Educational Wooden Toys - Why Children Will Love Them   by Brooke Hayles

All parents want their children to play and learn in safety, but sitting in front of a television is not the alternative most parents seek. Rather than simply watching a screen and being "spoon-fed" a constant stream of input, children benefit from the use and manipulation of real, tangible educational wooden toys.

Numerous studies have shown viewing excessive television to be deleterious to children's development and many pediatricians suggest minimal TV exposure for toddlers. Physically tangible toys, as opposed to television or computer screens, establish the sense of touch and stimulate neural growth. Further, the child's ability to manipulate his toy as he wishes builds creativity and decision-making skills, as the child is not simply absorbing what is being broadcast over the airwaves.

The dexterity required to play with and manipulate educational toys also stimulates the imagination and builds hand eye coordination. Different educational wooden toys are suitable for different developmental stages; for tots, large, brightly colored objects may suffice, while a five-year old might benefit from the alphabet and numbers painted on wooden blocks.

Another benefit of wooden toys is their relative durability and safety. Plastics can become brittle with age and have a tendency to break into sharp shards, whereas educational wooden toys rarely break up beyond a splinter. Still older children have delighted themselves for years with the ever-popular "Lincoln-Logs" that allows the child to build a variety of miniature log buildings. Many educational toys aimed at teens and preteens build critical lateral thinking and problem solving skills.

The benefit of wooden toys does not lie solely in the use, however. Crafting educational wooden toys is a hobby enjoyed by parent and child alike, while encouraging intrapersonal cooperation and development of basic skills. Wood, a few tools and an imagination are all that is required to make educational wooden toys. They can range from little more than whittled doodads to elaborately carved and painted heirlooms.

Schoolchildren everywhere learn basic woodworking techniques in shop class and, frequently, the object built with these skills is a simple wooden pegboard or similar educational wooden toy. Successful creation of a real object builds confidence in children who are all too often used to success in terms of advancing to the next level of a video game.

In the age of Toys-R-Us, Madison Avenue and high-dollar advertising, companies bombard children with ads proclaiming their toy to be the best. However, no mass-produced plastic figure can compare with a custom, handmade educational wooden toy, nor will the plastic toy likely be passed down from one generation to the next.

Summary:

Although not as prevalent as in the past, educational wooden toys are an important tool in children's development. Many educational toys aimed at teens and preteens build critical lateral thinking and problem solving skills and building educational wooden toys is a hobby enjoyed by parent and child alike, while encouraging intrapersonal cooperation and development of basic skills.

About the Author

Brooke Hayles
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