Kids Learning

The modern day busy parent tries to compensate for his or her lack of time for his or her children by investing a great deal on education. Thus, it is not a surprise how many of such parents move mountains just to provide their kids entertaining products that not only encourage play, but also instill discovery and learning.

Makers of toys worldwide recognize this growing trend and are, consequently, coming up with new and improved lines of children’s educational toys and games almost every month. What was once limited only to specialty toy and game shops, educational toys and games are now a staple in every children’s oriented stores around the world, even at general mass retailers, like Wal-Mart and K-Mart.

Statistics show that the sales of toys and games have declined over the years. However, educational toys have been on the rise, as more parents opt to purchase products that would give them the most value for their money, as compared to, say, buying Bratz dolls and Hot Wheels.

The record for educational toys was broken in the Holiday season of the year 2000, when toy maker LeapFrog’s LeapPad Learning System electronic reading toy became the bestselling children’s game of the time, helping the company boost its sales by a whopping 120 per cent!

LeapFrog’s success paved the way for other major and small toy makers to come up with educational toys of their own. Jakks Pacific, under its Child Guidance brand, released its own line of children’s educational toys and games following a deal with Baby Genius. Hasbro released its Baby Einstein line and unveiled its preschool units, namely the Baby Einstein Company and Playskool. These new toys encouraged children to dabble in art, music, different foreign and local languages, and even poetry.

The strong demand for educational toys and games for children has urged major retailers, like Toys “R” Us, to allocate shelves upon shelves for these kinds of toys. And because more and more households are transforming into two-income families, it is likely that the demand will grow further as parents seek products that would try to fill their absence during their children’s formative learning years.

With the rise in demand, it won’t be a surprise when the price tag that comes with these educational toys and games will also decrease as the years pass. Right now, these kinds of toys are still a little expensive (though it hasn’t stopped most parents from buying them). In the future, due to the overwhelming interest, educational toys and games will be accessible to everyone.

Low Jeremy

Wikitoy – Toy Information
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Christmas is coming closer and many will start looking for toys. Some toys are regarded as violent but the majority are non-violent toys. If you have children of your own, Christmas can undoubtedly get rather hectic. So don’t get into a battle over the last toys on the shelf and remember that Christmas is about the thought and not about the price of the toys. If you are a smart shopper, you can save tons of money on toys for Christmas just by biding your time and shopping around. Another great way to find great deals on toys for Christmas is to buy online.

Since everything ends up in the mouth, at least for the younger kids, educational toys that are chewable or soft plush are favourites. Babies for example, need to experience different textures so vary the materials educational toys are made of. But even as the way toys are produced and what toys can do has advanced, the fact that children play with and can learn from toys has not altered.

Parents spend much time putting thought into what kind of baby toys should be purchased and what should be overlooked. As a comfort, we can now say that we know that so called violent toys compared to non-violent toys have no significant effect on a growing persons behaviour in the future. One may fell good though when you choose a simple wooden toy instead of guns and knifes.

Book are a great complement to ordinary toys. It is great for parents to read to their child, to show the child that learning is very important. Many books for babies and young kids may have pop-up characters, animals with fur that kids can pet, and flowers with a scratch-and-sniff scent. It is also important for parents to read to their children to introduce them to language and to give them ideas.

Children learn best when learning is fun and their interests change as the child develops. Learning is also much more fun if it is associated with something that has already captured the imagination of the child.

Many times, simple is the best. To select educational toys that target skills and abilities for the actual stage is important. An educational toy that is too advanced may cause frustration, and one that is too simple will not be challenging enough to warrant attention. Most educational toys are non-violent toys.

Pounding toys are very popular at some ages. Trucks and dolls are often the toy of choice for younger kids. It is a mistake to believe that at this age dolls are specific only to girls. Toddlers, both boys and girls, love animals and dolls made of different materials. It seems that dolls are usually produced in the female form, but they have also replicated the male gender. Dolls may look human, but their characteristics and emotions are a blank sheet, waiting for our imagination to bring them to life. They are also regarded as non-violent toys.

By: Louise Wasa

Popularity: 22% [?]

All parents want their children to play and learn in safety, but sitting in front of a television is not the alternative most parents seek. Rather than simply watching a screen and being “spoon-fed” a constant stream of input, children benefit from the use and manipulation of real, tangible educational wooden toys.

