Holiday toys for kids: “Back to basics” is best

It’s the holiday season, time for buying toys for the children in our lives. As we do, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) encourages us to think about buying toys that can actually help children as they grow and develop. Play is the work of children. That doesn’t mean it can’t be fun; of course play should be fun. But play is at its best when it encourages learning and development, and when it encourages interaction with other people. So many gifts these days are full of bells and whistles and cool electronic gadgets, but don’t really help children (and are often quickly discarded). The AAP thinks that when buying gifts for children we should think more about getting back to basics, and suggests we think about toys from traditional toy categories: Symbolic/pretend play. These toys are the building blocks for imaginative play. They are things like dolls, animals, dollhouses, kitchen sets, tool sets, dress-up costumes, or puppets. Children can use them to create their own stories, doing it differently each time. Simple is best: toys don’t need to walk or talk or do anything, really. It’s better to leave that up to children. Fine motor/adaptive/manipulative. These are things like actual building blocks and other building sets, train sets, or puzzles. These are toys that not only encourage children to build and create, but also encourage fine motor skill development and early math (and even engineering) skills. There are apps that allow kids to build things dig...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Children's Health Parenting Source Type: blogs