11/21/2025
‘Tis the season to buy more toys!
But there are so many toys to choose from. So how do you decide which toys to buy?
It is important to recognize that toys are the tools for learning. So choosing a variety of well-balanced toys is key.
When shopping for holiday gifts for young children, choose toys from the following categories:
🔹 Gross motor play: These are toys that encourage play-based movement, such as a ride-on toy, tee ball set, pop-up tunnel, scooter board, slide, etc.
🔹 Fine motor play: These are toys that encourage small muscle movements, such as puzzles, shape sorters, peg boards, lacing beads, etc.
🔹 Pretend play: These are open-ended toys that encourage imagination, such as a farm set, train set, doll house, play food, musical instruments, etc.
🔹 Arts and crafts play: These are toys that encourage creativity, such as crayons, markers, construction paper, glue, stickers, etc.
🔹 Constructive play: These are toys that encourage building, such as blocks, Lego’s, Lincoln Logs, Bristle blocks, etc.
🔹 Outdoor play: These are toys that encourage play in nature, such as a kite, sidewalk chalk, water and sand table, wagon, etc.
🔹 Cooperative play: These are board and card games that encourage social interactions and turn-taking, such as Don’t Break the Ice, Memory, Hi-Ho-Cherry-O, CandyLand, etc.
🔹 Literacy play: Books are toys too so don’t forget to include them on your shopping list. Flap books, touch and feel books, wordless books, picture books, story books, interactive books...they all support language and early literacy skills.
Avoid the battery-operated, button pushing toys that force-feed academics. Instead, choose toys that allow the child to provide all the power, all the imagination, and all the sound effects.
