How to Choose the Best Educational Toys by Matt O'Neal
The toy industry is a multi-billion dollar market and consumers often find themselves bombarded with the latest and greatest toys from the major players in the industry. While I have never had anything against toy cars or dolls, and in fact my children have plenty of both, I am always on the quest to provide something a bit more educational for them.
What I am about to write on comes partly from practical experience (buying and playing with toys with my own children), and partly from my experience as a former scientist and from being in the toy industry myself for a while.
There are many questions to consider when choosing educational toys for your children. Also, we have to keep in mind that what may be a great learning toy for one child may not be as worthwhile for another. Every child is different and learns at their own capacity and through their own best mechanisms. That being said, the following are some things for parents to consider when deciding what the best toys are for their children.
Is the toy age-appropriate?
Many of us fall victim to the rationale that our child is smarter than average, and sometimes ignore the age recommendations provided by the toy's manufacturer. Sometimes this is the right decision based on our own experience with our child, but sometimes this is wishful thinking. While the manufacturer's age recommendation is simply a guideline, we have to realize that it is a well-researched guideline and is often fairly accurate. That being said, I would never not recommend or not buy a toy because my child was one or two years outside of the recommended age. I would simply take a closer look at it before making a decision.
Does it serve my child's interests?
This is a question that needs to be answered on a case-by-case basis and as parents, we are most likely to be the ones who best know our children's interests. If a child is already interested in bugs, an ant farm or insect collecting science kit is probably a valuable toy for your child.
It may be natural for us to try to encourage a new interest in our children, but we should be cautious in not trying to project our own interests too strongly. Most children will naturally be attracted to the interests of their parents but this isn't always the case. I love catching bugs in the backyard with my son, but I don't expect my daughter (when she's old enough) will enjoy it as much as my son does. Maybe I'm wrong and I will certainly foster this interest if she decides to go down that path.
The best advice may be to go with your child's interests as often as possible, but occasionally introduce toys that introduce new subjects to them and gauge their interest accordingly. A child may never know how interested they are in ecology and plant science until they get a windowsill greenhouse and grow their own plants. A child may not have ever considered chemistry as something fun until they learned how to make their own bubble gum with a chemistry kit.
Does it arouse my child's curiosity?
Sometimes a toy will not only provide an immediate fun experience, but will start the child down a path of more advanced thinking. The same child who grew bean sprouts in the windowsill may wonder what the plant cells look like under a microscope. She may wonder how a simple seed can take water, nutrients from the soil and sunlight and turn into a much bigger plant with stalks and leaves. Next, she may wonder how a tiny acorn can grow into a huge tree over hundreds of years.
Granted, not all toys will naturally foster this type of analytical thinking, but some of the best ones do. So it's worth it to ask yourself this question when considering an educational toy. Will buying my son a simple chemistry set lead him down a path to eventually asking how plastic is made? Or why some plastic is brittle while some bends much more easily?
Any toy that arouses this natural curiosity in a child would be valuable to their growth. A video game may or may not cause a child to wonder who created the game and what programming was involved in making it. But a solar powered physics kit will undoubtedly make the child wonder how invisible rays from the sun can make a motor run. This curiosity is the unheralded foundation of a great education.
Who makes the toy?
I mention this question as simply something to consider as the safety of toys is something we are always concerned with. Be aware that just because a manufacturer is one of the major players in the industry doesn't mean that a particular toy is as safe as it should be. But also be aware that just because you haven't heard of a company doesn't mean that their toy won't be the one that sparks your child's interest in a subject that will serve them well for the rest of their life.
There are hundreds of quality educational toy providers that most parents have never heard of. Do a little research. If you find a toy that looks like it may be valuable to your child, search for that company's name and products on the Internet and see how many stores are selling their product. Of course this isn't a sure-fire way to gauge a toy's value to a particular child, but it can give you a quick snapshot of the reputation of the company that makes the toy.
Choosing an educational toy for our children can be as easy or as cumbersome as we make it. Asking these simple questions before buying an educational toy can go a long way in weeding out the toys that provide little value and deciding on a toy that might serve them well for a long time to come.
And lastly, remember that a toy doesn't have to be expensive or technologically advanced to be valuable. Thomas Jefferson and Albert Einstein never had a Sony Playstation. And they turned out okay.
About the Author
Matt O'Neal holds a bachelor's degree in chemistry as well as a master's in physics and an MBA. He is the owner of Atomic Elephant Toy, a store offering science kits and educational toys for children of all ages.
