull, push, synchronize the
movement of the head with that of the hand.
Toys are indispensable when playing. Playing
with a great variety of educational child toys helps your child
develop his imagination, understand that different objects have
different properties, and learn how to combine them to create
other interesting objects.
Read the whole article on choosing educational
child toys.
About The Author
Eugen Lisov is the creator of Child-Toys-Guide.com,
a site focused on helping parents worldwide to choose the best
toys for their children. If you offer your child a bad toy, it's
the same as if you don't offer your youngster any toy. Please
feel free to browse my site; it will only help you when choosing
toys for your child.
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