Toys and Play
Check out our favorite toys! If you're going screen free or looking to reduce screen time, you're going to need some high-quality toys to occupy your kiddo. You'll find the toys we recommend are open-ended, meaning that they do not do the work of play for your child. Many toys marketed as 'educational' light up, talk, or in some way seek to engage your child by doing the work. If you haven't observed it already, you'll quickly find that after initially engaging a child, these toys are easily mastered and your child subsequently loses interest- leaving you with a clunky piece of plastic (that will not stop talking!) These toys are repetitive and limited by their bells and whistles. This is a clear situation where less is definitely more!
Less is More
Focusing on finding simple toys that can be manipulated by little hands, used for pretend play, and played with in increasingly complex ways as your child grows will allow you to maximize your child's independent play time, build imagination and creativity, and declutter your home.
Cycling Toys
I also strongly recommend reducing the number of toys your child has access to at any given time. By cycling toys in and out of your child's play space you allow them to more deeply explore them and play with them in different ways; when there's too many toys play is shallow. Children quickly move from one toy to the next and may subsequently lose interest in all the toys, or become overwhelmed by them. At that point, they'll turn to you to entertain them! An added benefit of cycling toys? Clean up time is much easier when there's fewer toys available. I cycle toys out when I see that G has not played with them in a while. Some people do toy rotation on a schedule, but I find that she will ask for certain toys on a daily basis, so these stay in our play space for longer, while others may be rotated out more often.
Variety
Our two play areas include an assortment of toys. Each area offers puzzles, books, soft toys, pretend play toys, building toys, learning toys, and one area of our home includes art supplies. Within each of these categories, I rotate items. We also recently began incorporating board games, but currently these are out of sight since they require adult involvement and I want to encourage use of the pieces and parts within the context of game play.
Introducing New Toys
When I introduce new toys to G it's a big deal! It's exciting to get something new and frequently I play with her at first. This allows her to get familiar with the toy and see its intended use. This is especially important for learning toys and unfamiliar pretend play toys. It gives your child context and a starting point; playing together gives your child ideas that can later be repeated independently. You'll find that their play and interaction with a toy will change (and mature!) over time- sit back and let it happen!
Check out the links below for a variety of screen free toy ideas!
Kitchen and Grocery Play
Building Toys
Art Center (coming soon)
Pretend Play (coming soon)
Learning Toys (coming soon)
Wall Play (coming soon)
Sensory Play (coming soon)
Less is More
Focusing on finding simple toys that can be manipulated by little hands, used for pretend play, and played with in increasingly complex ways as your child grows will allow you to maximize your child's independent play time, build imagination and creativity, and declutter your home.
Cycling Toys
I also strongly recommend reducing the number of toys your child has access to at any given time. By cycling toys in and out of your child's play space you allow them to more deeply explore them and play with them in different ways; when there's too many toys play is shallow. Children quickly move from one toy to the next and may subsequently lose interest in all the toys, or become overwhelmed by them. At that point, they'll turn to you to entertain them! An added benefit of cycling toys? Clean up time is much easier when there's fewer toys available. I cycle toys out when I see that G has not played with them in a while. Some people do toy rotation on a schedule, but I find that she will ask for certain toys on a daily basis, so these stay in our play space for longer, while others may be rotated out more often.
Variety
Our two play areas include an assortment of toys. Each area offers puzzles, books, soft toys, pretend play toys, building toys, learning toys, and one area of our home includes art supplies. Within each of these categories, I rotate items. We also recently began incorporating board games, but currently these are out of sight since they require adult involvement and I want to encourage use of the pieces and parts within the context of game play.
Introducing New Toys
When I introduce new toys to G it's a big deal! It's exciting to get something new and frequently I play with her at first. This allows her to get familiar with the toy and see its intended use. This is especially important for learning toys and unfamiliar pretend play toys. It gives your child context and a starting point; playing together gives your child ideas that can later be repeated independently. You'll find that their play and interaction with a toy will change (and mature!) over time- sit back and let it happen!
Check out the links below for a variety of screen free toy ideas!
Kitchen and Grocery Play
Building Toys
Art Center (coming soon)
Pretend Play (coming soon)
Learning Toys (coming soon)
Wall Play (coming soon)
Sensory Play (coming soon)
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