No More Educational Toys Please

I’ve got the flash cards, the magnetic letters and numbers, even the foam numbers for the bath. I’ve travelled to all the specialist shops, placed orders for that obscure toy that is made by one armed under privileged children from the remnants of a rainforest. I’ve spent his child trust fund several times over on the latest educational toy that aids his development. All these educational toys are great, but what about fun toys? Toys that do absolutely nothing but make your children happy whilst teaching them nothing else.

When my son is running around like a loony with a bucket on his head I often wonder what educational value there is in the bucket? What is he learning?
When I was a child anything that required batteries was a no-go. Anything that had an ‘educational’ value was unaffordable. We made do with second hand dolls, dolls prams and such like. In fact, my favourite toys were Weebles, and you know what I did with them? I stuffed them in my socks to make shoes with high heels! Never did me any harm, well apart from the miss-shapen feet.

Manufacturers have found a new market - the parent who wants to give their child a head start prior to starting school. Today’s toys are all flashing lights with an American voice over. We are all drawn in by the lights and cheesy American voice that says “that answer is incorrect, please try again.” We’ve convinced ourselves that this is educational fun when in reality the lights and noises are just a distraction.

Most parents these days are in a rush to spend the most amount of money on the biggest ‘all singing all dancing’ educational toy that requires a share in Duracell just to power it up. We should be going back to the simple toys, toys that encourage activity and imagination. Our children’s education is all around us, in the world outside the front door. Give your child a stick and see what he does with it. Ask him what it is. If he says “it’s a stick”, then of course he has given you an educated answer. If he says “it’s a snake”, then this child has developed a great imagination that will serve him well throughout his life.

Toys that encourage children to have fun whilst running around like loonies will hold their attention a lot longer and have many more benefits than any educational toy.

I’d like parents to consider whether this toy will get their child moving, get them outdoors having fun or whether it will encourage them to become a couch potato.

Let us put aside our ideas that all toys should have an educational value and go back to the simple toys. Toys that are just fun. Let our kids be kids for a while longer.

By: Smash

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Ashley Ayling owns two commercially driven websites, one selling baby basket and the other promoting Melissa and Doug toys.