![]() ![]() Some modern-day educational philosophies incorporate making toys and other handicrafts, giving lessons with specific sets of materials that kids use to build, or incorporating imaginative play with toys into academic lessons as key elements of their teaching methods. Experts believe that this was to help prepare kids for hunting with real arrowheads or making usable pottery in adulthood. In prehistoric times, objects like dull arrowheads or bits of clay may have been given to children as toys to use in play. The toys that strike the strongest chord are the ones that are the most open-ended. And, indeed, just six LEGO bricks can be combined in 102,981,500 different ways, according to a TIME magazine report that places LEGO at number 19 on its 100 All-TIME greatest toys list. “Toys like these empower kids to leap off and go where their imaginations take them.”īensch, who also helps select toys chosen for the National Toy Hall of Fame (last year’s inductees were the Rubik’s Cube, bubbles and the Little Green Army Men) mentions examples like LEGO, Tinkertoys, baby dolls and the Radio Flyer wagon as open-ended toys. There are no rules, no backstory, no singular end goal. ![]() “The toys that strike the strongest chord in general are the ones that are the most open-ended,” says Bensch. Now recall three memories of your kid playing happily: Do any objects they’re playing with in these instances fit this more “spacious” definition of a toy? All of these things, including the plain paper, are toys.Ĭhristopher Bensch, vice president of collections at The Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, N.Y., says his working definition of a toy is “quite spacious,” and may include just about anything that kids use for play, even household items like blankets and cardboard boxes. Are toys involved? Mine include playing with my Weebles collection, learning to hula hoop from my teenage sister and sketching houses on a giant pad of plain paper. Think back to three of your own childhood memories of fun times at play. In this midst of this week’s new toy hype, let’s step back and look at the big picture: What makes a great toy, one worthy of our kid’s time and attention? Why are toys important to kids’ development? What’s in the future for toys? Toys: Happy times, happy memories Playing with toys is an everyday part of family life. We find action figures, cars, dolls, digital toys, building blocks, board games - the list goes on - valuable enough to devote our money, time and living space to them. In 2014, Americans spent an estimated $22 billion on toys. No doubt, discovering and playing with new toys is exciting for both kids and adults. ![]()
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