How to choose an educational toy

All parents strive to give their children the best from birth. What does the child need first? Many will answer - toys. And indeed it is. It is in a playful way that the baby learns the world around him, and the toy, like no other object, helps him in this.

Currently, on the shelves of stores you can find toys for every taste - simple and complex, large and small, and of course developing everything that is possible. It is easy to get lost in this diversity. It is very tempting to buy toys for the development of fine motor skills and touch, ear for music and speech, logic and thinking.

However, before rushing to the store, you should figure out which toys will really be useful to the child.

Developing ball

What is the toy for?

The first thing to do when buying something is the answer to the question “why?”. Since we are talking about an educational toy, it means that you want to develop something, to help the child with something.

If we are talking about the development of logic, these will be toys of one type, if about fine motor skills and coordination of movements, they will be completely different. Buying everything at once on the principle of “we will develop everything” is impractical and beneficial only to the manufacturer.

Think about why you would like to buy a toy and a huge selection will immediately narrow down. Then evaluate how well it will contribute to the development of the skill, and what additional opportunities it can provide.

For example, if you decide to buy a pyramid for the development of fine motor skills and acquaintance with the size of objects, you should evaluate how many elements there are in it, whether they differ in color.

If the rings are solid, the child will focus primarily on the size, if they are colored, on the size and color. There are also pyramids with different shapes of details - in this case, the baby will not only study the size and color, but also the shape of the objects.

With each complication of the toy, the development of the skill of orienting solely in size will suffer somewhat. For example, a child may memorize the sequence of colors of rings, and not pay attention to their sizes. And a different shape will complicate the comparison process altogether.

Thus, if the goal is to study the size of objects, it is better to choose a simpler and more monophonic pyramid, no matter how tempting other options are.

Simple wooden pyramid - Cockerel

Simplicity and convenience of the toy

Often, when it comes to children's educational toys, parents imagine something complex and multifunctional. Something that will sing a song, and show animals, and teach to determine forms.

Alas, in reality, everything is not quite the way manufacturers of goods for children want to show us. The presence in one toy of buttons with different sounds, counting material and different types of figures may interest the child, but just enough to explore what this item can do.

What to do with such a toy, the child may never come up with - it seems to be spinning and singing and the details are different, but how to use it correctly is not clear. Yes, and the parents themselves, teaching the baby, will not turn to a bulky toy for a long time - you can use cubes or balls to count, various inserts and pyramids to study the shape.

Therefore, if parents want a toy to develop fine motor skills, speech and logic, they will most likely have to purchase not one, but three different toys. Otherwise, the child will simply get confused in all this functionality and refuse to play.

Of course, the older the child, the more difficult the game can be offered to him, however, few will dispute the benefits of an ordinary children's designer. It will allow and introduce the child to color, shapes through the use of various details, will contribute to the development of fine motor skills and logical thinking, while remaining one of the simplest toys.

Whether a child will play or not depends on the ability to independently carry out certain actions with a toy. For example, in the case of the same rattle - will it be convenient for the child to hold it, roll it, shake it.

If toys involve buttons, will the child be able to press them on their own. If we are talking about different sorters - how convenient it will be for the baby to place the parts in the holes. It is much more convenient for a very small child to place parts on top, and not on the side or bottom.

Pyramid of multi-colored cups

The ability to fantasize

What is significant - often, the fewer functions offered by the manufacturer, the more options for the game. What actions to perform with the toy, the child and parents can decide for themselves.

And this is another criterion for choosing a really interesting and useful toy for a child. The baby should have many options for using the toy, many of which he will invent himself.

If the manufacturer has only one specific function - for example, putting parts on pins, then this is more likely not a toy, but a simulator for developing certain skills.

For how long would an adult be interested in performing the same actions, even if there are five of these actions? I don't think for long.

The child has even more requirements, because he actively explores the world, he needs to try the greatest number of actions, get acquainted with all the possible results of his own manipulations.

Therefore, some incompleteness of the toy is of great interest. You should proceed not only from the point of view of “what can be done with a toy”, but also from the position of “what can be done with a toy”.

