Why those blingy toddler toys are not as awesome as they look

THE IMPORTANCE OF SPEECH AND LANGUAGE FOR LEARNING

We know that a child’s early language is the foundation for cognition and later learning.

So… a toy that teaches ABCs, animal sounds, numbers, and shapes all at once, with 800 buttons, might seem like what you need to increase vocabulary and attention span.

However, it might actually be doing the opposite.

THE CRITICAL ROLE OF PLAY AND THE PARENT

Study after study has shown that children learn best through play, and they learn best through a play partner – often mom or dad. This is why so many early communication and early learning programs like Hanen and DIR/Floortime are rooted in play with a parent.

When a child has a blinky flashy singing toy, though, they are not actually playing. They’re taking in things receptively, with a punch here and a poke there.

Essentially, they’re engaging in a more active form of TV.

Most real learning happens outside of TV.

It happens when you are commenting on what your child is doing, when you pause so your child can repeat what you say, and when you answer your child’s questions.

WORDS FROM PLAY ARE BETTER

It’s much better, for example, for your toddler to learn “red” after you point it out on his truck and on his car. When you are pointing things out, instead of having a machine label them, the child is getting many more context clues. Context clues help vocabulary generalize faster.

Similarly, verbs are actually much more versatile words to learn than nouns. A child can use “walk”, “jump”, and “eat” many times during the day. He is not going to use “square” as often.

In addition, it is the toys without all the knobs and buttons that encourage pretend play. Pretend play – or acting out daily routines like cooking, washing, and eating, with toys – is an important communication milestone, that cannot be achieved through a singing box.

Last, toys without bling are the ones that encourage creativity. Blocks, puzzles, art supplies, and many more are the things that make a toddler think outside the box. They make them fish for something that is not directly in front of them –

which skyrockets their cognition.

Now what?

So, should you immediately purge the playroom of all blinking toys, and only keep books and a kitchen set ?

No. But less reliance on these blinky toys is recommended. They cannot be the main mode to help children learn.

A half hour of play with your child a day, constant communication at home, toys that encourage pretend play, and toys that encourage creativity, are much better.

Happy Talking!

Disclaimer : Smarter Speech is a pediatric speech therapy / speech-language pathology practice for toddlers and children providing in-home and teletherapy services in and around Mountain View, CA and Los Gatos, CA. Smarter Speech Blog aims to provide free speech and language tips for parents educators and therapists. However, this post is not providing speech-language pathology services. This is general information, not speech -language pathology or speech therapy. This article does not assume or create a client – SLP relationship. The author is not liable for any losses or damages due to actions or failure to act based on the content in this article. If you need assistance with a child’s speech or language needs, please contact a speech-language pathologist in your area.