| As a caring and involved parent, you want to | | | | To develop fine motor skills, look for toys that |
| assist your child's development in any way you | | | | require your child to perform precise, controlled |
| can. Why not acquire educational toys geared | | | | hand movements. For example, get lacing cards |
| toward encouraging growth in all of the | | | | or activity books or boards that have the child |
| developmental areas? Authorities differ slightly on | | | | perform life skills such as buttoning, tying laces, |
| how to organize these domains. However, a good | | | | zipping, snapping, cutting, and locking and unlocking. |
| standard to follow is that set by Drs. Dorothy and | | | | To promote eye-hand development and vision, |
| Jerome Singer of Yale University, who identify six | | | | seek out toys that require children to use keen |
| essential elements of developmental play that can | | | | perception in concert with hand dexterity. For |
| be cultivated through the use of age-appropriate | | | | example, get nesting and stacking toys such as |
| educational toys: | | | | the Melissa and Doug Geometric Stacker; blocks |
| - Motor development: the development of gross | | | | and other building sets; peg boards; puzzles; and |
| motor skills that use large muscle groups for | | | | art activities such as drawing, cutting, painting, |
| activities such as running, kicking, balancing, | | | | sculpting, or lacing beads. Also look for toys that |
| jumping, hopping, lifting, climbing, and swinging, and | | | | increase your child's sense of perception, such as |
| the development of more delicate fine motor | | | | I Spy books or puzzles that require children to |
| skills, such as the pincer grip of thumb and | | | | differentiate between different sizes or colors of |
| forefinger. | | | | the same object. |
| - Eye-hand development and vision: the | | | | To develop cognitive skills, look for toys that |
| development of keen powers of perception and | | | | require the use of logic, identifying patterns, |
| of the ability to use the eyes and hands together | | | | finding solutions, and solving puzzles. For example, |
| in coordination to perform a task. | | | | get games that require children to use clues and |
| - Cognitive learning: the development of the ability | | | | deductions to solve problems, such as the classic |
| to learn new knowledge and to process, | | | | board game Clue or FoxMind Games's Logix I. Or |
| understand, and apply this knowledge to different | | | | get science and nature kits that develop children's |
| ends. Developing this area helps a child improve his | | | | powers of observation and investigation, such as |
| or her capacity for mental activities such as | | | | Battat's Bug Catcher Set. Or get toys and games |
| reasoning, interpreting, comparing and contrasting, | | | | that teach content skills and problem-solving skills, |
| evaluating, judging, inferring, predicting, sequencing, | | | | such as Melissa and Doug's See and Spell. Or get |
| and visualizing. It also helps children master specific | | | | building sets or model sets by makers such as |
| content knowledge relating to vocabulary, | | | | Meccano that require children to think about how |
| mathematics, science, and so forth. | | | | pieces can and should fit together. |
| - Hearing, Listening, and Voice: the development | | | | To develop hearing, listening, and voice, look for |
| of skills relating to the senses and communication. | | | | toys that appeal to the senses. Get musical |
| Developing this area allows a child to discriminate | | | | instruments such as shakers, drums, whistles, |
| between different types of sensory input, | | | | triangle, tambourines, and xylophones to |
| processing those that are important and screening | | | | encourage children to play with and compare |
| out ones that are not. | | | | different sounds. You can also get toys that help |
| - Social/Emotional: the development of skills | | | | children discriminate between different sounds, |
| relating to how one interacts with other people | | | | such as sound puzzles. |
| and how one behaves oneself. | | | | To develop social and emotional skills,look for toys |
| - Creative/Imaginative: the development of skills | | | | that require your child to interact with other |
| relating to pretending about the world and using | | | | people. For example, games such as FoxMind |
| the imagination to explore new ideas and possible | | | | Games' Babylon teach skills like taking turns and |
| solutions to problems. | | | | good sportsmanship. Building toys such as wooden |
| Which Educational Toys to Get | | | | unit block sets or Legos encourage skills such as |
| To develop gross motor skills, look for toys that | | | | cooperation and sharing as children work together |
| require large, yet controlled movements from | | | | to construct something. |
| your child. As they begin to stand and walk, | | | | To develop creativity and imagination, look for |
| provide younger children with wooden push and | | | | toys that encourage your child to create things or |
| pull toys. As they gain more control over their | | | | to pretend or role-play scenarios. For example, |
| muscles, get them wagons, play strollers and | | | | Uberstix construction systems can be used to |
| shopping carts, tricycles, and kid-powered ride-on | | | | build an infinite variety of structures. Art and craft |
| cars such as the Plasma Car. Look for toys that | | | | supplies give children practice with making things. |
| develop more specific gross motor skills, such as | | | | Dolls, dollhouses, Battat toy vehicles, and toy |
| hopscotch sets (hopping), jump ropes or the Spin | | | | dinosaurs can all be used as props to make up |
| Master Stomp Rocket (jumping), or hula hoops | | | | stories and recreate real-life scenarios. Costumes, |
| (rotating body). Sports equipment also promotes | | | | props, and copies of real-life objects can all also |
| the development of more varied gross motor | | | | be used in imaginative play. |
| skills. | | | | |