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Developmentally Appropriate Toys: What & Why Are They Important?

Developmentally Appropriate Toys:  What & Why Are They Important?

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What is a Developmentally Appropriate Toy?

This blog post is the starting point for understanding a child’s basic abilities and preferences as they grow. The age, abilities, and preference of each individual child means they are developmentally ready for a certain toy, and this makes the toy is developmentally appropriate. This is confusing! Let me put it another way. How many times have we selected a toy for a child, and then the child won’t play with it? Lots of times! This toy was not developmentally appropriate for the child at that moment we gave it. But we chose it according to the age development chart! It has to be the right toy! Why isn’t the child playing with it?! And here is where a child’s ability and preference come into play. The selected toy was age appropriate, and it may also have matched the child’s abilities as well, but the child did not prefer to use it. And this preference, or choice, is what makes a toy developmentally appropriate.

Why is a Developmentally Appropriate Toy Important:

Developmentally appropriate toys are important because each child develops at a different pace. Sometimes one area of development is growing at a different pace than another. For example, an infant may never crawl and go straight to walking. My own daughter did that, she was so chubby and fat that sitting was difficult, and crawling was impossible. Her way of dealing with this issue was to roll to something she could stand up with and walk along. She was walking at 9 months old. Her motor ability was lacking, but her problem solving ability advanced to bring her to what she needed to achieve. This leads me to my next topic of what makes a developmental toy.

What is a Toy?

Above I explained what a developmental toy is and why it is important. But what actually is the definition of a toy? In the example of my daughter’s learning to walk, she didn’t use a toy. Or did she? Yes, she did. A toy is defined by Oxford dictionary as as, “an item for a child to play with.” I want to take that definition further to say, “an item within a child’s reach that is used to learn or advance an ability”. So in my daughter’s case, with this definition, the items she used to move along (couch, shelves, ect) were all toys. The U.S. Consumer Product & Safety Commission states, “If play is child’s work then toys are the child’s tools, and appropriate toys can help children do their work well.”

What are Abilities & Preferences

We need to look at the age for development, but also at the abilities and preferences of each child as individuals. In the Early Childhood Industry, we look at the growth of different abilities, and how they nurture and build alongside one another to guide in child development as a whole. This is referred to as the Whole Child. I want to go back to the same example with my daughter, her gross motor ABILITY to walk needed a different course than other children her age. Most infants will learn to roll, sit, crawl and then walk. She skipped past the sitting and crawling abilities. Those were a skill she was unable to achieve at that moment. She advanced in a different ability, her problem solving ability. She used a “toy”, the couch, available within her environment. What is important here is that she CHOSE to use it. This was her PREFERENCE. So in my definition of toys, “toys are tools in the child’s surrounding environment chosen by the child to advance an ability.” The child must prefer, or choose, to play with the toy in order for any learning to take place. Lets look into the different abilities that work together in the whole child.

Choosing Developmentally Appropriate Toys

Selecting developmentally appropriate toys means taking the age, abilities, and preferences of a child into consideration. Preference may be most important. How many times have we given the child a toy, only to have them play with the box it came in. LOL! So developmentally appropriate toys could be items typically found in your home like cardboard boxes, bowls with lids, or pots and pans. They can also be second hand toys or new ones. Each child develops at an individual pace, so listed toys on one list can be good choices for children who are younger or older than the suggested age range.

Summary

To sum this all up, the age, abilities, and preference of each individual child means they are developmentally ready for a certain toy, and this makes the toy is developmentally appropriate.

Please remember to ensure the toys are safe. You can learn more about toy safety on my post: Essential Toy Safety for Infants, Toddlers, and Preschoolers.

In this post I go into educating the whole child and discuss categories of abilities.

My blog is going to dive into a child’s age, abilities, and preferences for toys starting from birth and continuing up until age five. I will put the links below for each age group, and then you can select your child’s current age through those links.

Links For Your Reference:

U.S. Consumer Product & Safety Commission

I value your input and comments tremendously. If there is anything else I should include in this blog post, please let me know! Until my next post, Keep Everything Simple. Talk with you soon!

Emily

Friday 7th of February 2025

It's really interesting to learn about the different types of developmentally appropriate toys kids can play with at different stages! There are so many options for each.

Beth

Friday 7th of February 2025

This is such a great guide. I love the in-depth breakdown of what toys like this are and how to pick them.

Kat

Monday 13th of January 2025

I like how the article highlights toys that match a child's developmental stage. It makes shopping for toys easier. ✿ 𝒦𝒶𝓉

Amy Mayfield-Beyer

Monday 18th of November 2024

Excellent post! It's very important to make sure toys and activities are developmentally appropriate, but most people never take that into consideration. They focus solely on age appropriate. Thanx for sharing!

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Saturday 9th of November 2024

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