The Play Value of Toys
For my daughter’s second birthday I thought it would be nice to find her a doll. It seemed like a simple gift for a young child, and she’d been showing interest in my friend’s daughter’s dolls for some time. Off I went to the toy store. Before this excursion, I’d always been cautious about how much we bought our children, but I’d never really done a lot of research on toys. This was a shopping trip that would make me question the state of toys in mainstream stores today. For I soon found out that a simple doll was hard to come by. After a trip to all the major department stores in our town, I had struck out in finding exactly what I’d wanted. I wanted a simple doll. Unfortunately they didn’t seem to exist.
Automating Playtime
Two things struck me as troubling in my search for a doll. Most of the dolls available used batteries. The batteries usually made the doll cry, giggle, coo, move limbs around or burp. I wanted a doll for my daughter where she could create the noises and dialogue she wanted with the doll. Not only that, but batteries in a doll are completely unnecessary and their composition is terribly harmful to the environment. Eventually I found a doll without batteries, but it was mostly plastic and had a fake powder smell. She also got one from a friend of mine that was the closest thing to what I’d been looking for, so at least now she had a doll where she could make the noises and move the arms and legs around, that didn’t smell like baby powder, and that was mostly cloth (except for the head).
There is something that I’ve become strikingly aware of in my years of searching for entertaining toys for my children. Toys that were once simple are now complicated; an assault of colours, noises, and cheap plastics that are not designed to last. And it’s really, really difficult to find toys that don’t take batteries. I believe that batteries kill imagination. Essentially, it’s an electronic device that does the imagination play for your child. When I was a kid, my dolls didn’t talk. I made the crying, burping and talking noises. It was half the fun! It’s hard to find toys without batteries these days. We even have books that read themselves to children. I just cannot accept a machine doing this job for them. I know some people say they are good for keeping children entertained; my experience is that my children can find a lot more creative ways to entertain themselves. I love reading books to them, and resent a battery doing it for me. Reading is quality family time we spend together; it’s a way to relax in the midst of an otherwise busy day. I want them to open their minds and ask questions along the way, something that is just not possible in battery operated books.
Encourage Creativity
If there’s one invaluable gift we can give our children, it’s a sense of creativity and imagination. Toys are an important building block in this development. Lego, wooden blocks, marble runs, and a good supply of crayons, paints, pencils and paper are a wonderful starting point. I now often search out Waldorf inspired toys. Simple organic materials are used in Waldorf toys. It’s like a little piece of nature on the toy shelf. Unfortunately, I usually have to order these online and they cost a small fortune, but family members are usually more than willing to help out on these purchases. It means fewer toys but better quality. Half the time toys aren’t even required, as my children’s imaginations take them beyond the capacity of anything bought in a store. They make lakes out of bed sheets and boats out of pillows and sail from Canada to China. They are outside making mud pies in the sandbox, or digging a hole to China in the dirt beside the sandbox. (They seem pretty keen on getting to China these days!) In the summer, they actually play very little with toys as we’re often out and about at parks, or on a magical forest adventure in search of treasures. If I can sometimes let go and play right along with them I can catch little glimpses of an imagination I used to have; this doesn’t come naturally though, but my children are teaching me!
Mostly I love to watch. I revel in their boundless capacity to play, imagine and create. The starting point for creative and imaginative children is in their surroundings and the toys they play with. It is my hope that through consciously choosing natural, earth friendly and imaginative toys, their creativity will flourish and their imaginations will run wild!
Author Bio: Sherri Downing is a homeschooling mother of two children. She enjoys writing about holistic parenting and the wealth of knowledge she has learned on her parenting journey. She has a passion for creativity and works part time at a music and performing arts studio in the Greater Toronto area. You can contact Sherri at sherri@ecoerth.com
Hi erthmom, just wondering where you purchased your marble run. Also, was it the HABA Kugelbahn Ball Track Construction Set? I found one online and it’s C$119.50 with free shipping. Just wanted to make sure I was getting the best price. Thanks!
Yep, this is the one I got and that price is great for the Haba construction set! (I know i paid a bit more than that) But before you buy it, if you go to the Lee Valley website, they have something very similar and it’s only $50 or $60……its new to Lee Valley this year. (you might have to look at their catalogue to find it) Its all wood and has about the same amount of pieces. Not sure of the similarities/differences between the two, but the Haba one is German and I know the Lee Valley one was made in the USA so they should both be great quality! My kids still play with theirs all the time!
Thank you!! As you suggested, I checked out the Lee Valley site, but their marble run is sold out. So, even though it’s expensive, I think I’m going to order the HABA set. I know that we will get a lot of use and enjoyment out of it. It’s nice that it’s made of beech wood too. Like you, I’m trying to steer clear of toys made of plastic. Thanks again!