Educational Toys: A Brief Glance

It is considered a great contribution to a child’s educational growth if parents are able to educate their child before formal education begins. Most parents let schools do most of the educating. From teaching a child to count, write his name, and read, these are all being handed down to educators. Child educational growth is only successful when there is a combined effort of the teacher, the parent, and the child itself.

There is a huge difference in a child when a parent is actively involved the child’s education compared to the one who is being left on his own. The difference is not only visible in the child’s ability and the quality of output but it has a huge impact in the development of the child’s attitude and self image. The child’s first venue for learning is always the home. Therefore, it is important to select activities and toys for the child that will not only keep him or her busy but will also develop his emotional, mental, and physical well-being. This is now where educational toys come in.

Since many child psychologists complain about the senselessness of toys for kids, toy manufacturers have created a wide selection of toys that guarantees fun, excitement, and at the same time meet the demands of these experts.

For every time a child enters into a particular stage of growth, his or her playing habits also change and this also means that the kind of toy that used to catch his interest may no longer be apple of his eyes. Therefore, there is a need to change his toys that match his interest.

Toys have a powerful impact on the child gender identities. One experimental study shows that little girls ages five to eight who are exposed to Barbie dolls feel bad about their bodies compared to girls who are exposed to dolls with rational physiques. As children grow up, gender stereotyping on toys become more and more evident. For instance, boys who used to play comfortably with girl toys such as dolls, tend to keep away from playing girl toys for fear of being labeled as «girlish» or «gay» with their male friends. Therefore, dolls that were supposedly created to stimulate imagination and creativity among teens and pre-teens may turn out to be not the best educational toys for them because it only promotes gender marginalization and desensitization.

Toy companies, similar to all other industry, aspire towards making money. However contrasting in countless other businesses, the object of the market of the toy industry is kids who are not sufficiently equipped with the capability to dispute these businesses’ statement or question the implication of their offers. The actuality that the toy makers sell openly to a key market that depends on middlemen — their parents — to buy the goods is in itself an outstanding interest.

The effect is an obscure situation in which toy businesses assert that they are defending the kid’s buying privileges through clear-cut publicity, while critics dispute that these businesses are developing a powerless population.