Nanny to Mommy

Children don't need to have huge piles of toys. Many parents try not to gather too many toys in their home because they often end up not being played with. They can take up a lot of space and they can generate a lot of waste too. However, making sure your child has some toys is definitely something that you want to do as a parent.

Although you can do things to make sure you never have too many, there are also multiple toy types that are beneficial for your kids to have. Not only are they fun to play with, but they can teach different skills at different ages. Having a variety of toys in your home can give your children the opportunity to explore different interests. It encourages their development and can also teach key social skills such as sharing. Here are some of the types of toys you might want to consider.

Participating in arts and crafts can help children to develop their creative skills and imagination. But those aren't the only ways arts and crafts can encourage development. These types of activities are great for developing fine motor skills, from holding crayons, pencils, and pens to using scissors. There are many different toys and arts and crafts materials you can get for your children. You can easily buy inexpensive materials or just reuse anything you want to recycle at home. A few tools like pencils, scissors, and rulers can be useful to add to an arts and crafts box.

Building things is something children can start doing from a young age. Stacking building blocks is a simple skill that toddlers and preschoolers start to do. Working out how to build a tower and stop it from falling over is good for hand-eye coordination, as well as problem-solving. As children start to get older, they might like to try slightly more complicated toys, such as LEGO (or the larger version DUPLO for toddlers), which can help to develop fine motor skills too. Other construction toys include magnetic ball and stick toys and various construction sets that you can find from different brands.

Puzzle toys can start with something as simple as getting the right shape in the right hole. Older children can enjoy playing with jigsaw puzzles and similar games. These types of toys encourage children to use logic, problem-solving, hand-eye coordination, and other skills to work out how to solve them. They are also good for developing dexterity and spatial relationships. Children who enjoy jigsaws can start with simple puzzles with fewer pieces and slowly work their way up to puzzles that have more pieces and more detailed pictures.

Role-play toys can include lots of different things. Stuffed animals, dolls, and figures are all toys that encourage pretend play. Schleich toys include lots of great examples, with animals, people, and more to play with. Children love to make up stories about what their toys are doing, acting out and narrating them. This is good for creativity and imagination, and it can help to develop language skills, empathy, and more. Other role-play toys include things like kitchen sets, toolkits, doctor's kits, and anything else that children can use to play pretend and act out different scenarios. They can help children to learn how the world works and learn by copying others.

Many toys encourage children to get active in different ways. Babies can start to benefit from toys that are made for pushing along when they're learning to stand and walk. Trundle bikes without pedals are excellent for helping toddlers with their balance and can be a first step to learning how to ride a bike. Jump ropes are a fun toy useful for large motor development, coordination, and problem-solving. These types of toys can be great for sharing with other children too, which helps them to learn how to share, take turns and get along with others.

Board games can be fun for kids to play on their own or for everyone to play as a family. There are different types of board games that require different skills, so you can try a variety of games. Some of them are easy for younger children to play too, while others are more suited to older children who can understand more complicated rules and gameplay. The easiest games for younger children are often those that require you to roll dice and move along the board. It's a good way to practice counting. Board games are also good for learning how to cope with winning or losing.

Science toys can offer opportunities to do experiments or learn about the world around us. They can include things like chemistry sets, binoculars, magnifying glasses, telescopes, bug discovery kits, and more. Anything that encourages exploration and experimentation can help children to enjoy science. There are plenty of child-friendly options for science kits if you want to buy something with some ready-made experiments. You can also find child-sized equipment that might be a bit easier for smaller hands to use. Some science toys are more suitable for older children, but there are plenty of options for younger children too.

Musical instruments make fun toys that encourage creativity, build fine motor skills, and can help to improve listening and attention skills too. There are plenty of instruments that can be used as toys from a young age, including percussion instruments such as drums, maracas, castanets, and more. Toy versions of musical instruments can get children interested in playing them too. While it might be important to recognize that many real musical instruments shouldn't be treated as toys, there are plenty of affordable options that can stand up to a bit of rough play.

Similar to role-play toys, costumes for dressing up encourage children to use their imagination, develop social skills, and improve their understanding of the world. You can easily go out and buy costumes for dressing up, but you don't necessarily have to buy a whole closet full of costumes. One easy way to create a dress-up box is to give your children some of your old clothes. If you have some basic sewing skills, you can also make some costumes. Children can make their own fun accessories during arts and crafts activities too. You can make things like paper hats, jewelry with beads, masks, and other things to include in the dress-up box.

Some parents might be wary of toys that involve too much tech, but the truth is that children today grow up surrounded by it. You have the chance to teach them how to use it and make sure they use it responsibly too. Tech toys could include a number of things, from tablets made for toddlers to Raspberry Pi projects made for kids. Playing with tech doesn't have to mean screens and it can involve lots of active involvement, rather than just passively watching something.

While not technically toys, it's always a good idea to have plenty of books for your children to choose from. Some books will double up as toys in various ways too, from board books for babies to pop-up books, offering an interactive element. There are many different types of books that are suitable for all different ages, so you can start reading with your children early.

Children can benefit from different types of toys that help them to develop lots of different skills. Consider these options when you're next looking for a new toy.