Thinking of buying some new toys for your little one? While you may be tempted to get the cutest looking stuffed animals for your kid, it is important that you pick the right assortment of toys that are not only fun to play with, but are also educational. Your child is curious and highly imaginative. By providing him/her with age-appropriate toys, you can actually help him/her learn new things about his/her surroundings.
Development aspects
Cognitive development happens at different pace in each child. Some experience it quicker than others, and there are a few who really lag behind. If you want to enhance your child’s cognitive skills, make sure that you dedicatedly spend time to give them full attention, encouragement, and support. More importantly, choose toys for their age to help fine tune their aptitude.
Choosing the best toys for toddlers
There are various types of toys for toddlers. In the current market, you will find various innovative toys for kids of that age group. When buying toys for toddlers, always ensure that you choose toys based on the age groups they are specified for.
For one year olds
Say for example, for a one-year-old child, the best choice may be something to fill and empty. You can also consider choosing puzzles or easy-to-connect blocks of two to eight pieces. At this age, you need to assist them in framing mental images of things and choose toys that serve this purpose. At this age, the no-harm squeeze toys, unbreakable mirrors, colored balls, toy trucks, and colored books with vibrant pictures are appropriate.
For two year olds
If you have a two year old, you may consider buying toy phones, building blocks, toy trucks, mini cassettes, books with rhymes, coloring books, and toys playing music and light. The child may be already capable of developing full-size mental images of things by this age and can also understand logical concepts and actions. With best toys kids, they can also understand the concept of shape-sorting types of assignments and simple puzzles.
Appropriate toys help them to improve the ability to grasp things. Kids of this age may also develop skills like self-discovery, imagination, and creativity. These enhance the conceptual development skills. Moreover, most of the toys for this age group are imitations of the real-life equipment and gadgets like a toy phone or POS machines, which will help to improve their problem solving skills and language development.
For three year olds
At 3 years of age, the child may already be able to speak clearly. He or she may start to ask questions at this age and may want to know their surroundings better. This is the right time for the parents to work on improving their mental ability. Coloring books, toy computers, alphabet puzzles, number puzzles, easel sets, dolls, doll houses, latches, and toy furniture/kitchen/medical sets will be ideal. Building blocks will still help in mental development at the age of three.
Make sure that you give priority to safety while choosing toddler toys. Avoid toys with small and loose particles that may cause choking hazards. Also check whether the toys have passed quality assurance tests to be baby-friendly.
Author Bio: Carolyn Lynch is a child psychologist and expert writer published many articles about Best Toys kids, which are ideal for physical and mental development of children of various ages.