Numerous studies have shown viewing excessive television to be deleterious to children’s development and many pediatricians suggest minimal TV exposure for toddlers. Physically tangible toys, as opposed to television or computer screens, establish the sense of touch and stimulate neural growth. Further, the child’s ability to manipulate his toy as he wishes builds creativity and decision-making skills, as the child is not simply absorbing what is being broadcast over the airwaves.

The dexterity required to play with and manipulate educational toys also stimulates the imagination and builds hand eye coordination. Different educational wooden toys are suitable for different developmental stages; for tots, large, brightly colored objects may suffice, while a five-year old might benefit from the alphabet and numbers painted on wooden blocks.

Another benefit of wooden toys is their relative durability and safety. Plastics can become brittle with age and have a tendency to break into sharp shards, whereas educational wooden toys rarely break up beyond a splinter. Still older children have delighted themselves for years with the ever-popular “Lincoln-Logs” that allows the child to build a variety of miniature log buildings. Many educational toys aimed at teens and preteens build critical lateral thinking and problem solving skills.

The benefit of wooden toys does not lie solely in the use, however. Crafting educational wooden toys is a hobby enjoyed by parent and child alike, while encouraging intrapersonal cooperation and development of basic skills. Wood, a few tools and an imagination are all that is required to make educational wooden toys. They can range from little more than whittled doodads to elaborately carved and painted heirlooms.

Schoolchildren everywhere learn basic woodworking techniques in shop class and, frequently, the object built with these skills is a simple wooden pegboard or similar educational wooden toy. Successful creation of a real object builds confidence in children who are all too often used to success in terms of advancing to the next level of a video game.

In the age of Toys-R-Us, Madison Avenue and high-dollar advertising, companies bombard children with ads proclaiming their toy to be the best. However, no mass-produced plastic figure can compare with a custom, handmade educational wooden toy, nor will the plastic toy likely be passed down from one generation to the next.

Summary:

Although not as prevalent as in the past, educational wooden toys are an important tool in children’s development. Many educational toys aimed at teens and preteens build critical lateral thinking and problem solving skills and building educational wooden toys is a hobby enjoyed by parent and child alike, while encouraging intrapersonal cooperation and development of basic skills.

By : Brooke Hayles

Popularity: 3% [?]

The experts all agree that children learn by exploring the world around them and one way that they do this is through the creativeness of play. If you’ve watched any young children at play then you’ll know that they don’t necessarily need children’s toys to interact with to learn.
The most obscure object can become a source of entertainment and amusement. However, children’s toys act as stimulants encouraging your child to discover and develop new skills and have new experiences. It makes sense then to focus on toys that help your child learn in a constructive way. But how do you decide which children’s educational toys are best for your child?

The kind of stimulating educational toys that your little one will respond to best are those that allow him or her to discover and encourage their own personal learning style. Some children like to concentrate on one activity and explore all they can around that while others like to have a wide variety of choices so that they can easily move from one to another. For example, a child that likes to concentrate for long periods will probably enjoy a complicated puzzle (appropriate to their age) but a child who gets distracted easily would probably learn more with a range of simpler puzzles that get increasingly difficult.

Have you ever stopped to think about how you like to learn? Each of us has a favorite way of discovering new things. If you take a book of fiction for example, you would find that some people prefer audio books because they can more easily take in information aurally, while others need to have a book in their hands to be able to assimilate the words. Others would rather watch a play or movie of the book than read it. And others would prefer to plot out what happened in a logical way through a mind map or linear drawing rather than trudge through the detail of what occurred. While children are still developing, their educational styles change depending on their skill level, however, most have a preference for a particular way of learning.

If you can’t quite work out whether your child responds best to visual, aural, touch or logical styles of education then the best thing to do is take time to observe how they interact with the learning toys around them. Do you have to ask them repeatedly to do things or do they pick it up faster if you write it down or if you show them first exactly what to do? Or perhaps they need to know what will happen if they don’t do something before they will do it?

Once you understand what they like you can introduce a few learning toys that are focussed on that particular mode of learning. And then see how they react. Do they embrace it? Do they struggle? Once you have tested a few different children’s learning toys you will then have a much better idea of what works for your child and what doesn’t. The next step is to hunt out the kind of educational toys your child has shown a preference for. However, it is important to bear in mind that your child’s educational style is not locked in and may alter as their skills develop and their interests change.

By: Jill Brennan

Popularity: 3% [?]