In our age of impressive variety of products, the catchphrase “Not all yoghurts are created equal” also applies to toys. It is also true that a lot of toys does not mean “good”.
In this matter, as they say, “less is more”! The pages of this section contain materials on how to choose toys that are useful for a child’s development. Specific recommendations for parents will help them become more responsible when choosing toys for their children. There are also consultations on how best to organize the “communication” of children with toys, in accordance with their developmental and educational functions. Tips for organizing thematic reading competitions.
Let children play not only fun, but also usefully.
Contained in sections:
- Toys 1998
- Consultations for parents 58495
Includes sections:
- Gadgets. Harm and benefit 134
- Home theater. Consultations 79
- Games in the kitchen with children 119
- Lego, LEGO. Consultations and recommendations 147
- What to do with a child. Consultations 734
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Consultation for parents “Simple games for child development” Today I want to tell and show you, parents , how with the help of games you can develop your child’s attention, thinking, imagination, memory, coordination and orientation in space. While playing, a child can gain new knowledge, skills, abilities, and develop abilities, and all this...
Consultation for parents “Games in winter with the whole family” Children’s favorite activity in winter is sculpting from snow. This process will be more fun if you take some items from home: carrots, large buttons, beads, an old scarf, handkerchief or broken sunglasses, etc. Using some items you can make a snowman....
What to buy?
Don’t know what to buy as a gift, but your child doesn’t have any obvious hobbies yet? Focus on age. Thus, children under one year old are usually bought rattles, small plush toys, medium-sized cubes and pyramids of rings. For children from one to three years old, you can choose toy dishes, plasticine, mosaics or washable paints.
For children over three years old, drawing tools are suitable, such as a board and crayons, paints and felt-tip pens; you can also buy various educational sets. An almost win-win option is dolls with accessories, soldiers and cars, as well as toys in the shape of animals or cartoon characters. Older children, after the age of six, will be interested in radio-controlled car models, complex small construction sets, dolls and realistic accessories, board games, puzzles, machine guns, pistols, military figures, and noise-making musical instruments.
Consultation for parents “What should a useful children's toy be?”
What should a useful children's toy be?
Childhood is unthinkable without toys. Toys are an environment for a child that, on the one hand, allows him to explore the world around him, form and realize his creative abilities, express his feelings, teach him to communicate and get to know himself. On the other hand, a toy is a product that an adult chooses and buys for his children. This type of product retains its rating at all times. Selecting toys is a serious and responsible matter. Not only the child’s play, but also the progress in his development depends on the success of this task.
Nowadays, it is extremely difficult for a child to choose a toy. Along with traditional dolls, bears, cars, balls, new, never-before-seen toys appeared - dinosaurs, transformers.
How to navigate this sea of toy products?
How to choose what your child needs?
Given the current abundance of the market, figuring this out is not easy. In most cases, toys are chosen and purchased spontaneously, due to prevailing circumstances or external, superficial characteristics of the toy (attractiveness, size, cost, desire to please the baby). Parents either do not take into account the developmental potential of the toy, its pedagogical “usefulness” at all, or completely trust the attached annotation, in which the manufacturer writes everything he wants. As a result, children's rooms are often littered with the same type and, as a rule, useless (and sometimes harmful) toys, while there are almost none that are necessary and important for children's development. Therefore, when choosing toys, it is extremely important to take into account not only their beauty and sanitary and hygienic properties, but also the possible psychological impact on the child’s development.
What are toys for and what can each of them provide for children's development?
The main function of the toy is to stimulate children's activity. The toy should stimulate the child’s meaningful activity. Its developmental and educational effect is determined primarily by the nature of the game action. This aspect should be clearly understood when buying toys: when choosing this or that toy, you need to immediately imagine what your child will do with it.
It is quite obvious that children are playing with the toy. Toys that stimulate role-playing and directing play are best suited for preschoolers to play with. For a role-playing game, it is good to have sets for playing a doctor, a hairdresser, a shop, as well as costume details and attributes that help you take on and hold the role of a player (a doctor’s robe and bandage, a car steering wheel, a police cap, a red cap, etc.). This group also includes transport toys (trucks, trains, cars that allow you to transport something).
For director's play, you need small and, if possible, cute toys that require communication or treatment as living characters - bears, bunnies, dogs and, of course, dolls with all kinds of doll utensils.
However, the “usefulness” of a toy is far from the only criterion for evaluating it. The toy must bring joy and pleasure to the baby. It should be exciting and attractive, which, in fact, makes it a toy, and not a teaching aid. The interests and preferences of children and adults often do not coincide. Adults are attracted by the external beauty of the toy, its complexity, richness of details, or the developmental value described in the annotation. Children have slightly different “priorities”. They may prefer a particular toy because they have seen a similar one with their friends. However, the main advantage of a toy that attracts a baby is the opportunity to do something with it. Only if the toy evokes a desire to act with it (disassemble and assemble, move various parts, carry, make new sounds), the child will want to quickly pick it up and start playing.
