We spend our whole life exploring. At every stage in our development, even as adults, we seek different experiences that help us understand who we really are. As infants, we are stimulated by the touch and feel of objects, textures, shapes, colors, and movement. At preschool age, we let our curiosity to drive us and our imagination to stimulate us. Our mind is eager, free and moved by practically everything and anything. Playing hide and seek in a card-board box, building our very own castle with rocks in the yard, or scooping and shoveling in a sand-box.
What’s important is that children are getting stimulation from their environments all the time because they are learning through play. Children need to have direct experience with the world around them in order to make sense of and learn about it. Babies learn how to crawl, sit, walk, and talk by observing and doing, and using objects and toys as props. They are capable of learning multi-languages by simply listening and hearing. When there is no fear or inhibition, the mind is free and open to learn and absorb.
The key concept to focus on is not so much the nature of the object or toy, but the concept and importance of play. Virtually all aspects of a growing child’s life are affected by it. Play is the lens through which a child views and experiences the world they live in. It encourages a child to self-involve or interact with others in ways that helps them learn important cognitive, social, and physical skills. Play does not have a physical presence but a mental presence. It is self-absorbing and motivating. While it is considered to be not so serious, it is purely an experience that is deep, intense, and lasting.
Whether play is fantasy or just plain rough-and-tumble it plays a crucial role, especially, in children’s development. Play may be considered such a simple and childish concept, and yet, a topic of importance in scientific research into cognitive behavior, psychological and social science, and the physiological science of the brain. When I reflect on my own early education, learning was all about play and adventure. A toy was practically all things that were fun. Learning was fun because there was no separation between the two.
It encouraged us to learn from our own actions and experiences by the process of trial and error and discovery. It was exciting, stimulating, challenging and selfmotivating. When you think of it, play is simply a frame of mind, intermixed with our daily lives. Toys and play are not just a childhood phenomenon or fantasy, and they certainly don’t stand outside of our ordinary lives. Play is the basis of our creativity when we paint, act, read, do sport, or write. While the toy is the tool we use to express with such as, the crayon, treasure chest, or the book.
Whether we have a physical toy in our hand does not matter as much as the act of playful engagement with life that fuels the natural love of learning and problem-solving. This is powerful because it maximizes our potential for creativity, and sense of imagination. I believe what a child discovers through experience is likely embedded and remembered overtime. It is important to note that memories and experiences that we have during the impressionable childhood years of our lives tend to be lasting. They don’t just end at childhood.
They stay with us throughout our lives and sometimes lead us to discover more of ourselves later on in life. Something my mother told me sticks in my mind. When she studied architecture in college she did a case study with one of her professors about experiential design. It started when the professor asked her to describe her childhood home. The process that evolved was a process of self-discovery. As she described her home, every aspect of the house came to life and was clearly embedded in her mind with vivid details and colors.
Memories captured were less about specific objects and toys than a series of experiences. It was more about the exuberating emotions, feelings of joy in and out of nooks and crannies of the house, feeding the ants under the grape arbor, playing with the swing and slide under the big mulberry tree, and hours of fun filled role playing and acting under the rose arbor. These memories triggered the understanding and the importance of creating places for children that provides them a sense of safety The experiences a child has with a toy can be stronger than the toy itself.
The entertaining attributes of a toy may only be shortterm, but the play aspect and experiences almost always have a lasting quality and lasting effect. Toys play a pivotal role in a child’s life with respect to emotional development, physical growth, and social skills. Toys help children express their emotions. Even as adults, we allow ourselves to indulge in toys and gadgets because they make us happy and fill that part of our mind that seeks to find solitude, joy, stimulation, learning, or just relaxation. However, in a child’s development, they are the first building blocks essential to their intellectual growth.
How children play and what toys they choose often reveals their interests, abilities, desires and fears. They are purposefully built and target different age groups and genders. Toys invite play, and in turn, play promotes joyfulness which is essential for the self-esteem and emotional health of a child. In addition to well-being, it has behavioral, social, and physical benefits. The benefits of play are almost always interrelated where one can positively impact another. Joyfulness, happiness, or calmness can directly impact body’s stress level which in turn makes us socially more tolerant.
In preschool-age children, toys and play are important because they encourage social interaction that can foster inclusiveness and social cooperation. Active play helps children grow physical strength and coordination skills. Toys build a strong learning foundation and contribute to children’s intellectual achievement overtime. They promote cognitive development by stimulating their concentration and memory skills, giving them the ability to solve problems creatively. It is important to realize that toys alone without the involvement and interaction of parents are not enough.
Parents should always play an active role in steering the child’s interest in the right direction at the right time. The manner in which toys are presented to children can influence how they play, the learning process, and what they take away from the experience. Children need to feel safe and be given the space to imagine and to invent their fantasy worlds. A child’s brain is quite malleable; toys and play develop the brain of the growing child rather quickly. The careful selection of toys can lead children to play with others, to cooperate, or to develop particular skills.
For example, dress-up clothes, play kitchen, toy wagons, or balls are more likely to be played with in cooperative social play than are puzzles or pull toys used in solitary play. Toys are important, but they are no substitute for supportive, loving, dependable relationships. In the early years of development, parents are important play partners for their children. Toys may be frivolous but they are essential to a healthy development in children. It is toys or toy substitute objects that stimulate and prolong play activity.
If children are to find themselves and discover what they are good at, and what they like, then introducing opportunities to play with a variety of good toys and materials is the key. Children are more engaged and play longer when there are a variety of toys that are stimulating. Today’s technology toys have made a significant contribution in creating variety and more interesting and challenging toys. Smart toys are designed to make learning fun and to teach skills, to engage the child in doing and interacting rather than passively watching something.
Children learn to use new technologies largely through trial and error, exploration, experimentation, and play. However, if a toy is not fun to play with, no amount of technology will increase its desirability as a play object. A toy is ultimately nothing more than an opportunity for children to engage in play. It should be carefully selected by adults and supervised. Since toys play such an important role in children’s learning and development, the crucial thing for adults to remember is to give children choices, and to introduce as wide a range of experiences as possible.