Toys That You May Not Think of as Educational Toys

Special things can happen with children and their toys. As a child, I can’t remember a girl who didn’t have a Barbie or a boy who didn’t run around the yard bringing to battle action figures to take over the world. Toy building sets were scattered all over the floors of every playroom I came into as a youth, including my own. We could construct incredible things with those model sets; towering buildings for our Barbie doll or stuffed toys to live in, a store for them to shop in; the things we could create was only limited by our imaginations. While these types of toys don’t usually fit into the category of educational toys, they have the ability to show children some valuable lessons.All toys can be important to children, even those that parents may not initially consider to be educational toys. This is as true today as it was 30 years ago when I sat playing board games with my sister. Youngsters learn a lot of things by playing, and they cultivate their imaginations and their critical thinking skills. While parents may think that only learning games have the ability to teach a child anything, that would be an error. Actually, most toys are learning toys when you understand that a child learns from free play.Board games, while providing hours of entertainment, also work on expanding a child’s reasoning skills as well as coping skills. Everyone doesn’t win when we play board games, and at times losing at something is as important for a child to learn as emerging victorious is. When there is a winner and a loser in a board game, one player is humbled while the other, hopefully, learns to be a gracious winner. With the help of an attentive parent, children will develop these skills. So popular are particular board games that they are now being made in ways that they can be played in the car. Travel games may not be as energizing as the original board games, but it sure keeps a child engaged in the car!Over several decades, parents and children have spent hours of bonding time over building sets. The vibrantly colorful blocks in a Lego set bring forward the very best in a child’s imagination, and keep them occupied for days. A wonderful thing about building sets is that just one set could produce a number of different items, from a robot to a neighborhood. Over the years, Lego sets have grown to where there are now sets specifically for girls, such as the Belville line. Naturally, boys love Lego sets like Star Wars or Bionicles. But all children practice deftness and inventiveness through Lego sets, and that’s what is really important.Need convincing of the value of Lego sets as an educational toy? Studies have shown that children acquire new neural connections when building with building sets. By merely playing with their Lego set, kids also learn spatial concepts, cause-and-effect, and fine motor skills. What a way to learn!