Play with Toys (6-24 Months)
As the parent of an infant and toddler, it is important to be critical and evaluate the developmental benefits of toys that you provide to your child. Listed below are the criteria used to assess two examples of “good” toys and two less acceptable toy examples. Follow the links to read the evaluations
Evaluation Criteria:
Looked for Toys that would help more than one developmental area. Toys that only facilitated one developmental area needed to very strongly promote development in that one area to be considered a “good” toy. Toys that were developmentally assistive in multiple ways were considered “good toys”
Assessed if the suggested age matched the skills that a child would possess or be developing at that age. Keep in mind that just because a toy says that it is appropriate for a child at a certain age, does not mean that it is appropriate for a certain aged child. A good toy is age appropriate.
Price. Assessed based on how much developmental value the toy provided for the price. Expensive toys can look nice and have many wonderful features, but if the toy has little to no educational value, you as a parent would be better served using your money elsewhere. A good toy provided a great deal of developmental value for the price.
Safety. A toy must be safe for a child for it to be of any value.
Evaluation Criteria:
Looked for Toys that would help more than one developmental area. Toys that only facilitated one developmental area needed to very strongly promote development in that one area to be considered a “good” toy. Toys that were developmentally assistive in multiple ways were considered “good toys”
Assessed if the suggested age matched the skills that a child would possess or be developing at that age. Keep in mind that just because a toy says that it is appropriate for a child at a certain age, does not mean that it is appropriate for a certain aged child. A good toy is age appropriate.
Price. Assessed based on how much developmental value the toy provided for the price. Expensive toys can look nice and have many wonderful features, but if the toy has little to no educational value, you as a parent would be better served using your money elsewhere. A good toy provided a great deal of developmental value for the price.
Safety. A toy must be safe for a child for it to be of any value.