First of a Two Part Series
Although toys in the shops today are attractive and elaborate, this
sophistication is not really an advantage. Experts claim that a
good toy needs to stimulate as much of the child's mind and body as
is possible. It should develop his imagination and also his motor
control. According to these experts, soft toys, or those made of
wood, as opposed to non-natural materials, are better for the child
than shiny colored plastic ones or electronic games. A battered car
is far better for the child's imagination than a new remote control
vehicle. They are certainly far cheaper. The old tried and tested
playthings, like balls, pots and pans, will help the child acquire
self confidence and independence. Researchers assert that children
whose motor control has been developed at an early age, have a
greater ability to concentrate and have more chances of success
right through school.
Before Pesach, while sorting through the toy box to see what they
should discard, mothers are always amazed at the way their children
have become attached to some of the rubbish, and refuse to part
with it. Children might prefer an old battered doll without eyes
and with bits of stuffing poking out of the holes where the limbs
should be, or an old car minus its wheels, to a new shiny toy. In
fact, a little girl might be quite offended that you call her
beloved dolly a `shmatte'.
Adults feel that sophisticated toys are a wonderful present for a
child, and they will spend a great deal of money on elaborate
electronic or mechanically operated toys. Since authorities on
children's development have shown that early development gives a
child a head start and helps him succeed right through life,
interest in toys has grown immensely. The manufacture of toys is
geared to what researchers have to say, and has become a huge
industry in its own right.
The Perfect Toy is a Simple One
Dr. Rudolph Steiner, amongst other experts, has tried a new
approach to children's toys. He formulates that as the early years
of a child's life are spent in imitating and copying their
surroundings, toys should be more elementary and based on simple
things found around the house, which will play a great part in the
internal development of the child.
In support of these views, in an article on the ideal toy, Elisheva
Avshalom writes that parents should not hasten to dispose of old
toys when the child is not around. Do not try to convince your
child that he would be better off with a new electronic train set
[which we, adults, know will not last long] or a new doll house, if
he is particularly attached to an old broken, or even makeshift toy
he has helped design with a mother or sibling. What better
stimulation to the imagination than a shoebox bed for a doll and a
kerchief for a cover!
According to Steiner and others, simple is perfect. The extra
advantage is that it allows the child to use his imagination on a
regular basis and fill in what is missing. Unlike a typical puzzle,
where it is obvious after a while as to what is missing and where,
the child can add his own inventions anew, each time he plays with
the thing. Avshalom brings an example of a doll without features.
As the child plays with it, she will have to add details according
to what she knows from the people around her. This is an exercise
in `identification,' apart from helping the child form associations
and relationships in later years. Their rule for a good toy is one
with `a minimum of parts and a maximum of possibilities."
Along these lines, she also feels that storybooks without clear
pictures are superior to those with very detailed ones, since they
encourage the child to fill in details himself with the help of his
imagination. This is active participation.
Uri Liptzin, who has been working in the world of games and toys
for over 37 years, has formulated an enrichment course for
kindergarten teachers in which he promotes the use of simple things
to teach such concepts as light and heavy, near and far, in front
of and behind, and to encourage free motion. Balls of different
sizes and weights, and balloons to run with and after,
handkerchiefs to wave or wrap around different parts of the body.
Balls and balloons, he says, are excellent for developing dual
play, in which a child interacts with another person.
Guidelines for Playing with an Infant
1. Play with a baby only when he feels like it. If for any reason
he is not cooperating, leave it be. He may be hungry, tired etc.
and forcing play on him even to amuse him will only cause him to
develop resistance against this activity.
2. Vary the activity. Babies lose interest very quickly. Alternate
the toys.
3. Give the baby a feeling that he is an active partner in the
game. Make peek-a-boo a two way game. Let him set the pace or
initiate. If he makes a sound, imitate him. If he stretches a hand
out, give him something to hold.
4. Select toys suitable to his age. They should not be too
sophisticated, lest he lose interest. They should be durable (paint
should not peel), safe (in size) and geared to stimulate several
senses at once.
5. Do not overdo the amount of toys. More is not better since they
will confuse the baby and turn him off toys altogether.
6. Create objectives he can accomplish, not too easy or difficult
with regards to his age. If he crawls, let him `come and get it.'
If not, put it just within reach with a bit of exertion.
7. Turn routine activities into games, like getting dressed. "Where
is baby's hand? His foot?" Feeding, bathing, should be interactive
activities with a mother talking and explaining and repeating.
Water play is free. Put some shampoo into the water for bubbles,
containers of different sizes to pour into or spill out, toys that
float and sink. Pots and pans in the kitchen, things that fit into
one another, or items like bottle caps that rattle and give a
concept of many. Egg cartons, cellophane (NOT plastic). Let the
baby do his own thing; he will.
*
According to the experts, a good toy is measured by how much it can
contribute to a child's development in different areas: sound,
color, motion, touch, the more stimulation, the better.
Toys today, says Dr. Steiner, trend away from the human and tend to
the mechanical, electronic and technological. But human is closer
to the child's experience and environment as opposed to hard,
robotic toys, as she characterizes them. Ideally, toys should be
round or rounded, wood versus plastic, with which he cannot
identify. Wood, she says, has an innate quality which he can
absorb.
[Personally, I feel playing with dolls that are ragged etc. will
help the child to accept people as they are, with infirmities, as a
natural part of their world, and to call a girl's - or boy's, who
can play with dolls too, up till a certain age - natural sympathies
into play.
We would welcome ideas and comments on the subject of toys, as well
as reminiscences of favorite toys of yore, to echo the above theme
of simplicity as the mother of imagination. Weinbach at Panim
Meirot 1, or FAX 02-5387998.]
