Learning Toys for Kids
a day with or without technology toys?

What makes great learning toys for kids?
Today even little kids want technology toys. Electronic kids toys usually grace most toy boxes but how do you select the best and most developmentally appropriate toys without spending the earth?

DVDs such as Baby Einstein have lots of colours, shapes and words that hold your baby and toddler's attention and tell us they stimulate a growing mind.

That's great. But are they the best learning toys for kids?

We don't want to overwhelm and over-stimulate children or deny them the time and opportunity to imagine for themselves and to develop at their own pace. A child also needs unstructured time.

Free play is great for this. It helps encourage your child's natural sense of wonder and excitement.

Learning Toys for Kids - Balancing Technology Toys with Time for Self Discovery

Your child needs a lot of time when developing ideas. They can get easily distracted. As a parent or carer we may think we know the way they're heading and may get impatient, and want fast track things. Although we might speed up the pace of things, stepping in and interrupting can limit their level of self-discovery.

Your child should to be stretched and stimulated but they also need to be prepared for the real world. They must learn to think freely - and care about other people and their environment. Technology largely doesn't deliver this social side as readily as real world interaction.

Children need us to give them freedom including time to experiment, that it's ok for them to accidentally rip, break, muddy and scratch things and it's ok to be noisy. But this is difficult most of us parents - we want things to be done quickly, quietly and well.

In parallel with providing great learning toys for kids, giving your child some freedom when appropriate will allow them to learn in their own style. Observe your child - you may find them to be more visually oriented, or perhaps show more preference to the auditory (hearing) or kinestetic (movement / touching) type of discovery.

Supporting your child

How can you support your child's sense of wonder? Your child can discover a great deal for themselves. But you can provide support and discover with them.

Your child learns by observing actions and doing. They learn gentleness if they are allowed to care for small creatures.

When you allow your child time alone in nature, their mind can wonder and senses are stimulated. They absorb information through their eyes, ears, nose, and sense of feel. You should allow such times and not drown them out with manufactured items - toys, DVDs and such.

Children can learn cause and effect by pressing buttons to activate sounds and pop up flaps but reducing your child's inner imaginary world by replacing it with fabricated images both reduces the multi-sensory experiences they are getting and the imagination and exploration that goes with it.

Most engaging form of play and learning

Electronic baby sitters are convenient at times and there's no reason not to use them now and again, but the most engaging form of play and learning is to find things out by active discovery.

An active imagination, hands-on creativity, lively physical activity, a joy in the exploration of nature, are fundamentals for a healthy childhood, and foundations for a fulfilled adulthood.

This does not mean technology toys are not good. In moderation most things are ok. One of our mums reports that her child's grandparents bought her toddler a computer. Her daughter loves it - in particular the volume control. But at the beginning she didn't understand how to really use it as she was too young.

Children will be exposed to technology in their world. It's no good keeping them ignorant and removing all traces of electronic kids toys, just as it's no good blinkering their brain or limiting it by limiting the variety of stimulus in their world.

And that means a sprinkling of different toy and play experiences.

Further Reading on Technology Toys

What age should a child be before they use their first technology toy?

A New York Times Article Published June 12, 2008 So Young, and So Gadgeted discusses this topic. (opens in new browser)

Children, technology, expectations and the pressure to excell are discussed at community playthings site. (opens in new browser)