For a toy to play a developmental role, it must not only be attractive, but also open to the manifestation of various forms of child activity. Objects that involve, albeit useful, but stereotypical, monotonous actions, can become material for exercises and training, but not for games.
The more defined in its method of use and complete in its design a toy is, the less scope it leaves for children's creativity. With toys oversaturated with technical innovations, the child does not need to invent or imagine anything. Toys, which are simpler in design and less defined in how to operate with them, allow for a wide range of play actions. Accordingly, the material of the game should be quite simple and at the same time flexible, allowing for complication, variability and simplification of the tasks. The toy should be as open to transformation as possible. Such universal and always popular toys as balls, cubes, inserts, and ordinary dolls cannot bore a child, since, due to their simplicity, they are extremely flexible, allowing for endless complications and thousands of new combinations with them. Thus, openness to a variety of actions, flexibility and simplicity are the most important requirements for a good toy.
So, the child’s actions with a toy must be meaningful, variable and independent. Parents can use all these requirements for a toy when choosing the right item for their children to play with. It is also important to evaluate the technical qualities of the toy: its strength and workmanship. If, say, a car's wheels fall off, or a doll's hair comes out or its head hangs loose, this will make normal play with it impossible and will bring serious distress to the child.
And finally, the most important thing. Not a single toy by itself will teach a child to play and develop his abilities. A toy can only help or interfere with real children’s play, turning the game into automatic manipulation. But if a child does not know how to play, if he lacks imagination, the desire to think, transform and create new images and stories, no toys will help. Only in the hands of an older partner who knows how to play will a toy become alive, necessary, stimulating the imagination, and therefore useful.
Thinking about choosing toys for children, it becomes clear how serious and important this matter is. It is not adults who should do this, but the child himself. Only he is able to choose exactly the creature he needs from a huge selection of home toys, sincerely given to him by his parents. The choice of toys by the child himself is internally determined by the same emotional incentives as the choice of friends and loved ones by adults. This means that toy, the memory of which the child will carry throughout his life, and perhaps give it to his children along with the feeling of closeness and warmth that they felt together. Every child should have a toy with which he can complain, scold and punish, pity and console. It is she who will help him overcome the fear of loneliness when his parents go somewhere, the fear of the dark, when the lights turn off and he needs to fall asleep, but not alone, but with a toy friend. Sometimes people get angry with them, they are punished and even broken, thrown into a far corner, but they are remembered in moments of childhood grief, taken out of the corner and repaired, worn-out eyes and lips are painted on, new outfits are sewn, ears and tails are sewn on.
Undoubtedly, a child should have a certain set of toys that contribute to the development of his sensory perception, thinking, and horizons, allowing him to play out real and fairy-tale situations and imitate adults. The book “Play Therapy: The Art of Communication” by G. L. Landreth provides recommendations for choosing toys that help harmoniously develop intelligence, emotions, self-knowledge, self-control and communication skills:
— real life toys:
a doll family or a family of animals, a dollhouse, furniture, dishes, cars, a boat, a cash register, scales, medical and hairdressing instruments, watches, washing machines, stoves, televisions, crayons and a board, abacus, musical instruments, railways, telephone.
— toys that help “throw out” aggression:
soldiers, guns, balls, inflatable pears, pillows, wild animals, rubber toys, ropes, jump ropes, hammers and other tools, throwing darts, skittles.
— toys for the development of creative imagination and self-expression:
cubes, nesting dolls, pyramids, construction sets, alphabet books, board games, cut-out pictures or postcards, paints, plasticine, mosaics, needlework kits, threads, pieces of fabric, paper for appliques, glue.
Each age also needs its own set of toys:
— Toys for the little ones,
First of all, the sense organs must be developed: eyes, ears, hands. And while his main need is to feel warmth, the first toys of babies should be soft and warm, then they will fully correspond to the baby’s desire to learn everything through touch. The best toys for little ones are those that they can bite. They should be made of soft materials - plastic, rubber, wash easily, be lightweight, and not have an elongated flat shape so that when putting them in the mouth, the child cannot choke. The coloring of toys should be bright. It's good if they sound.
— For a one year old baby
Plastic pyramids of 3-4 component rings of different colors, bowls of different sizes that fit into each other, and multi-colored cubes will be interesting and useful. Manipulating with these toys not only develops the child’s intelligence, but also brings pleasure and joy when the child succeeds in something just like an adult. Rolling toys and tumblers are very useful.
— For 2 year olds
very good are a large multi-colored ball that does not roll under the furniture, 7 - 8 - compound pyramids, boards with slots of different shapes (like a Seguin board), soft, fluffy toys that children no longer put in their mouths, but fall asleep with them very well . A large plastic machine or box from this age will teach the child to be neat and independent, since cubes, balls, rubber and soft toys should be stored in them after playing. It’s good if at this age the baby has his own play area in the apartment, and the toys also have their own house.
