Santa has a big bag of toys, but which ones are the best for young children? An expert gives his answer in this report from Gary Crawford.
PARTICIPANTS: Gary Crawford and Kansas State University Associate Professor and Extension Child Development Expert Bradford Wiles.
Transcript
It's that time of year when kids are thinking about...
Toyland, Toyland, wonderful girl and boy land.
Around the Christmas time, we sometimes turn into children.
Ha ha, yes we do.
That's Bradford Wiles.
He's an associate professor at Kansas State University and extension expert specializing in early childhood development and helping parents with issues along that line.
And there are plenty of those.
But this time of year, what is the question he gets most often?
What's the best toy for children?
And part of his answer is...
There is no best toy except for one thing and that is your face.
If you can give children your face and your attention and play with them with any toy, it could be anything.
It could be a spoon.
It really is inconsequential.
As long as you're using your imagination and they're using their imagination and playing with you, that truly is the best thing for children.
That's all they ever really want.
But kids do want toys, you know.
Parents want to make the kids happy.
So Bradford says we should think about giving toys that make that interaction he talks about possible.
So the first quality a toy should have...
The ability to play with it on your own, but to also play with someone else.
So on the not so great list of toys might be...
Things like remote control cars.
You know, unless you have two of them, you're just going to end up having to share back and forth.
Or a big fight.
So not a terrible choice, but we could do better.
Wiles says the second characteristic of really good toys...
Toys that sort of force the imaginations.
So toys that encourage imaginative play are, you know, that's the second most important.
Wiles says kids get really tired of playing with toys.
If they're not able to use their imaginations and to do it with other people.
So some examples of that kind of toy that sparks the imagination and allows us as parents or others to play along.
And these do not mean we're endorsing these particular toys, but Bradford says look for toys like...
Magnetiles are great.
Building blocks.
Games like the mix and match games.
Legos are awesome.
Just make sure you pick them up because a Lego on the foot, yeah, it hurts.
Ask me how I know, Gary.
Yeah, I know.
I've had the same experience.
And Bradford says almost any kind of age appropriate game would be a great gift.
Just make sure that the age that's on the box matches the age for your child.
You know, and that goes for all of the toys.
Including...
Little tin horns and little toy drums.
Rooty choo choos and rubber chomps.
And also...
Curly head dolls that tootoo and coo.
Elephant boats and kitty cars too.
Oh!
Santa Claus is coming to town.
Yes he is.
Next time, why a mountain of toys for young kids is not a great idea.
This is Gary Crawford reporting for the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
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