The Importance of Buying Age Appropriate Toys

I love toys. The problem is that I often love them more than my kids. When the new toy catalogs come, I excitedly flip through the pages while attempting to suppress my desire to purchase every toy that catches my eye. From simple building blocks to complex construction kits, I love and often want them all. Over the years however, I have learned that while I want them all, my kids are often better off not having them all. Kids certainly need a strong variety of toys but what they don’t need are toys that are beyond their developmental stage. As a parent, it is easy to believe that a toy rated for an older child can help to foster your child’s imagination or creativity, but all to often that it not the case. When faced with a challenge far above their developmental level, children often become frustrated and quickly give up, which robs them of the a vital learning experience, learning by doing. Parents can unknowingly exacerbate the problem by stepping in to help. Helping a child “play” or “build” a toy that is above their developmental level can instill in them the “I can’t do this myself” belief and work ethic. As a science teacher for many years, I saw first hand the negative impact this belief can have on learning. When faced with a challenging lab or assignment, many kids simply ask for help, without ever attempting the figure out the problem on their own. Upon helping them, it quickly became apparent that in these kids eyes “to help” actually means “to do.” If, as parents, we allow our kids to passively watch us “help” them rather than actively “help”, we are unintentionally teaching them to take the easy way out and have someone else do the work for you. Purchasing age appropriate toys however, can help prevent the problem all together. Age ratings on toys goes beyond mere choking hazard concerns. A child’s developmental age and the appropriate challenge level of the toy are also considered when a rating is established. Age appropriate toys not only limit the levels of frustrations in kids, their appropriate level of difficulty allow kids play the active role in the helping process, thereby allowing parents to take the passive role. To help find age appropriate toys, all toys at Toyopia are categorized by age group. By doing so we hope to help you find not only a toys your child loves, but one that will help them developmentally as well!