What Kids Play With
One thing I quickly realized once having children of my own was that not every toy gets played with. I’m sure you can all relate- a toy room full of options and kids who complain they have nothing to do.
When finding toys for your children, it’s important to think of the possibilities for play related to that toy.
Often times toy rooms are full of what I consider to be one-dimensional toys. That means that the toys have one real use for play and can’t really be repurposed or imagined into something else. In my experience, toys that typically fit this mold are toys that require a battery, which is why we have very little of these in our home.
I first got the idea for a low-battery toy room from Ms. Bess, our daughter’s incredible in-home babysitter. Ms. Bess changed our lives for the better in many ways, but the biggest way was teaching me how children play. She was a huge advocate of creative play and she had one real general rule for toys in her daycare- no batteries.
When I first heard her say this, I was really surprised. I mean, walk around the Target toy sections and you’ll see it’s pretty hard to find a toy without a battery, especially for a toddler-aged child. But the more time I watched my daughter play, I quickly realized that toys that have multi-dimensions, or toys that can be used for an infinite number of play purposes, are typically toys that get used the most. Often times these toys don’t have a battery.
How many times have you heard someone say, “He likes the box more than the toy?” A box is a multi-dimensional toy.
As I type this out, I can’t help but think how obvious this is. Of course, toys that can be played in multiple ways get played with more. The reality is that a lot of time adults don’t really think about how many ways a toy can be used. I’m guilty of purchasing many toys that get tossed in the corner after getting played with only a few times. I also can think of a few toys that I consider one-dimensional that my daughter or son really love and use often. In addition to thinking about the many ways in which a toy can be used, I also think about what skills the toy could teach. Of course, I’ll get into this more throughout my blog posts highlighting purposeful play. But for now, let’s take a look at some toys that are multi-dimensional.
Blocks, Duplos, Legos, Magna-tiles, etc. I call these base-toys. These are most definitely multi-dimensional toys. I’ve seen my kids build restaurants, tables, castles, tunnels, racetracks and more with these toys. These types of toys generally set the stage for independent play in my house that can last a while.
Dolls, Barbies, action figures, stuffed animals, cars, etc. are also multi-dimensional. One day Spiderman can be saving the world from a stuffed animal villian and the next day he can be at the doctor’s office getting a check-up. Here a few unique, quality examples you might not have seen:
When buying toys or organizing your play space. Try to make most of your toys multi-dimensional. Doing so will unlock the door to rich play.
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