EDUCATIONAL TOYS - DOES YOUR CHILD NEED TO HAVE THEM?

When choosing a new toy for a child, we increasingly want it to not only bring them joy but also have a positive impact on their development. Unfortunately, not all toys that are labeled as educational actually fulfill the manufacturer's promise in practice. Until recently, it seemed that those toys which make sounds, light up, and react, for example, by pressing a button, were the best in this role. Probably every parent knows that such a gift is mainly received from childless friends or family members who do not know the nightmare of listening day after day to the same melody or synthetic animal sounds.

Often, a child's use of such a toy has little to do with education and is more about randomly pressing buttons. Of course, educational toys are not just interactive toys. In this group, we can also find board games, thematic sets, puzzles, jigsaws, skill toys, and increasingly electronic ones, i.e., created with children in mind: tablets and laptops. They may seem particularly attractive because they have learning programs or educational games. Some parents or grandparents believe that due to the high price of such devices, they have the best impact on development. However, it is worth looking at their impact in a broader context.