Guide to choosing toddler toys
The play has many more functions for toddlers than for adults.
For toddlers, play is not just a way to relax but it is also the
best way to learn and perfect skills like walking, balance and
controlling the hands.
Through play, the child discovers the objects and their
functions and learns some social behaviors. For him, the play is
similar to the work of the adult: the toddler imitates the work
of his mother, father and grandparents.
He repairs the car like his father and he cleans the house like
his mother.
His work “tool” is the toy. If for the little baby
the toy is mostly a decorative object, for the toddler who is
just starting to walk and talk, toys are absolutely
necessary.
The parent must make sure to offer his child adequate toys to
his age and skills level. The most indicated toddler
toys are the functional ones, who develop and stimulate
different processes and mental activities (knowledge,
inventiveness, imagination).
In fact, we can consider as toys all the objects that help a
toddler’s play, many of which can be found in our
house.
Moving games are one of a toddler’s preferred
activities.
It is very good if near your house is a park with a designated
place, with special structures for toddlers.
Small sized slides, wooden or plastic material cubes, arranged
in a pyramidal shape helps toddlers develop their musculature
and agility.
If it is possible, the family members, using non-expensive
materials, can make these arrangements in the backyard. The
children will use them until they will grow older.
Another open-air game for toddlers that requires manual skills
is sand play. This game requires the toddler to make different
sand shapes and even complicated constructions.
At the sand box, the toddler uses different plastic shapes
(stars, cookie), shovels, little buckets, toy cars and kitchen
vessels.
Don't hesitate to let the toddler play in sand just because he
might get dirty or because sand play is a germ source.
Dress the toddler adequately and keep a watch on him not to put
something in his mouth during the play. Sand play is so
important, that I advise parents to arrange a sand box inside
the house!
If you don’t think you can find a box good enough to be
used for this purpose, or sand to fill it, you can also buy one.
A toddler also requires toys to play inside the house
For the interior, the most important toys for toddlers are the
cubes. They are used by the toddlers as load for toys
trucks.
These cubes will later take part in construction games that help
develop hand maneuverability, the capacity to concentrate and
the imagination.
Toddlers, both boys and girls, love animals and dolls made of
different materials. It is a mistake to believe that at this age
dolls are specific only to girls.
Dolls help toddlers to identify the role of the mother and
father in the family and learn the different body parts that a
person has.
>From the list of toddler toys, we must not exclude books.
For toddlers, beautiful colored books, with few images but well
outlined, help enrich the vocabulary and verbalizing
perception.
As a parent, you can create short stories based on these images,
using words that the toddler can understand, with similar
activities and experiences to the ones the child has
experienced.
After showing him the images and explained what they are, we can
ask the toddler “What is this?” “What does it
do?” This way you test the things he learned.
The child likes this because he can see the satisfaction a
parent has when he answers correctly.
Besides enriching his vocabulary, this game wakes up in him
feelings of trust and security.
You can find the original article located at http://
www.child-toys-guide.com/toddler-toys.shtml