Developing Your Child’s Creativity Through Toys
Anyone who has ever sat down and played with a small child will know that they do a huge amount of learning through play. From babies learning colors and shapes from cot-side mobiles, to toddlers learning to sort and group shapes and colors with wooden bricks – play is essential to a child’s creativity and development. Learning and creativity through play has long been recognized as a key part of a child’s development and a whole industry has grown up around developing educational toys that provide creative and educational experiences for children of all ages. It is not always necessary to buy educational toys to enable learning – it’s a cliché but children are often more interested in the empty cardboard box than the toy inside.
Role-playing with toys is an excellent way for children to develop social skills and learn about the different interactions we can have with people. Not only is it an adorable toy for little girls, but the Flutterbye Flying Fairy is a great example of a simple toy that children can use to create stories and scenarios about their life and surroundings. Role-playing with toys like the Flutterbye Flying Fairy is also an excellent way for children to act out scenarios that they may find difficult, helping them learn different ways to respond to or deal with difficult situations.
Musical toys are another great way to inspire creativity in children at an early age – while a complex tune might be beyond them at this stage, it’s never too early to learn about rhythm or different sounds that can be produced. Xylophones, drums and tambourines are all great options for a young child interested in sounds and rhythm.The most obvious creative play for children revolves around art – from simply scribbling on a piece of paper to cutting and pasting, I’ve never met a child that won’t happily spend an hour or two with some simple toys such as paper, stickers, stamps, paint and crayons. From a parent’s point of view, art is a particularly great way to see the progress in your child’s learning and development, as the drawings become more recognizable over time!
What are some of the methods you use to encourage your child to be creative?
