The game is the most important learning activity during the first years of life. When the child plays, learns about himself, about the properties of objects and people around him, while developing physical, cognitive, affective and social. The toy is the motivating resource of the game because it invites you to explore and discover. Therefore, the important thing is not the object itself, but the activities that this toy allows you to perform to encourage its development.
How many times have we seen children more excited about the box and the gift wrap than with the very toy inside? This means frustration for the adult who spent on the toy, but it shows that it is not necessary to spend too much money to satisfy the curiosity of the child and offer the fun and learning opportunities we are looking for.
All toys have an important influence on the game, but not all promote the quality game. Unstructured toys such as dough, blocks, figures, paintings, balls and dolls favor a type of game that children can control and mold according to their abilities, to meet their individual needs over many years. These toys invite you to solve problems and be creative.
On the contrary, very realistic or structured toys such as action dolls and many others that appear on television (which are usually fashionable), tell children how to play; they are limited to playing with particular themes and in definite ways. Many of these lead children to imitate, risking their imagination, creativity and ability to find interesting problems that motivate them to explore and solve. It is not strange that children get bored soon of this type of toys.
How do we choose the best gift toy? The ideal is that the toy poses problems to the child to solve, thus promoting the capacity for resolution, creativity and confidence, while having fun. For this purpose, we must observe the interests and abilities of the child according to each stage of development. We must also remember that during the first years of life, there are no typical toys for boys or girls. Everyone can learn from all the toys that have been eternally classified as one sex or the other (kitchens, little cars, dolls, construction tools, baby strollers ... etc.). Another particularity to consider is to choose toys that give both the opportunity to play alone and accompanied.
Although there is no ideal toy for all children, there are some considerations that can guide our choice. Here are a series of questions that can be helpful:
* Is it well built?
* Do you develop your imagination?
* Does it allow you to play with other children and / or adults?
* Do you develop skills and attitudes? Which?
* Is it appropriate for age?
* Can it be used in different ways?
* Can it be used as the child grows?
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