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The following are some suggestions for suitable toys for children of various ages. They are offered as a guide to help in your selection, but remember that all children are different. Study your child and get to know his or her interests, abilities and limitations. Not all children enjoy the same kinds of play: one child will be interested in building with blocks or doing puzzles; another may prefer riding bikes or playing ball; your child may enjoy pretending with a dollhouse or playing board games. Try to match the toy to your child and keep in mind that his or her interest in a toy will often carry through more then one age group.
Babies: Birth To One Year
Experts agree that even babies need an assortment of toys. Since infants respond to smell, taste, sound, touch and sight, properly selected toys provide a small baby with opportunities to learn about size, shape, sound, texture and how things work.
Choose toys that:
- have pieces that are too large to swallow
- are lightweight for handling and grasping
- have no sharp edges or points
- are brightly colored
- are non-toxic
Brightly colored, lightweight toys of various textures stimulate a baby's senses. For young infants, toys to look at and listen to are best. Rattles, squeaky toys and crib gyms are ideal for grasping when the baby is ready to hold objects.
Soft dolls or stuffed animals made of non-toxic materials are fun to touch and hug but are not designed for sucking or chewing. Make sure the seams cannot be easily torn or bitten open and that eyes and noses are securely fastened.
A baby who is sitting up is ready for blocks with pictures or bright colors. Nesting cups or boxes and stacking rings are also favorites. Babies at this age enjoy their first sturdy picture books showing familiar objects. Balls and push-pull toys are good choices when a baby can crawl and walk.
Toddlers: One To Three Years
A busy toddler needs toys for active physical play - especially things to ride and climb on, such as a low tricycle or a wagon to ride in and pull. Outdoor toys such as large balls, inflatable toys, a wading pool and a sandbox with digging tools are all good choices.
Toddlers begin to enjoy make-believe play just before their second birthdays. To imitate the adult world around them, they use play food, appliances and utensils, child-sized play furniture, simple dress-up clothes and dolls. Children in this age group are particularly interested in sorting and fitting toys, all kinds of blocks and simple puzzles. Toddlers also enjoy musical instruments such as tambourines, toy pianos, horns and drums, as well as listening to tapes.
Pre-Schoolers: Three To Five Years
Pre-schoolers are masters of make-believe. They like to act out grown-up roles and create imaginary situations. Costumes and equipment that help them in their pretend worlds are important at this stage. Some of the many possibilities include pretend money, play food, a toy cash register or telephone, a make-believe village, fort, circus, farm, gas station or restaurant, a puppet theater and play with dolls and doll furniture.
In a child's private world, a favorite toy is both a companion and protector. Dolls and teddy bears, for example, have helped countless children to cope with difficult moments. Children will sometimes express their feelings to toy "confidants" and share emotions with them that they might otherwise keep to themselves.
Transportation is fascinating to young children. Trucks, cars, planes, trains, boats and tractors are all fun at this age and beyond. Larger outdoor toys, including gym equipment, wheeled vehicles and a first two-wheeled bicycle with helmet and training wheels, are appropriate now.
Visualization and memory skills can be sharpened by play that requires use of imagination or mental computation, with the introduction of board games, electronic toys and word and matching games geared specifically for this group. Construction sets, books and tapes, coloring sets, paints, crayons, puzzles, stuffed toys and dolls continue to be favorites.
School Age: Six To Nine Years
Board games, table-top sports games and classics like marbles and model or craft kits help develop skills for social and solitary play. In experimenting with different kinds of grownup worlds, fashion and career dolls and all kinds of action figures appeal to girls and boys. Printing sets, science and craft kits, electric trains, racing cars, construction sets and hobby equipment are important to children for examining and experimenting with the world around them.
For active physical play, a larger bicycle, ice or roller skates, a pogo stick, scooter, sled and other sports equipment, along with protective gear, are appropriate. Even though group play is enjoyed, children at this stage also play well by themselves. Paints, crayons and clay are still good selections, as are costumes, doll houses, play villages, miniature figures and vehicles, all of which help children to develop their imaginations and creativity.
Many games and electronic toys geared to children in this age group are labeled "educational" because they have been designed to help children learn specific skills and concepts, such as games which require forming words, matching letters of the alphabet with various objects or learning about money through handling play coins and currency.
Video games appeal to children, teenagers and adults. Many games offer increasingly challenging levels of play, as well as opportunities to develop coordination skills and a sense of the meaning of strategies in relationships, usually through competition against an opponent.
Nine To Twelve Years
Children begin to develop specific skills and life-long interests at this age. Give considerable attention to hobbies and crafts, model kits, magic sets, advanced construction sets, chemistry and science kits and puzzles. Peer acceptance is very important at this age. Active physical play now finds its expression with team play in a variety of sports. Social and intellectual skills are refined through board, card and electronic games, particularly those requiring strategy decisions.
Video and electronic games, table tennis and billiards(pool) are very popular at this stage. Dramatic play holds great appeal. Youngsters in this age group like to plan complete productions including props, costumes, printed programs, puppets and marionettes. Painting, sculpting, ceramics and other forms of artistic expression continue to be of interest, as do books, tapes and musical instruments.
Teenagers
After age twelve, children's interests in toys begin to merge with those of adults. This is apparent in the growing market for sophisticated electronic games and computer-based systems, which are often considered "family entertainment" rather than toys. They also will be interested in board and adventure games. Collectors of dolls, model cars, trains, miniatures and stuffed animals often begin their hobbies in the teenage years.
Table of Contents
Previous - About Toy Labels
Next - Conclusion
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