Learning: Toys

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Viewpoint: Lang

'Tis the season — now that the turkeys are eaten, the trees taken down, the sales over, the batteries dead — to figure out why all those big, expensive, colourful, noisy new toys sit forgotten in the closet.

They looked so good in their boxes. The educational claims that came with them sounded so, well, educational. We thought our children would learn faster, better, earlier, if we bought them. The bigger the gifts, the more impressive they looked under the tree, and the more the children in our lives squealed and hyperventilated as the packages were opened.

And let's face it, for about half an hour, they were a big hit.

But children frequently find the big box the stuff comes in more appealing than the big toy. Long after the plastic plaything has been abandoned, children find ways of having fun with a simple box, or a non-talking, non-walking, cuddly teddy with a nice face.

So what to do as a doting parent who wants to make playtime educational as well as fun?

Marketing vs. reality

Parents want to give their children advantages, to help them become civilized and competent. Naturally, parents want their children to count, read, walk, talk, practise good manners and think well. So they are vulnerable to the claims toy manufacturers make when they promote their products. TV advertisements and packaging graphics lead us to believe that toys that move, dance, spin, jump, talk, sing, ask and answer questions, and otherwise flash bright lights and produce sound effects for button-pressing children will render them smarter sooner than toys that don't.

Humbug.

Busy, bright toys may be fun, and they may enhance the learning of children who play with them at the right age, but children who do not play with such toys stand just as good a chance to develop well-organized, competent minds. (Actually, a child who reads books stands the best chance of wiring up a good brain, but that's another story.)

Research consistently shows that over-stimulation of the visual cortex, or shooting speedy bits of information at a child whose brain is not yet ready for it, is counter-productive to the development of knowledge and skills.

Studies also show that the single most important component for learning is a safe, rich emotional environment. A child struggling with a negative environment will struggle with learning, regardless of the number of electronic or battery-powered toys available. Simply put, when negative or threatening factors are in play, the intellectual parts of a child's mind switches off.

Research also makes clear, contrary to much of our educational practices, that the more (quiet) time we have to absorb and practise new ideas, the better we will actually understand and use them. As we all know, cramming for exams, stuffing our heads with facts, burping them up for a test, and then immediately forgetting them cannot be equated with knowing something. We may have demonstrated some capacity for short-term memory, but we haven't demonstrated any long-term mastery.

The same thing goes with small children who may be able to recite the alphabet or count to 100 by the time they're three. They will not necessarily have any advantage over other children whose play is less performance-oriented.

Fun and learning

TV programs, computer games, battery-run toys, keyboards, video game consoles, and a host of gadgets with buttons are fun, and they may help people acquire some skills, but they will not produce a smarter, more independently competent student in the long run.

If you find yourself tripping over discarded toys and have a row of dead batteries sitting on your counter, here are some suggestions for sparking the imagination of children at playtime.

First of all, don't despair. Having these expensive toys may have handicapped your bank balance, but the demise of the toys (or of your child's interest in them) will not handicap your child's development in any way.

And what to do with the debris? Donating plastic toys and parts to abstract artists will generate all sorts of good will, and might even inspire your child to try something truly creative. Useless, dead toys can have a life after batteries by fuelling craft-time — all you need is glue. Some toys may have a second life as book-ends, door stoppers, or avant garde garden ornaments. Something that looks quite pathetic in the closet may appear remarkably cheery between plants.

And remember that people learned to count, speak, read, think, compose and compute for thousands of years before electricity, batteries, the internet, or text messaging. Without them, your child will still learn all these important skills. You can make do with fingers, toes, stick writing in dirt, music with a regular beat, printed material that is interesting, and plain old crayons and paper.

What you really can't do without is something that doesn't come from a store: the curiosity, enthusiasm, courage and wonder a child finds while learning in company with a loving, considerate and patient other person — you.