It was no contest. Given a choice between a ball and a book, my son would never have cracked a book binding. Giving him educational toys was a lot like giving him medicine. He didn�t want any part of either one. Fortunately, things have changed a great deal in the 20-odd years since he was a youngster. Educational toys, just like children�s medicines have come a long way. Children�s medicines taste good enough that tiny tykes will resist taking them only a little and learning toys have become a lot more enjoyable. For example, today there is great educational software for the family PC.
Now, that isn�t to say that you can walk into a toy department or a top quality toy store such as Toys R Us and randomly start slinging items labeled �educational toy� in your shopping cart. You must take care when selecting educational toys. Fortunately, the �educational� aspects of the toy can be kept well hidden behind the fun the child derives.
Toys such as jigsaw puzzles, word games, Disney games, word puzzles and other learning toys are great cognitive educational toys. These toys require that the child use his or her imagination. They develop creativity. They make the child think.
These games and educational toys have another, more important, aspect. They are fun. The child has fun while learning to use his or her imagination and reasoning skills. Children learn through play and these toys are the tools of play. They are the tools of learning.
The key is selecting cognitive development skills and educational toys that are appropriate for the child. For example, teaching a three-year-old to read or do multiplication may seem like a cool idea for your little prodigy, but it is much better to make sure the child is having fun reciting the alphabet and counting numbers with the help of interactive Disney toys, books on tape and other such toys. When the learning play is fun, the child will progress at his or her own pace with only minor supervision from you. Frustrating the child by expecting too much, too quickly will actually retard learning.
Jigsaw puzzles are another example of great educational toys. They teach the cognitive skills of learning the relationship between sizes and shapes. They also teach fine motor skills in putting the pieces of the puzzle together.
The second key is to tie educational toys and learning to the child�s current interests. These interests change as the child develops. Learning is much more fun if it is associated with something that has already captured the imagination of the child.
Educational toys do not have to be about thinking and learning. The second category of educational toys is those toys that develop physical skills such as coordination and fine motor skills. Babies begin learning coordination with a rattle. Legos are great toys for teaching the fine motor skills required to assemble the blocks.
It is much easier to encourage most youngsters to play with toys that help teach physical skills because stored energy and growing muscles demand stretching and movement. Given the opportunity, what four-year-old won�t ride a tricycle miles and miles around the dining room table or up and down the front sidewalk? While riding the trike, the youngster is developing strength and coordination, both of which are important for future development.
The various ball games that children enjoy are important for the same reason. They help the youngster develop strength, agility, speed and coordination. They also go one step further. Because most ball games are team sports, they teach concentration, teamwork, good sportsmanship and strategy. These are all important cognitive and emotional skills that will be necessary for the child to develop into a well-rounded and productive adult. So, Mom, the next time your youngster picks up a ball and begins playing with it, you might look at it as a valuable educational toy.
One of the most important toys in your child�s playroom is you. You need to spend some time, enough time, playing with your child to help supervise play with educational toys. You need to spend enough with your child that you can monitor his or her interests, ensure that the educational toys they are playing with are appropriate and encourage them to have fun with those games.
Educational toys are fun as they teach. They are different than schoolbooks and school assignments. Educational toys do not mean tedium and drudgery. Educational toys are designed to teach or develop the child.
This brings up a final point. Another important benefit of parental supervision is the ability to keep track of those toys and games that do little to help develop either your child�s cognitive skills or physical skills. There are some games and toys on the market that are so complete that they do all of the work for the child. The child does not have to be creative or exercise growing muscles or developing coordination. In fact, these games can actually be counterproductive by promoting lethargy and laziness.
About the author: Royce Armstrong is a successful freelance writer with a business and banking background who believes consumers should get the best value for their money when shopping for educational software, children�s toys and children�s books.
Sunday, May 6, 2007
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
How To Buy Infants' Best Educational Toys?