— By three years
the range of toys is expanding. To the bright, multi-colored, clear-shaped toys are added the simplest construction sets (“Magic Chest”, “Surprise Egg”), which children assemble together with adults, while experiencing pleasure and delight in the fact that strange pieces can turn out into something wonderful, understandable to a child. figure-toy. At this age stage, the child begins to actively engage in the world of real life situations, learns that people are busy with work in life and have different professions, face problems and find a way out of conflicts. Therefore, most often the child chooses plots for role-playing games from the life that surrounds him. Children play “mother-daughter”, “family”, “shop”, “doctor”, “kindergarten”. Toys at this age increase in size: a large doll, a large bear. It would be correct to purchase hairdressing sets, tea and table sets, Dr. Aibolit’s accessories, furniture and other items that reflect various aspects of reality. The child’s desire to live a common life with adults indicates a new stage in the development of emotions and social adaptation. The main requirement is that “household toys” must be similar to the “original” and be durable enough.
— By the age of four
Role-playing becomes the child's main activity. The content of the game becomes more complex, many toys become unnecessary, since children's imagination can turn concrete objects into imaginary ones. So, a pencil can become a magic wand, green leaves can become money, and patterns drawn on paper can become carpets in a doll’s apartment. That is why at this age, the greatest benefit to a child will come not from expensive purchased toys, but from those made with one’s own hands together with adults.
— Large toys by age five
gradually cease to occupy the child and move from the play area to chairs, beds, and cabinets. But sets of little animals, soldiers, and doll families capture the child’s interest and emotions. There is a greater opportunity to play different options with the same toys; Children develop fantasy and imagination, thinking ceases to be concrete, and the emotional world is enriched.
— For a six year old child
non-static and concrete toys are more useful and interesting - he will be happy with an unusual construction set, models of ships and airplanes, beautiful markers and an entertaining board game, a collapsible transforming robot, a sewing and knitting kit. Children really like toys they make with their own hands, especially if they become useful to others. Children at this age love to make toys-gifts (pot holders, napkins, decorations). Joy and pride are caused in a child by the fact that he knows how to do good to others and loved ones. Therefore, any desire of a child to make, sew, glue and give something to someone should be welcomed by parents if they want to develop in the child hard work, perseverance and the desire to give something to others in life. Toy stores are fading into the background, and the greatest interest among children is caused by counters with stationery, building materials, threads and buttons. The child prepares himself for a change in activity and schooling.
- In the future, the child will take an “inventory” of his toys himself. Never force your child to throw away broken or outdated toys!
For him, these are symbols of his development; each is associated with positive emotions and experiences. These are his childhood memories, these are his friends. It is much better to repair them and give them to other children, to give them to a kindergarten, to a child who has few toys. When managing your child’s toy world, you can throw away his favorite toys, and they, as you already understand, do not have to be the largest, most expensive and colorful. Often a child values completely different properties of a toy.
When buying toys, use a simple rule:
toys should be selected, not collected!
Literature:
1. Smirnova E. O., Galiguzova L. N., Meshcheryakova S. Yu. First steps (Program for the education and development of young children). M.: Mosaic - Synthesis, 2007
2. Kozlova S. A., Kulikova T. A. Preschool pedagogy. M.: Publishing House, 2001
3. Smirnova E. O., Avdeeva N. N., Galiguzova L. N., Drobinskaya A. O., Ermolova T. V., Meshcheryakova S. Yu. Raising a baby in the family from birth to 3 years M. : ARKTI, 2004
4. Golubeva L. G., Pechora K. L., Pantyukhina G. V. Children of early age. M.: Education, 1986
5. Lyamina G.M., Pavlova A.V., Golubeva L.G., Frucht E.L., Razenkova Yu.A. Child from birth to one year. M.: Mosaic - Synthesis, 2005
Consumer rights
The buyer has the right to exchange a non-food product of proper quality for a similar product from the seller from whom this product was purchased, if the product does not suit the shape, dimensions, style, color, size or configuration. This requirement also applies to children's toys, according to Art. 25 of the Law of the Russian Federation “On the Protection of Consumer Rights”. You can change a non-food product of good quality within 14 days, not counting the day of purchase.
But it is worth remembering that the exception is electronic toys and non-periodical publications for children, such as books, brochures, albums, cartographic and musical publications, sheet art publications, calendars, booklets, publications reproduced on technical media of appropriate quality. These types of goods are not subject to return or exchange.
If, after purchase, you discover shortcomings in the toy you have chosen, then you, as a consumer, have the right:
- demand that the toy be replaced with a similar one (of the same model or article);
- demand replacement with the same product of another brand (model, article) with a corresponding recalculation of the purchase price;
- demand a proportionate reduction in price (cost of the toy);
- demand immediate and free elimination of defects in the goods or reimbursement of costs for their correction by the consumer or a third party;
- refuse to fulfill the purchase and sale agreement and demand the return of the amount paid for the goods, that is, at the request of the seller and at his expense, the consumer must return the goods with defects, and the consumer has the right to demand full compensation for losses.
