Education...Toys as a Tool for Your Child

We all want the best for our child - we want them to be ahead in their class, to fit in, to have a good education, to be happy, grow up to good citizens contributing to society... We want the toys we buy for them to last, for them to be loved and played with over and over again. We want the most "play value" for our money. How do we get this?

Don't buy into the selling features or labels plastered on a box. "Develops Gross Motor Skills!" "Imaginative play!" When it comes right down to it, all kinds of things do what these boxes claim to do - and we buy into it! Say I'm selling four wooden blocks. Each is a different colour and each is numbered from one to four. I can now promise this product to introduce your child to shapes, colours, counting, hand-eye coordination...maybe I'll put some letters on there and add letter recognition on there as well! Or take an ordinary ball for instance. You can learn fine and gross motor skills with that, as well as colours and shapes. From a basketball! And IT doesn't need batteries!

In my occupation, we use beading to develop patterning, hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills - to name just a few. We use a see'n say and plastic animals to teach animal names and sounds as well as other things like imaginative play and prepositions. And don't get me started as to what things you could slap on the side of a baby doll!

The truth of the matter is this. Your child learns as he plays. We all know the power of a cardboard box. I recently cut up a box, taped an extra one on, slapped on some wheels...wha-la, it's a train...and it was a rocket ship...and turned into a house... That ugly box is still kicking around the house! But it's teaching my son how to play - teaching him things like; a train has wheels. That part is to push cows off the tracks%u2026A rocket flies to the moon. The moon is in the sky. I don't know how it got there. No, there aren't cows in the sky. Above the clouds and sky is space and it's dark. No, there aren't cows there...

I didn't know how to play with kids. After 5 minutes of driving the same train on the same track making the same noise, I'm ready to move on to something else. You want to be involved in your child's life, you want to play with them, and though you'd never admit it out loud, it can be a little, well...boring! THEY make up all the rules, YOU get in trouble if you don't play just right, THEY get the best toys and tell YOU what you have to play with...

I've come to the conclusion that we all need purpose in our life, a goal, meaning...and playing aimlessly with no goal for some of us can be, well, a little trying. Sure, some things we really enjoy - some prefer sports, maybe creative arts or imaginative play...but as we all know, each child is different from us and has his or her own likes and dislikes. How do we cater to their budding personalities?

I had to learn to play again. What did I do? Drills. Yup, I called upon my years as a therapist and brought my drills to the table. Well, not literally. We play on the floor. And I didn't haul out my two inch book of drills. I just applied all I had learned and all that I've taught, to my own children.

It boils down to this. Teach your child through at their level and through relevant examples. When you're playing with them, don't expect them to know the answers - provide it for them and then give them a chance to show off their knowledge. Make it fun, without pressure. Remember, it's PLAY, and if it seems like work, well, you won't be invited over to play anymore.

When playing Little People Animal Farm or their zoo, I focus on naming the animals, asking my son what their names are. What sounds do they make? What do you think they eat? What makes you think that? Where do we go to get gas? We fill in the blanks "a barn has a ______" or "the cow is hungry, when you're hungry you ______".

We use blocks to build our towers, build race tracks, learn colours%u2026 We practice taking turns, balancing blocks, making patterns...

We have tea parties and practice pouring...and cleaning up spills... We use manners and etiquette, we practice sharing or offering others a piece of "pie".

We go "shopping" and hold hands because there are "cars" and say thank-you or hello to people. We name the different foods and their colours, we pick our favorites and say why we like them...

We practice our pencil skills through colouring and painting, our gluing skills through random collages, and our cutting skills through making confetti...

We play with our "Baby Alive" doll and practice holding her. We wrap her when it's "cold" and change her when she "spills". We talk about how she might be feeling and how can you tell she's sad/happy/hungry...

This for your child, is play. For you, it's teaching them life skills. It's creating the best learning atmosphere a child can have in hopes that they will have the best life you could ever want for your child. It's equipping them to manage whatever the future brings, and it's hoping that whatever they do, they will succeed. Whether that is pouring their first glass of milk successfully, making new friends on their first day of kindergarten, helping the elderly gentleman across the street, saying thank-you to the clerk at a store, or behaving well at the doctor's office... Invest in your child at their level, and recognize all the small accomplishments that they do.