Buying educational toys for infants can be difficult, because infants seem to do so little that educating them right after birth might strike you as a bit rushed. However, the fact is that your baby is learning at a great speed, taking in everything that is around, and picking up habits, information and words. Research shows that many disabilities and learning disorders in young children can be avoided by providing them with appropriate cognitive stimulation as early as possible. By giving your infant the right stimulation, you can ward off such problems and groom your baby for pre-school and the challenges that follow. Every parent wants the best of everything for their child, but sometimes it is hard to know what is best when there are so many choices and opinions. Choosing toys for your child can be stressful because of the sheer number of factors you have to consider before making a buy, and the staggering variety of options you have. However, selecting good educational toys plays a very significant role in your child's development, and as such cannot be disregarded or treated casually. Here are some tips you need to know to understand more about your infants� best educational toys. Guideline for Your Toyshop Remember these guidelines as you toyshop for your baby: 1. The visual perception of infants is limited, so make sure to buy toys in bright, contrasting colors. 2. Activity centers and crib mobiles fascinate newborns. Some mobiles come with an adjustable height option so that you can make sure the mobile is in your baby�s visual range. 3. Babies up to six months old have very limited motor skills and love high-pitched sounds. Chimes, rattles, teething rings, colorful pictures and soft blocks will stimulate your baby at this age. 4. For babies between six to nine months old, you can buy building blocks, activity boxes and cubes, stacking ring cones, and bath toys. Try to vary the textures of the toys. 5. Between the age of nine months and a year, babies are old enough to enjoy and learn from toys such as nesting cups, push and pull toys, large crayons, spades, and stacking blocks. 6. It always helps to keep in mind that you do not need fancy and expensive toys to stimulate your infant. You might bring home a very trendy toy for your baby only to find that baby finds the packaging far more interesting. Your young child just needs stimulation and a way to express their creativity, and this can be done with homemade toys as well.
Educational toys can cost a fortune for some mums. See how t
August 2005 � Sydney, Australia. Sydney mothers have discovered a way of providing their children with high quality children�s educational toys and they�re only paying 20% of store price. These mothers aren�t spending hours in discount stores or second hand toy stores. They�re buying high quality, highly sought after children�s educational toys and instead of paying $100 they�re paying only $20. They�ve organised themselves in groups of 5 or 6 and each mother is buying a toy worth $100. These toys are then circulated within the group so that the group has toys to the value of $500 - $600 and each child has a one month turn with the toy before passing it on to the next family.
Ute Fumeaux, CEO and founder of child-educational-toys.com is a mother of 3 who empathised with the thousands of mothers who find it tough finding the extra cash for those high quality children�s educational toys on the market.
But then, Ute came up with a great idea, one that to date has probably saved her 100�s of dollars�����.In fact this idea has saved 4 of her friends 100�s of dollars. It was such a simple idea, that when Ute shared it with 4 friends in her mother�s group, they laughed. It just seemed too simple not to be something that everyone did.
The idea?
Toy Sharing
Hang on let�s clarify. 5 mothers of boys and girls of similar ages got together � had a look both on-line and at the multitude of toy catalogues in the mail box. They each chose $100 worth of high quality (relatively unisex) children�s educational toys.
They then set up a share system or toy library system with the toys. Each family had 1 month turns of each of the toys. At the end of each month the toys were rotated within the group.
Now let�s have a look at what this meant firstly for the children:
�New high quality educational toys each month.
�Just when they were bored/no longer using the toy as often, it went to someone else and a new toy arrived.
�More space to play as their rooms were less cluttered with toys
�There was more money available to the family for other �necessities�.
And then of course from the parents perspective:
�Because new toys were circulating every month, there was always an answer for �can I have��
�Money saved
�Less unused toys lying around the house
�High quality educational toys were available to their children.
This process may seem simple but we all know there are 1000�s of families feeling the pinch who still like to be able to provide high quality children�s educational toys for their children. Well why not try Ute�s idea and save yourself 100�s of dollars and be able to give your children their toys?
Mum of 3 and the CEO of www.child-educational-toys.com
Ute Fumeaux, CEO and founder of child-educational-toys.com is a mother of 3 who empathised with the thousands of mothers who find it tough finding the extra cash for those high quality children�s educational toys on the market.
But then, Ute came up with a great idea, one that to date has probably saved her 100�s of dollars�����.In fact this idea has saved 4 of her friends 100�s of dollars. It was such a simple idea, that when Ute shared it with 4 friends in her mother�s group, they laughed. It just seemed too simple not to be something that everyone did.
The idea?
Toy Sharing
Hang on let�s clarify. 5 mothers of boys and girls of similar ages got together � had a look both on-line and at the multitude of toy catalogues in the mail box. They each chose $100 worth of high quality (relatively unisex) children�s educational toys.
They then set up a share system or toy library system with the toys. Each family had 1 month turns of each of the toys. At the end of each month the toys were rotated within the group.
Now let�s have a look at what this meant firstly for the children:
�New high quality educational toys each month.
�Just when they were bored/no longer using the toy as often, it went to someone else and a new toy arrived.
�More space to play as their rooms were less cluttered with toys
�There was more money available to the family for other �necessities�.
And then of course from the parents perspective:
�Because new toys were circulating every month, there was always an answer for �can I have��
�Money saved
�Less unused toys lying around the house
�High quality educational toys were available to their children.
This process may seem simple but we all know there are 1000�s of families feeling the pinch who still like to be able to provide high quality children�s educational toys for their children. Well why not try Ute�s idea and save yourself 100�s of dollars and be able to give your children their toys?
Mum of 3 and the CEO of www.child-educational-toys.com
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