As a parent in the era of information technology, you will constantly find yourself hearing and reading how and why it is important to keep your little one from getting addicted to electronic media, namely the TV, the phone, the tablet, laptop etc. And despite your best efforts, as a working parent or stay-at-home-parent and all other conditions notwithstanding, you will find yourself in this battle against fate, where you lose ground inch-by-inch to this vast allure of the shiny rectangle for the kid.
They will be drawn to it like moths to a flame and you will at times secretly think its a great blessing and your only way to keep them engrossed while you snatch a few precious units of personal time or work time. You will see that nothing else has the ability to hold the child's attention for as long as these, nothing else is as cost and energy efficient and low on the destruction scale. A kid can go hours engrossed in watching a favorite cartoon or playing a repetitive and absolute silly annoying game. And, God alone knows, you need that few minutes to grab a shower, or quickly whisk dinner, or send that last email or order off that little something you've only had time to eye for days as it pops menacingly alongside your FB timeline.
You've tried many toys to hold his attention but they work for such a little while that the results just did not justify the cost! If not the ipad, or phone or TV you'll have to constantly guard for things being flung and shattered, furnishings being ruined and furnitures being painted across or scratched.
You know it would be lovely to read to the child, but - Where is the time!! I know, I feel you... Really!
However, there are a few types of toys I have personally found to be more engaging than others for a toddler, that is both constructive and convenient - I want to share a little about them. Next time you want to buy a birthday gift or special something for your child, try these! It might just be the largest gift you gave yourself :)
1. Play Doh
Widely available in different colors and with multiple types of moulds, kids love them as they can bend, break, shape and reshape the clay with their tiny fingers attempting to mimic real world objects. You will be surprised how much of what they observe around them, they can mould with their dough. There are youtube videos that demonstrate how to make interesting structures with dough - which sometimes may not be a bad watch for kids to learn creative ways to engage with the dough in their hand!
Couple of concerns with Play Doh are
a) Can dry up when left outside and after a while you might find it pricey to buy more and more.
Workaround: Kids enjoy playing with wheat dough just as much. Give them some of the clumpy sticky stuff and see their curiosity peek! They'll ask you every time you knead some for making bread :). You can also make proper play doh if you are handy in the kitchen- here's how
b) If your kid is still at the stage where they tend to put things in their mouth you can't trust them with this.
Workaround: Wheat dough should be fine for them, IMO.
c) If you have a carpeted house, when dough dries up it can get stuck in small balls or clumps into carpet threads and is a pain to remove.
Workaround: You can always train the child to stick to a specific play area or play-mat. Or you could potentially have really good carpet cleaning material.
Nothing that you cannot manage, no? And just in case you are not convinced check this out.
2. Lego
An absolute must introduce IMO at around age 2 . Comes in all sizes, from jumbo blocks, to mega blocks (I'd go and buy the set with the maximum number of pieces that is most economical) to smaller regular sized legos, which can be introduced around age 3. At first, you'll have to play with the child, show him what legos are capable of and once he picks a fancy for it, he'll go hours without bothering you...
In the regular size variety, instead of picking a set with a theme (that limits your creation options to fewer blocks and some very specific nifty shapes), I would go with something like this that has many regular pieces and unlimited possibilities for the creator.
The benefits of introducing lego are manyfold, from developing fine motor skills not just limited to hand-eye coordination to providing an opportunity for the child to be creative and developing better communication skills. It also teaches them social acceptance of sort and is suggested to make them smarter. Ahem, now you are hooked :D. Read this for more information on the topic.
3. Magnetic Tiles
As your child grows a little bigger, bring them magnetic tiles.- an absolute wondrous toy. I cannot describe how engaging this is, replete with interesting geometric shapes and colors and the absolute joy of laying hands for the first time on powerful magnets.
Just to make an additional push for this, lemme tell you our personal story. We got this toy for our daughter's 3rd birthday. From her birthday party, she's gotten another 15ish different toys but she's yet to touch any of them! She is absolutely engrossed in making boxes and cones and hexagons and pizas and more. And when she finally is too tired to play and goes to sleep, my husband and I get started with these tiles pushing the boundaries of each other's creative possibilities building rockets and what not :). This toy is significantly expensive but take my word, it is worth it.
Also note: Magna Tiles are the most common brand but Picasso Tiles are much cheaper and just as good (with strong magnets). When I was researching this toy, I also learnt from the experiences of others that the larger the set, the better it is, so go for the 100 or more pieces set (pricey but economical) or else you will soon end up buying another set :) Amazon has hundreds of reviews to read and learn from and make an informed choice.
That's all folks! Sorry if I just created a big hole (of possibilities) in your pocket. Spread out your purchases but do consider. And if you find them as awesome as I did, please let me know here- I'd love to hear! All these toys as you would have noted foster imagination and creativity, help develop cooperative play, communication and other social skills, fine tune children's motor skills, teach them patience and sometimes calculation (math!) skill, and also help build confidence and self-esteem (there is no wrong with how you shape your dough or build your block structure!)!
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