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Narrator: Young children do most of their learning during play.
Research from the Center for Early Childhood Education
shows the different kinds of toys inspire different kinds of play.
Child: I'm making a man.
Narrator: Some toys are better at inspiring
deep thinking and problem-solving,
while others are excellent at promoting
creativity or social interaction.
- Say "Ah!"
- Ah!
Narrator: But what does the research tell us
about the most important things to consider
when selecting toys for preschoolers?
[♪]
Child: Have a good trip.
Claudia Sweetland: I think a good toy is safe,
developmentally appropriate, engaging, and stimulating.
Child: Let's connect it on this end and see what happens.
Patricia McCarthy: Something that sparks their imagination,
allows them to work together with their peers.
Child: Yeah!!
Heather Standish: One that everyone can engage with,
even children who don't speak English or have minimal English.
So if we have a toy that they can interact with each other,
even if it's not using the same language,
I think that makes a really good toy.
Sabrina Bowersett: Something that you would want to touch right away.
You want to go to it; you want to feel what it feels like;
you want to move it.
Child 1: Let's make a castle!
Child 2: Okay, we can make some castles.
Dr. Trawick-Smith: One of the most important characteristics
is that toys are simple and non-realistic.
Why that's important is that children are able
to use them in many different ways.
Child 1: Look at my motorcycle!
Child 2: I like your motorcycle.
Vincent Knox Douglas: Something that's flexible and that
isn't just locked into doing one thing with it all the time.
Karla Alamo: A toy that inspires imagination.
Something that they can think outside of the box.
Child: This is how you make a magic wand.
Niloufar Rezai: A toy that is open-ended enough
that allows them to use their imagination.
Leisha Flynn: That the children can, sort of, recreate their environment,
their world with the toy.
Teacher: What did you make? Tell me about it.
Child: House.
Teacher: You made a house? Child: Yeah.
Patricia Brickner: So you see what their ideas are, the questions they ask.
A toy that engages them.
Child 1: This is a big one.
Child 2: How taller is than me?
Child 1: Um, no.
Child 2: It's tall like Stephen.
Dr. Trawick-Smith: Another reason that non-realistic toys
are so beneficial is that they are ambiguous.
As children are playing, they need to explain to one another,
their peers, what the toy represents,
what kinds of activities are going on.
Child 1: I'm making flying car!
Beep! beep! Beep beep, beep beep!
Emily Grogan: When they're playing together,
it allows for different play scenarios
that they can create with their friends.
Child: That's our ball pit that you slide into. This is the slide.
Dr. Trawick-Smith: Toys that have multiple parts
tend to score very well.
There are lots of different parts for children to share with peers,
to discuss, to negotiate around.
Child 1: So what if this goes down here, and then it rolls?
Child 2: I might have to hold it.
Stephen Hatch: Something the kids can build with,
but after they're, after they accomplish it,
they kind of can sit back
and they can see that they like completed something together.
{marble rolling }
Child: That was a perfect idea.
Dr. Trawick-Smith: Some of the highest-scoring toys
are those that are sort of classic,
good old-fashioned toys from long ago
that have been around forever.
I think about blocks; I think about Tinker Toys, even Legos.
I think it kind of suggests that sometimes the toys
that have been used throughout the generations are very valuable,
still, for children's development.
If I had to pick two types of toys that I felt were,
based on our research, most powerful,
I would pick these two: construction toys and also replica play toys.
Child: Do you want to make a house?
Dr. Trawick-Smith: Over many years of study,
we found that toys with small pieces that they can put together
had a really powerful impact on children's
thinking and learning and play.
Child: I am a robot!
Dr. Trawick-Smith: The other type of toy that I find so critical,
based on our findings, are replica play toys.
Child: That's the sister; that's the boy; that's the mom.
Dr. Trawick-Smith: These are small people, animals, even cars,
I would include,
where children can play out elaborate scenarios
in a kind of a make-believe way.
Child 1: Someone need help.
Child 2: Okay. I will come.
Wee-ooo, wee-ooo, wee-ooo.
Dr. Trawick-Smith: Those tend to not only do well in terms
of promoting thinking and learning and symbolic thought,
but they also are great for promoting
social interaction and verbalization.
Child 1: I go to school, mom.
Child 2: Okay, come on, baby. It's time to go to toddler school.
Narrator: The TIMPANI Toy Study investigated
more than a hundred toys over a 10-year period
and found that simple, open-ended, non-realistic toys
with multiple parts inspired the highest quality
of play in preschoolers.
Children playing with these toys
were more likely to be creative in their play,
engage in problem solving,
interact with their peers
and use language.
Child: Can I have four lemons?
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