Good Toy for My Child

Depending on which toy you use, it has different effects on children's growth. So, what toys, or which way of play will bring good results? The problem is that parents are more dependent on toys than children.

Overflowing toys

Are our children playing well? In order for children to play well, a pleasant environment must be provided. It's not enough to have a rich sense of play, but it includes a space where you can play safely and comfortably, a comfortable and relaxing time, and a peer-to-peer relationship with older brothers, sisters, and adults. In this respect, 'poverty in abundance' may be a phrase that represents the children's play environment these days. Compared to the childhood of the parent generation, looking at the growth environment of children these days is more materially rich than any other era. Toys are overflowing. However, it is necessary to look back to see if the playmates who can play along with the space where they can play freely, and the time they can play with, are shrinking and poverty. As the social environment changes and the development of science and technology, the play area is gradually reduced to indoors and the number of play objects is also insufficient, and as the number of play media increases, the focus is only on toys. Toys seduce children. The whole house is occupied by toys, but the child is often asked to buy another toy. In this case, parents are worried about how good they are and what kind of toys to buy.

Children addicted to toys

Toys are a medium to help children make their play richer and have fun. In other words, the main character in play is a child, not a toy. However, in children's play, they often see toys pretending to be owners. There are many children who don't know how to play without toys, and even if a friend is next to them, they don't care and play with toys. I am obsessed with collecting toys by begging to buy similar toys that I already have, and I am satisfied with having a friend's toy.

When these children have a new toy, they play with it a little and then quickly lose interest and repeat the chore to buy a new one. In particular, commercialized toys such as robots, dolls and cars cause more serious toy addiction. Playing with toys is not about experiencing pleasure, but being addicted to the experience of owning toys. Game addiction or smartphone addiction can also be understood in the same context. Toys are a medium for fun to play with friends, but this dependence and addiction of toys are reported to cause various side effects, such as a decrease in concentration and sociality of children. Lee Byung-yong, 2005.

Children's toy addiction comes from parents' dependence on toys rather than their responsibility. Parents want to relieve their guilt of not being able to play with a child by buying a toy, buy a toy in anticipation of an educational purpose of cognitive development or creativity development, and buy a toy overflowing to satisfy their child's lacking experiences through their children I tend to buy it.

These parents think that they have done all they have to do after buying children toys. However, the child gets temporary satisfaction from the toy, but soon becomes bored, and as it is repeated, he becomes addicted. Children who are addicted to toys are vulnerable to habits of consumption, lose self-direction in play, and become slaves to the sense of play, without the creativity and imagination of infants and toddlers in the flood of commercial toys.

Antonio Mancini 1852–1930. Boy with Toy Soldiers, circa 1876. Oil on canvas. 74.9 x 62.9 cm, by the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Antonio Mancini, the pioneer of the Italian realism movement, is a painted piece in which a rich child is playing with soldier toys. The child is staring at the front with a hot look and looking at someone. Antonio Mancini 1852–1930. 'Boys with Toys', circa 1876, oil on canvas, 74.9 x 62.9 cm, director of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, USA.

When the sense of play is different, the children are also different.

Then, shouldn't this play be unconditionally given to children? How does it provide a good play environment for children? If you look around the space where children live, they are surrounded by many objects, and in fact, any object can be a toy for children. As mentioned earlier, toys are an important medium of play. It is known that play feeling has a very important influence on the quality and characteristics of children's play. Trawick-Smith, Russell, & Swaninathan, 2010.

Several researchers have revealed how the sense of reality and structure of play are related to children's play. The structure of the sense of play is related to the shape and shape of the sense of play, and is linked to how realistic it is compared to what is used in real life. Johnson, Christie, & Yawkey, 2001.

According to the criteria presented by Johnson et al., Clay, sand, and water are very low play structures, and blocks have strong structural aspects, but can be constructed in a variety of ways, so they are included in low play games. Ohnson et al ., 2001. Teaching materials with specific answers, such as dolls, puzzles, and hand-crafted games with specific roles, such as Barbie dolls, are among the most structured games.

It does not mean that unconditionally commercialized toys are harmful to children, and that it does not mean that highly structured playability is a bad toy. A sense of play with high structure helps to develop convergent thinking, while a sense of play with low structure helps develop diffusion thinking. Both types of play can help children enjoy a wealth of play.

The problem is that the two types of play are not balanced for children these days. If you classify the sense of play that children have in each home or early childhood education institution according to this standard, the proportion of structured play will be high. Both homes and early childhood educational institutions offer structured materials with instruction and rules for infants and children, especially structured cognitive teaching tools introduced to promote cognitive development and language development.

Advantages of unstructured play

The contents and quality of preschool play vary depending on what play structure and play situation is provided. Lim, Bu-Yeon, Oh, Jeong-Hee, and Nam-Jeong Choi, 2008. Open toys that do not have a clearly defined play method and purpose allow children to play spontaneously and voluntarily. To help. Natural toys such as leaves, pine cones, and household items such as vinyl and paper are also good toys for children. Children use milk packs and PET bottles to create their own sense of play, and play and develop with their own objects. Several previous studies on the structure of play and the difference between play in children argue that unstructured play improves the sociality, problem-solving ability and creativity of children Ji Sung-ae, 2013; Edwards, Cutter-Mackenzie, 2013.

Barbie dolls with high structure, play house, etc. limit the theme of play, but blocks with low structure expand play through changes in the sense of play. When providing unstructured play feelings such as shellfish and acorns during free play time, infants reborn with a variety of new play feelings to create a variety of play activities, and experience 'free and real fun play' Lim, Bu-Yeon, Oh, Jeong-Hee , Namjung Choi, 2008. In other words, in order to promote the voluntary and active participation of children's play activities and the development of playability, lowering the level of structure of play activities, and in particular, lowering the level of 'structure of play' as a medium of play activities It is necessary.

The play mediums pursued by Frobel's silverware or Ballorf education are also materials that lower the structured level of the sense of play, if possible, and develop them into meaningful play according to the child's will and imagination. Most of the toys, including elaborately crafted toys, smartphones, and game machines, are highly functional, so the child doesn't have to create anything more and only needs to appreciate and look at them. In this situation, it is difficult for the child to become the master of play.