How Toys Help Children's Cognitive Development

Toys are an integral part of childhood. Throughout their early years, children play with toys in order to learn about themselves and the world around them. They come in all shapes and sizes, but they each provide an activity through which a child can express their creativity, test their gross motor skills, fine motor skills, problem-solving abilities and/or senses.

Parents and caregivers can choose from a wide range of toys for their child, but how do they know which one is the best option? How do toys help cognitive development? As it turns out, how a child plays with a toy can provide valuable insight into how their cognitive skills are developing. Keep reading this insightful article to discover exactly how toys help children’s development.

Toys Spark Creativity and Imagination

Creativity isn’t just about artwork. Toys can help spark creativity and imagination in children by providing them with different materials to work with or act out different roles with. This gives them time to let their imaginations run wild and to start building those all-important creative thinking skills for later in life.

Open-ended toys are great for building imagination as they can be played with in many different ways and play can be modified to suit your child’s imagination. Some examples of great open-ended toys to encourage imaginative play include:

• Storytelling Toys like this Frog Prince Hand & Finger Puppet Set allow children to create imaginative storylines, roles and scenes, building creativity and allowing for a different story every time. The fun never ends!
• Creative Pattern Toys like this Magnetic Activity Box allow children to create unlimited patterns using magnetic blocks, teaching them shapes and patterns as well as boosting their creativity!

Toys Improve Language Development

Toys can also help improve children's language development skills. For example, pretend play, where children act out different roles using toys, has been found to help improve children's use of words and descriptive language. Children are often asked to describe what is happening in the scene they are acting out or explain why their doll feels a certain way. These types of questions require them to think critically about the objects they are manipulating and the emotions that their characters are experiencing.

To maximise your child’s language development, combine language and play with some of these educational options:

• Phonics Activities like this Magnetic Phonics Set help children learn the basics of language and boost their development with creative and exciting activities.
• Creative Writing Activities like this Magnetic Creative Writing Set allow your child to develop their basic writing skills, creating stories that require a little more complex thought and language skills.

Toys Build Social and Emotional Intelligence

Similarly, when children play with toys that require character building, they develop their social skills and emotional intelligence by acting out these complex scenes and relationships between characters. This is usually where a child will first start to experiment with social interaction and understanding differences of character and personality. Some great toys to build social and emotional intelligence include:

• Character Toys like this Wizard of Oz Hand & Finger Puppet Set are great for building social skills as they require the child to have the characters interact with each other to develop their stories.
• Child-Size Toys like this Pop-up Wizard let children interact with the toy in a social way, as they become a friend and use them for interactive imaginative play.

Fun fact: this 2010 study found that children become more inventive and creative when they are exposed to stories about magic and magical creatures!

Toys Boost Problem Solving Skills

Many toys boost problem solving skills in children, as they require some sort of problem to be solved, especially in puzzle toys! Whether your child is playing alone and identifying new ways to solve problems in play, or learning how to work together with a friend to problem solve, toys are vital to the development of children. Some of the best toys to boost problem solving skills include:

• Puzzle Toys like this Magnetic Maze Kraze build problem solving skills by having your children create puzzles and maze runs that they will then need to solve. As a 3-in-1 game that doubles as a fridge magnet, this game is not one to miss!
• Construction Toys like this Build-Your-Own Fire Station Set help children with following instructions and problem solving by having them focus on putting the pieces together to meet an end goal.

Extra Benefits of Educational Toys

Though we have listed our top ways that toys help children's cognitive development, the benefits to great educational toys are endless. Though we couldn’t fit all of the many benefits into this article, here are a few more that we wanted to highlight:

• Toys Can Boost Geographical Awareness like in this Discover The World Game that teaches children all about countries, cultures and continents all while playing!
• Toys Can Help Children Learn To Tell The Time like in this Magnetic Tell The Time Toy that makes learning to tell the time exciting, fun and much easier.
• Toys Can Help Children Learn About Money and Maths like this Magnetic Money Toy that begins teaching children about object value, simple problem solving and maths basics.

Discover a Range of Educational Crafts, Games and Toys to Help Your Child's Cognitive Development Today at Fiesta Crafts!

At Fiesta Crafts, we believe that the perfect toy is just the right balance between educational and fun. That’s why we offer innovative and educational toys to help with your child's cognitive development from all angles. All of our toys are designed to help children work on physical and mental skills, while also offering emotional value