For example, mosaics - with a visible unambiguous purpose, they provide the child with ample opportunities in the development of imagination, creativity, and a variety of final options. This means that the baby will begin to deal with such a toy, while developing fine motor skills and concentration, perseverance and consistency.

Another example is lacing. Often, manufacturers lay down a clear algorithm for actions with laces - lace up a specific part, lace up a boot, and so on.

It would not be entirely correct to consider such products as toys - they are rather tools for developing a certain skill - threading a rope into holes in a certain sequence or tying shoes. The skill is useful, but it is unlikely that the child will be interested in this for a long time and will begin to play on his own. This is more of a material for an adult to practice with a baby.

However, if the same lacing is presented in different colors and with cardboard with different types of holes placed in different places, the opportunity to fantasize and invent your own patterns, weaves and combinations opens up many different options for the child, therefore, can occupy his attention for a long time.

Toy quality

Of course, speaking about any kind of children's products, one should not forget about the quality. All parts must be well fastened, the seams, if any, are well stitched. It is unacceptable for threads or stuffing material to stick out of the toy, paint to peel off parts.

Pay attention to the label - the more qualitatively and competently it is drawn up, the more likely it is that the toy will not let you down. GOST and recommendations for use and care must be indicated.

Movable elements of the toy should move well, not cling. If elements are inserted into holes or put on pins, they must pass freely.

When it comes to an interactive talking toy, check the sound quality, the sounds should be clear and pleasing to the ear.

It is advisable to choose stuffed toys with synthetic winterizer, such toys are safer, do not tend to accumulate harmful substances and are easily washed.

Child's age

And of course, the main thing to rely on when choosing a particular toy is the age of the child. In different age categories, the need for the development of certain skills, of course, will be different. The toys that need to be purchased will also differ.

It is desirable, when choosing a toy, to count on a longer period of its operation. For example, when buying cubes for a one-year-old child, you can immediately purchase a set with numbers and letters. At first they will be used as building material, and in the future they will help to get acquainted with reading and counting.

For children under the age of 3 months, the main organs for obtaining information about the world are sight and hearing. Various rattles and mobiles are the first educational toys for newborns. The main requirement for toys for this age will be contrast. Plain and contrasting toys are the easiest to focus on.

After 3 months, the child not only knows how to follow the toy, but also tries to grab it. Thus, toys for children of this age should develop tactile sensations, fine motor skills, and coordination of movements. If the toy will squeak and attract attention, encourage the child to reach for it, pick it up, crush it, shift it - this is the right toy.

An ideal toy for children from three months to almost a year can be a developmental rug. It provides tools for the development of tactile sensations, fine motor skills, coordination of movements.

By 5-6 months, do not forget to add teethers to the arsenal of educational toys. At the same age, you can connect various glove puppets. So the child will be able to get to know facial expressions better. A big plus of these dolls is that in the future you can use them for a completely different purpose. From a puppet theater to a joint "playing a fairy tale" with a child.

A child aged from one to three learns the world of objects and forms. At this age, he needs to receive a large amount of information about the objective world. What and how moves, develops, what relates to what. In addition to fine motor skills, logic and imaginative thinking begin to develop during this period, and the speech apparatus is actively developing.

At the age of about a year, you can also begin to master pyramids, sorters, a designer with large details, books with thick pages, get acquainted with animal figures. As educational toys for children older than a year, various cubes are well suited: soft, later wooden and plastic.

Wooden cubes with puzzles

From 1.5-2 years old, puzzles can already be actively used. From the age of two, you can add various lacing.

The older the child, the more complex toys can be offered to him - a smaller designer, puzzles with a large number of elements.

After three years, when the main cognitive activity is no longer the study of objects and their properties, but the active development of social skills, the arsenal of toys can be supplemented with various sets for creativity, playing doctor or young chemist, various intellectual games, interactive toys.

Usually, after three years, parents already know about the preferences of the child, and it becomes a little easier to navigate in all its diversity, although mistakes are inevitable - it is difficult to predict for sure whether the child will like this or that toy or not and how he will dispose of it.