728x90
my iParenting
From Our Sponsors
e-newsletters
Sign up to receive our free weekly e-newsletters

new terms of use
new privacy policy
award-winning products
The iParenting Media Awards program helps parents find the best products for their families.
Home › Articles › Baby Gear › Sorting out the
Bells and Whistles

Sorting out the
Bells and Whistles

What Toys Does Baby Really Need?

By Gina Roberts-Grey

Pages:  1  2  3  4  

Toy and discount store shelves are lined with a wide array of toy options. Toys with flashing lights, moving parts and bright colors all boast claims of featuring the newest technology, sporting the most appealing features and being the best choice for your young child's entertainment and development. Toys that claim to nurture your child's developmental skills or promote healthy brain activity fight for shelf space and compete for your attention with the "typical" toy options of dolls, stuffed animals, cars and trains.

One of the most frustrating aspects of shopping for toys is that the toys that promise to make babies and children smarter all seem to have a price tag that corresponds with increasingly higher prices. Compounding the frustration to select toys best suited to your child is your baby's overwhelming fascination with the cardboard packaging, twist ties and bubble wrap the toy was packaged in.

Although it is always nice to have choices, the abundance of options can be confusing and often gives parents perusing the toy aisles a headache.

So how do you sort through the cornucopia of toys and select the right items to facilitate the best opportunities for play? Can you purchase these toys on a budget? What about toys handed down from older siblings, family members or friends? How can you tell if a toy is truly educational or if your child will like the toy?

Understanding your baby's personality helps to conquer the challenge of finding the best toys among an array of choices.

The Role of Toys
There are a few different opinions on the role of toys in a child's life. Teachers generally believe that the price of the toy is not nearly as important as its detail and complexity, technological features or instructional benefits. "A child's interaction with the toy, the parent's interaction with the child, the parent's own interactive play with the actual toy and the child's subsequent interest in that toy is what makes the process educational, not necessarily the toy itself," says Elizabeth Auty, a mother from Detroit, Mich.

"Play time is considered to be the most serious businesses of childhood, and the increased focus on the importance of play's impact on a child's brain development has resulted in many early childhood programs designing play-based curriculums," says Margaret Underwood, a certified teacher and director of educational publications for TeacherCare in New York, N.Y. "Providing babies and children with opportunities for play is an essential part of their social and cognitive development."


Pages:  1  2  3  4  

Want to see more?

Comments

There are no comments for this article yet.Be the first to add a comment.

Post As:
Enter your comment below:
Title
Comment Text
CAPTCHA
Please note that any comments submitted become the property of Disney Family / iParenting and can be edited and posted at our discrection.