HOLIDAY | Taniesha Robinson
Somewhere on the spectrum between techno-dazzle (iPad apps for toddlers, anyone?) and fuzzy-wuzzy bears there’s a sweet spot: toys that inspire kids to have fun, stretch their creativity and learn while they play. With a little effort – and some guidance from savvy toy shop owners – any attentive shopper can hit the mark.
Toys that encourage the most beneficial play may not be the biggest spotlight-grabbers. Their attractions are often more subtle and require a shopper to search past the dancing dolls massed out in aisle one.
“Toys today, especially toys in the mass market, you push a button and it does something – it lights up or it sings or it turns around and does all kinds of things. But they’re not toys that allow a child to be imaginative and creative,” says Jennic Law, owner of KangarooBoo toy store, West Des Moines, Iowa. “The child is playing and having a good time, but the toy is doing most of the actions or thinking for him or her.”
Law says classic problem-solving toys like puzzles and blocks are much better for children. She likes boldly colored Green Toys Blocks ($25, 6 months and up), which are made from recycled plastic milk containers and come in many shapes.
Wendy Lippman, owner of Tlaquepaque Toy Town in Sedona, Ariz., seeks out toys that spur open-ended play. “I like toys where kids are encouraged to use their imagination,” she says. Lippman recommends toys that can serve as the focus for role-playing, where kids can act as cashiers or shoppers with a toy cash register, for example. Such toys also set up scenarios to educate children, she says.
Science-related toys are no longer aimed at little Leonardos and can be packed with fun, says Jim Davis, owner of Kid’s Center toy store in Tucson, Ariz. Toys with magnets easily combine science learning with fun. The popular Discovery Set of magnetic blocks from Tegu ($70, age 3 and up) snap together and hang in balance, a perfect gift to spark the imagination of young children.
Science kits from Thames & Kosmos are perennial award-winners. Control Machines set ($70, age 8 and up) lets kids build 10 different motorized vehicles (including bulldozer, crane, Formula One racer, three-blade dozer, robotic arm) and then guide them with a remote control unit. After following the instructions to construct the standard vehicles, kids can invent their own.