*Digital, flash toys* vs. *Old fashioned, constructive toys*...

[artmom]

I want to liven up this forum a bit, with a debate. I put this in education, because that's what baby toys are mainly about, educating them so they can be smart little toddlers.

When my daughter was a baby, I admit I was sort of caught up in the 'Baby Einstein' fad. I bought the 'Baby Van Gogh' video. That's all I was able to get and art is so very important in the family. She also had a 'Super Saucer', baby swing, 'Jolly Jumper', loud, ratting, pull-along toys, and a bunch of flashy, music playing, button pushing "educational" toys.
What I noticed was all these updated new toys peaked her interest for about a few seconds then she wanted nothing to do with them. She could only sit in her 'Super Saucer' for a few minutes before getting all worked up in a fit. Her 'Jolly Jumper', on the other hand, was a blessing because I could put it up in the doorway of the kitchen and get the dishes done while watching her bounce away. Then my mom would come home and it would put her in such a good mood.

Another thing I noticed was the limitations in developing cognitive skills with electronic toys. They don't do anything but tell your baby the same thing you tell them and play music when you push a button and that's it. They are heavier, so if they chuck it at you it hurts.

If I looked harder at the toy aisle (which I often avoided for a few years to fend of tantrums and "I want this" " I want that") I would have seen they still sold the box with the colorful shapes you fit into the corresponding sockets, and the stacking rings.
My daughter is still only a teen, but I still tell her, when/if she has a baby when she's older, just buy the quiet, old fashioned toys.

I have parents who think it's "payback" to give their grandkids loud noisy toys. Ugh! I hate that saying. Are we to apologize for our existence, too?

 

[cybele]

I suppose it's not something I've ever thought about.

My kids had a mixture. We were regular users of our local toy library so what we had at home changed on a weekly basis, on that note, I 100% recommend toy libraries if you have one near you, back in the day we paid $25 for a year's membership and got to pick 5 toys to take home each week, we used it regularly until my youngest was 3 or 4, it saved us on clutter at home, minimised the amount of toys 'grown out of' and saved us an awful lot of money.

What we actually owned, I would probably say it was more the 'classic' style of toys, seeing as if it was something we were purchasing, we wanted it to last as long as possible, so I avoided plastic and went with wooden/stuffed friends. We've always had a pretty decent puppet collection too, thanks to a lovely puppet store near us. I swear, buying puppets gets addictive.

 

[artmom]

In later years, I was more conscious of the diversity in her toys. I focused on books, she accumulated a library, which was a rare thing for child to have in the area we were living in. Everyone was amazed at how many she had. It was just a 3 shelfer we filled. Some asked why we don't just go to the library, which we also did. You wouldn't believe the amount of illiteracy I've seen in people and their kids.
My daughter loves to read, and she started playing with more hands on, manual, imaginary things.

I've never heard of a toy library.

I find it awful that there are carseats where you can place an ipad in your baby's face. But I guess it's history repeating itself again. Everytime there is a shift in how kids need to develop or are expected to grow or learn faster, new products and government recommendations, follow and enforce that shift. Now that kids are expected to be techno-literate sooner, they expect to have it shoved in their faces and down their throats sooner. It's still just pushing buttons.

 

[akmom]

I have found that my children lose interest in loud, flashy toys and older, mechanical toys at about the same rate. The ones that kept their interest were character toys (dolls, barbies, toy people and animals) and building toys (Legos, K'nex, Lincoln logs).

I guess it is because they can play with these toys in new ways each time. Build a new thing, or enact a new storyline. Things that blink or flash or make noise or fit into a hole only do one thing.

I don't know if it's relevant or not, but I read a study on the importance of imaginary play in the pre-school years, and the researchers concluded that the more generic the toys, the better they were for brain development. An example they gave was the difference between children playing "picnic" with an elaborate set of plastic food and silverware, versus making their own "food" and utensils out of scraps of other things. The more inventive they had to be during imaginary play, the better their social and cognitive skills by kindergarten. (They noted that this did not apply to non-imaginative play, such as banging on drums versus pots to produce sound, which was defined as toddler play.)

 

[artmom]

I have found that my children lose interest in loud, flashy toys and older, mechanical toys at about the same rate. The ones that kept their interest were character toys (dolls, barbies, toy people and animals) and building toys (Legos, K'nex, Lincoln logs).

I guess it is because they can play with these toys in new ways each time. Build a new thing, or enact a new storyline. Things that blink or flash or make noise or fit into a hole only do one thing.

I don't know if it's relevant or not, but I read a study on the importance of imaginary play in the pre-school years, and the researchers concluded that the more generic the toys, the better they were for brain development. An example they gave was the difference between children playing "picnic" with an elaborate set of plastic food and silverware, versus making their own "food" and utensils out of scraps of other things. The more inventive they had to be during imaginary play, the better their social and cognitive skills by kindergarten. (They noted that this did not apply to non-imaginative play, such as banging on drums versus pots to produce sound, which was defined as toddler play.)

My daughter has accumulated a horde of horses, she was nearly obsessed about horses. She would make fences out of popsicle sticks, and halter and reins out of ribbons and string, stable barns out of shoe boxes. She still likes to collect them. Her favorite brand is Breyer, which is difficult to find in our city.
She has mainly moved on to Five Nights At Freddy's and been making the characters out of those elastic looms. She has gotten real good with that.

 

[marrykerry77]

Electronic devices won't be able to fully substitute old-fashioned constructive toys. The reason is that an electronic toy doesn't always give a child a chance to get curious about the way it works. It shows everything automatically and the child doesn’t have to do anything to make it work. Constructive mechanical toys are a lot better - they develop logical skills and imagination making the child reveal the secret of the way it works himself or herself.