Since Mama has been working as a teacher in a nursery now handling the Kindergarden age level, she has been amazed with what parents think of their children. The typical question that we all ask our children when they get back home, “What did you learn today?” and usual answer given by children is nothing new, even though they have learnt so many new things. What we parents sometimes fail to realise is that children learn through playing hence they don’t feel like they’re learning something new when they actually are. So what she does is ask the parents to watch their children as they play and then they will be able to see some of the many skills that they’ve been learning.
It’s not just about playing, it’s what they are playing with that helps aid to children’s development. We need to guide our children in choosing the right toys that will help benefit them in one way or another as opposed to having a room full of barbie dolls or racing cars. It’s not that children should be banned from these “mindless” toys, just limited on them and we as parents need to create a balance for them.
Here are the top toy types that we believe each child should have at any given stage of their growth.
1). The Soft Book.
This is perfect for infants as they grow because it’s soft, colourful, should have nice things to look at, introduces them to the concept of a book. Also, make sure that the book has different textures that make different sounds as the child holds it or even shakes it. An added bonus would be if they also have one of those plastic mirrors so a child is introduce to their own reflection. It’s also something that you can carry around perfect to attach to your carseat and pushchair. You can even attach it to your child’s playmate, another important item for infants as it encourages them to stretch out and reach for things – to move around a little.
Mamas & Papas is our go to store of infant toys because they always have an excellent collection and Banoota grew up loving them. We have a review of their stargaze playmate which we also highly recommend.
2). Peek-A-Boo the explorer
When a child is able to sit, it’s important to get them a toy that they can explore with buttons, compartments and music. This will help them learn to start thinking and encourage early problem-solving skills. The problem being how to I make the light on this toy and the solution is for them to learn how to switch on the light. Your child might get a little frustrated with the toy because they don’t know how to turn on the light which is why it’s your job as a parent to sit with them and teach them how to explore the toy as many times as they need to pick up the skills. These toys keep children busy and also enhance their motor skills.
Places we recommend for these types of toys are Fantasy World and Early Learning Centre.
Some examples of what we liked for Banoota was My Discovery House & Animal Activity table, Peek-a-Boo octopus which are all by Leap Frog. The Early Learning centre also have many toys that involve the sample skills that are also interactive for children, especially boys toys as they have car circuits with garages, lights, tracks and many more activities.
3). The Wooden One
These are the old school wooden toys that are stripped from all sorts of technology that help our children appreciate the more simple things in life. You can get puzzles, building blocks, musical instruments and much more. Now with all the technology around us and screens becoming such an important part of life, we believe it’s important to have something without all the fancy features to help teach child about the balance. So instead of going for the iPad all the time or the fancy toys that makes lights and sounds, they’d like to play with the simple wooden one that helps them use their imagination and be creative as they can choose manny different ways to play with them.
Our top recommendation would be Plan Toys which is a small area inside BallonyLand that sell only Wooden Toys. We have a couple for Banoota and she loves them and still reaches for them. other places would be Toys-R-Us & Fantasy World as they carry a brand called Alex and another called Melissa & Doug that have a great range of wooden toys. Toys-R-Us also have a new brand called Imaginarium that have many inexpensive wooden toys but the quality isn’t as good as the other brands we mentioned.
Love this, so simple yet so much to it.
Mama’s & Papa’s have also recently launched a new collection for wooden toys that looks very promising.
4). Building Blocks – Lego
This is our all time favourite and possibly Banoota’s favourite toy!
– They are fun for the whole family
– Encourage children to be creative
– Come in many variations and sizes
– Enhance children’s motor skills
– Last you a long time
– Helps teach children math – colours, size and sorting
You can never go wrong with this one and we encourage parents to have more than one set, separate them in containers to encourage your child to differentiate between sets and feel like he has 2 toys not 1.
Fantasy world is the best place since they have the largest collection of lego, we even got a lego story that Banoota is obsessed with as she builds the items as we read the book to her. We even got a couple of her sets from abroad and later found out that they were available in Fantasy World.
5). First set of wheels – Vroom Vroom!
Something to encourage your children to move and use their legs like a baby walker, a wagon for them to pull around or even a car for them to ride. Something you can take to the park while you’re enjoying some time outdoors in those precious days of winter when the weather in our lovely Kuwait is cool enough to do so.
You can get this from anywhere, though, we do recommend going for a good brand like Little-Tikes to get something that’s easy to ride and safe for your toddler.
Of course when your children are old enough to start doing art work, having an art centre is also important and we’ll save that for another post coming up soon.
