As all you parents know, there are many types and brands of toys on the market, it’s really hard to find the toys that offers the best Return On Investment (ROI), both monetarily and in terms of time spent playing.
From the books that I’ve been reading, it seems to me that a good toy should serve the child’s needs for playing, holds her interest and helps her with her physical, cognitive, social and emotional development.
Given that toys are such an important part of a child’s development, it’s the parent’s responsibility to pick the best toys for the child, and engage in toy playing with the child.
It’s indeed an awesome responsibility and as usual, I’ve been trying to learn as much as I can about which toys are best for my child at all different stages of her life.
Baby 411 book mentioned a booklet published by US Consumer Product Safeway Commission, called “Which Toy for Which Child, Ages Birth Through Five”. I was able to locate an online PDF copy of the document here. However, the PDF file’s quality leaves a lot to be desired. It’s better to request a hard-copy by email info@cpsc.gov to request Publication 285. You can find more information at the bottom of this page.
What this publication tells you is the appropriate toys for various ages, this particular publication covers birth till 5 years of age. I find the categorization of the toys into Active Play, Manipulative Play, Make-Believe Play, Creative Play and Learning Play makes a lot of sense, and the succinct abilities and interests sections quite informative.
There are also quite a few toy books on the market. The one recommended by Baby 411 is Oppenheim Toy Portfolio 2006 Edition: The Best Toys, Books, DVDs & Music for Kids. Although I have not read the book, the namesake website at http://www.toyportfolio.com has quite a few reviews of specific toys, and I found the review insightful and informative.
The book I did read, called Toy Tips : A Parent’s Essential Guide to Smart Toy Choices was also good. I found the information in the book a bit more general in nature than I expected, but it did brought several things into my attention especially regarding the repeat playability of toys, technology toys and classic toys. I wasn’t thinking in those terms before. I also enjoyed the http://www.toytips.com website. It features toy and other baby gear reviews for children.
Given the three wonderful resource I mentioned above, I was able to come up with a simple toy searching framework.
- Understand the Lauren’s next development stage and the required toys categories ahead of time, focusing on the skills I want Lauren to build
- Take inventory of current toys, find out which categories they fall under
- Based on the categories of toys, browse through http://www.toyportfolio.com and http://www.toytips.com for their recommended toys.
- Once the toys arrive, inspect them for loose parts, then note their future playable time.
- Once Lauren reaches the age for a set of particular toys, play with the toys together with Lauren to observe whether she is able to play them with and her level of interest, and make adjustment accordingly.
I’m just beginning to understand the importance of toys, and will welcome any feedback you experienced parents have in order to be more “toy smart”.
Have fun.