How can toys help kids develop their skills?
For kids, toys are more than just fun and games. It’s an opportunity for them to learn and this is why good toys can engage a kid’s senses, increase their imagination and encourage them in interacting better with others. Play is incredibly important for kids and it is actually the way in which they practice growing up. And toys provide them with this unforgettable experience of playing.
As kids, we always remember our favourite toys, whether it was a doll or a car. For us, it was something we loved more than anything else but what we didn’t realize back then was that our toys influenced us in ways we never knew. Can’t seem to understand how? Below, we take a look at the ways in which toys help kids develop their development skills.
Motor skills
Experts agree that kids learn by playing and toys are a means of discovering the world they live in. Toys are a way in which they interact with the things around them and it encourages kids to engage in physical activity. Be it dressing up their Barbie doll or coloring a book, kids use their senses of touch and sight that can hone their motor skills. Toys can also go a long way in allowing children to discover their coordination and balance because while playing, they are being physically active in some way. Toys such as play dough and sand toys are great for sensory development while other means of play such as painting and playing with paper can augment the intellectual development skills of a child.
From a young age, toys motivate kids to use their hands and feet to discover colors and sounds around them. When infants start sitting up by themselves and notice their favourite toy lying out of their reach, they will use their muscles to grab it. This is how toys can help children build their motor skills.
Emotional development
Toys spark the creativity of kids and allow them to express their emotions. When they play with a doll house, they start imagining that they are part of their little Barbie’s make-believe life and this freedom and capacity reveals a more mature personality of your child. While we adults identify toys as something that’s merely sold at a store, for kids, toys are something new to be added to their play. Even if it’s something as simple as play dough or clay, kids see these tools as something to spark their imagination and create a new plaything they include in their own little world of toys.
Social development
In addition to improving the motor and emotional development skills of a child, toys can also teach plenty of social skills for kids as they understand the world through play. When playing, kids start interacting more with adults at first and they start understand how fun it is to play with other kids their same age as well. Even something as simple as playing with another child can challenge your own little one to experience new situations where they learn the most important life lessons of teamwork, respect and sharing. It also inspires kids to take the lead, learn to negotiate and improve their organizational skills.
Cognitive development
Playing with toys stimulates the memory and concentration skills. This is particularly true with board games and this also helps them to solve their problems in a creative manner. Playing with lego and building blocks makes kids more independent as they start understanding how they can solve anything. Cognitive development is extremely important for children because it will help them to approach math and language skills in a way that’s fun for them.