Children's Educational Games and Toys

Almost all toys can be described as educational, each offering a physical,sensory or creative aspect from which the child can learn and develop. Thereare, of course, educational toys out there which have been specially created tohelp nurture childhood development, designed to support a specific developmentsuch as co-ordination or identification.

But why are toys such an important part of childhood development? No child is bornunderstanding the world they’re brought in to, so from day one they have tolearn what things are and how they work. This makes it important to let childrenplay and explore with everything to help build their knowledge and understanding.

There are a range of educational toys all designed to help with the developmentof various vital learning skills. For example, infants particularly need sensoryproducts which allow them to experience different textures and noises. Thesesorts of stimulating educational toys are great for infants to begin to understandhow things fit into the world. For example, you will probably notice how babieslove to drop and pick up; this is them beginning to understand gravity. Toyssuch as rattles allow them to find a connection between an action (shaking) andan outcome (noise), with push-pull toys again teaching them that they areinitiators.

Toddlers can then build on these foundations, and play with educational toys whichhelp them to imitate more adult skills. Much more physical at this age, toddlersenjoy educational toys which involve co-ordination and experimentation, with itimportant to encourage understanding of the toys and activity they are takingpart in. Allowing toddlers to express themselves, either through arts andcrafts or dressing-up, enables them to be creative, and important tool to allowthem to independently make choices.

For pre-school and early primary school ages, the encouragement of turn-taking isimportant, so games should be introduced to allow the understanding of ‘fair play’to develop. Much more social at this stage, pre-school children can use educationaltoys and games to help initiate social interaction, and can also allow parentsto really introduce the importance of good and bad behaviour. They are alsostill building on their understanding of adult skills and knowledge, and enjoyidentifying objects from the world around them. Animal and transport toys inparticular are favourites amongst this age group, as they help to satisfy thechild’s curiosity.

Educational toys are important as they allow children to learn as they are havingfun. Even as adults, we all know the importance of fun to help encourage interest,and for children nothing is more important than getting them to engage inlearning and development. The development of skills such as imagination and creativityare just as important as skills such as fairness and knowing right-from-wrong,so providing children with a wide array of educational toys is essential.

With childhood development taking place from the day they are born, children needtoys from day one to ensure they are stimulated and encouraged to learn thenext set of skills. All of this helps to make sure that come school-time theyare equipped with the basic skills to support their understanding of lesson-basedsubjects.

Willis Toys