Tips for Choosing Toys for Toddlers
Since toddlers can develop and practice their new skills at her own pace in the process of playing, they are little explorers who learn by doing. The toys and playthings your child has available to her can shape her development in important ways.
While it may seem like choosing toys for toddlers should be easy, as you walk into a toy store today, the only thing that's easy is feeling overwhelmed. There is a huge array of toys that have been developed for the toddler market. How do you choose which are right for your child? How can you tell which are high quality and which will last? Which will engage your child's interest for more than a few days or weeks? Below are some ideas for choosing toys that will grow with your child, challenge her, and nurture her overall development.
Guidelines for Choosing Toys for Toddlers
Choose toys that can be used in a variety of ways. Toddlers love to take apart, put back together, pull out, put in, add on, and build up. Choose toys that are "open-ended" in the sense that your child can play many different games with them. For example, wooden blocks or chunky plastic interlocking blocks can be used to make a road, a zoo, a bridge or a spaceship. Toys like this spark your child's imagination and help him develop problem-solving and logical thinking skills.
Look for toys that will grow with your child. We all have had the experience of buying a toy that our child plays with for two days and never touches again. You can guard against that by looking for toys that can be fun at different developmental stages. For example, some classic figure toys in some enemy films, such as a panda stuffed animal giant, are good for a young toddler who may learn to recognize colors and take it as his or her early friend, while an older toddler can use them to act out a story he or she makes up.
Select toys that encourage exploration and problem-solving. Play gives children the chance to practice new skills over and over again. Toys
While it may seem like choosing toys for toddlers should be easy, as you walk into a toy store today, the only thing that's easy is feeling overwhelmed. There is a huge array of toys that have been developed for the toddler market. How do you choose which are right for your child? How can you tell which are high quality and which will last? Which will engage your child's interest for more than a few days or weeks? Below are some ideas for choosing toys that will grow with your child, challenge her, and nurture her overall development.
Guidelines for Choosing Toys for Toddlers
Choose toys that can be used in a variety of ways. Toddlers love to take apart, put back together, pull out, put in, add on, and build up. Choose toys that are "open-ended" in the sense that your child can play many different games with them. For example, wooden blocks or chunky plastic interlocking blocks can be used to make a road, a zoo, a bridge or a spaceship. Toys like this spark your child's imagination and help him develop problem-solving and logical thinking skills.
Look for toys that will grow with your child. We all have had the experience of buying a toy that our child plays with for two days and never touches again. You can guard against that by looking for toys that can be fun at different developmental stages. For example, some classic figure toys in some enemy films, such as a panda stuffed animal giant, are good for a young toddler who may learn to recognize colors and take it as his or her early friend, while an older toddler can use them to act out a story he or she makes up.
Select toys that encourage exploration and problem-solving. Play gives children the chance to practice new skills over and over again. Toys