Nowadays, early intervention is hotly debated from birth. It is up to the parental perception that educational toys from the comprehensive market offer fulfill an educational benefit. world’s biggest snake the toy brand Clementoni gives structure to its range by dividing educational toys into individual age groups.
What are educational toys?
The thought of toys is immediately accompanied by the idea of a lot of fun and entertainment. However, modern toys now do much more than just pass the time. Rather, modern toy manufacturers such as Clementoni focus on the goal of playful learning. It has been proven that it is easier for children to develop and develop cognitive, physical, and social skills in play. Any toy that serves to promote these skills is defined in the broadest sense as an educational toy.
All aids that serve to promote speech, reading, arithmetic, and the assignment of abstract qualities such as shape and color recognition are to be classified as educational toys in the didactic sense.
Toys from the following categories also belong to the so-called educational toys:
Entertainment toys
Knowledge toys
Optical toys (microscopes, magnifying glasses)
Instruments
Play carpets
From what age is which educational toy useful?
Since human development proceeds in phases, each skill develops at its own pace. In order to be able to optimally support a child, it is extremely important to select a suitable educational toy that is tailored to the child’s stage of development. In the first months of life, motor skills toys that encourage movement are used. This is usually replaced a short time later by walking aids and building blocks.
Baby age
Already from the first day of life, a lifelong learning process begins in babies. However, since in the first days and months sound perception and physical closeness are of particular importance, not every toy is suitable for babies. Cuddly toys are often given as a gift at birth. The main reason for this is usually the cute appearance. Nevertheless, it makes sense to refrain from plush toys until the age of at least 6 months, as these are often cited as a cause of suffocation. Cuddly toys with special sound and light effects also support visual perception and sensory abilities in babies from six months of age.
As soon as babies start crawling at the age of about half a year, animating plush figures such as the “crawling baby Mickey” by Clementoni can be used as additional motivation. Again, additional sound effects provide good entertainment and a lot of crawling fun.
Already at the age of about 18 months, the first gripping games are enjoying growing enthusiasm. Since most children enjoy experimenting with increasing mobility, the use of a child-friendly educational toy can prove to be quite helpful here. The Clementoni “baby table football game” not only allows experimentation but also familiarizes the offspring with mechanical and electronic activities with football. By the way, letters, shapes, colors, numbers, and words are conveyed in a playful way.
From 3 years
At around the age of 3, children increasingly develop their own will and feel largely independent within their small world. Since the thirst for knowledge is almost limitless, toys that respond to the children’s natural urge to explore are particularly suitable at this time. Simply designed knowledge games with integrated learning control not only expand the vocabulary, but also the motor development of the child.
At the age of about 4 years, the spatial imagination gradually takes shape. From a dice puzzle, usually consisting of 24 dice, several puzzles can be made at the same time and the ability to combine can be significantly strengthened.
From 8 years
Around their 8th birthday, children develop an enthusiasm for scientific phenomena. With an experiment box, certain laws of nature can be illustrated and experienced with all the senses. Depending on the area of interest, an experiment kit with a technical, scientific, or cosmetic focus is available. By trying it out, children not only acquire a comprehensive basic knowledge of important working materials such as a test tube but also improve their fine motor skills.
The opinion that an experiment kit is suitable exclusively for boys is widespread. Variants that serve the cultivation in the greenhouse or the production of their own crystals are quite suitable for boys and girls alike. While the Clementoni Galileo Original Triops Max Cancer Breeding Set is also well received by both sexes, pure chemistry experiment kits, on the other hand, are predominantly preferred by boys. Girls are primarily enthusiastic about experiment kits around perfume and cosmetics.
What should you look for when buying educational toys?
Considering the impressive selection of educational toys, it is not always easy to find the right product. In any case, it is important to take a look at the age recommendation of the manufacturer. Only if the age of the child roughly matches this, it is ensured that the product corresponds to the child’s stage of development. This ensures that the chosen educational toy is neither over- nor under-challenged and takes into account the motor skills of the corresponding age.
In addition, the topic of the educational toy is crucial. The interests of the child should be in the foreground. Occasionally, it can also make sense to convey current learning content in a playful way with a corresponding educational toy.
It should also be noted that the chosen toy is not too extensive. A limited content serves for more intensive occupation and deepening of the topic, data of website while numerous individual parts contribute more to distraction. Of course, good quality is indispensable. In order to be able to reliably assess these, especially for online purchases, test seals and previous customer reviews are quite helpful.
