THE IMPACT OF TOYS IN CHILDREN THEATRE
ABSTRACT
Learning can be greatly improved by making a thoughtful choice of toys for each stage of a child’s growth. Particularly useful for promoting mental activity are books, games, puzzles, and toys in a variety of shapes, colors, and sizes. Playing with toys can lay the groundwork for literacy, writing, mathematical reasoning, social interaction, and creativity. It also promotes a sense of competence, teaches collaboration and respect for others’ efforts, and fosters independence and initiative. The subject of the finest toys for Children has generated a lot of discussion. While some contend that complex toys offer the best educational opportunities, others assert that more straightforward toys that call for imagination and ingenuity allow Children to think for themselves. The core of the study focuses on the impact of toys in children theatre.
THE IMPACT OF TOYS IN CHILDREN THEATRE
CHAPTER IINTRODUCTION
Background of the study
Research shows that learning through play is an important part of a child’s development. Though ensuring your child has enough play time is a great benefit to families to allow their children to release some extra energy, a child begins to find out who they are through play, even during infancy. Even early in development, a child’s mind is expanding just by looking at their environment and taking in their surroundings.
The use of educational toys can help children learn many different skills they will need in their life such as:
- Problem solving and learning cause and effect
- Learning how to play with others through compromise, conflict resolution and sharing
- Development of fine and gross motor skills
- Nurturing their creativity and imagination
- Discovering their independence and positive self-esteem
Children can start benefiting from educational toys as early as one month old. Here are some great ideas for educational toys based on age range and an explanation of their benefits.
1-12 months old: At an early age, sensory play helps stimulate your child’s senses. Mobiles, soothers and infant play gyms are great first toys for children as they focus on sensory play through sound, sight and touch. As your child continues to grow and develops hand-eye coordination, families can begin introducing toys that encourage more interaction such as portable toys which will continue to inspire visual and hearing senses with flashing lights and different sounds.
As your child becomes more active, we suggest introducing problem solving toys such as stackers or blocks. These toys will help children work through conflicts and become familiar with cause and effect such as “If I do this than that will happen”. They will also build up their confidence once they’ve been able to figure out how a toy works after trial and error and guidance. Other great toys to introduce would be ones that promote movement such as crawl-around learning centers or light up dance mats. These types of toys get children excited and wanting to move around through the use of lights and sounds.
12-24 months old: As your child reaches the one-year mark or older, they will soon become very mobile. Push cars, stride and ride toys and walkers are great to teach balance and coordination and will increase your child’s curiosity with their new found mobility. As your child begins to learn to walk, you can also incorporate learning numbers by counting their steps which will help them become more familiar with the terms and meaning even if they do not quite understand at this age.
Themed playsets are great educational toys to introduce between the ages of 12-18 months because they will help develop your child’s recognition skills. For example, if you have a theme playset that involves animals, practice what sound each animal makes. This will also help with language development by reinforcing the names of colors and shapes. Ride-on toys continue to spark creativity and imagination but also will help refine their coordination skills. When they are using their ride-on toys, set up detours and paths that pushes them to solve problems and follow directions. You can also role play with them by telling them they are going to visit a family member or going on a field trip.
2+ years: As your children become a bit older and more active, you can also introduce toys that promote more physical play such as tricycles or basketball hoops. When showing them how to use these toys, always make sure they are aware of safety concerns such as wearing a helmet and incorporate in the process of using the toy so they know that if they ride their tricycle, they must have their helmet on as well.
This is also a great age to introduce toys that incorporate cognitive skill building. Kinetic sand is a great sensory activity that helps children practice writing by forming shapes or letters in the sand. They can practice drawing or writing their names. Introducing your child to an easel can help develop their small motor control by allowing them to practice how to hold chalk, a paint brush, etc. An easel will also promote creativity by letting your child use their imagination to create beautiful art.
“See and Say” games and books will help your child to develop name recognition and emergent literacy skills. These types of toys will show your child a visual version of what they are hearing and vice versa. For example, the repetition of the toy will allow your child to begin to associate a picture of a dog with the sound a dog makes. Reading books that have color pictures and a few words on each page with your child will begin to familiarize them with how words they hear look on the pages.
More complex building sets such as those that are magnetic are a great way to promote creativity and problem solving, whether it’s trying to build the same structure that’s pictured on the box or creating their own masterpiece. If the set comes with differently colored blocks, you can also practice counting and sorting each color.
Counting toys are also great for helping your child continue to learn about numbers. These toys can range from simple stacking sets to indoor bowling sets. Toys that encourage children to play with others also help them to build social skills.
Incorporating play in your child’s day can be both fun and beneficial to their growth. What toys do your children love that help promote learning and growth?
Statement of the problem
The developmental pattern of the social domain of the child has a close link with the availability and utilization of play materials at the primary level of education. It has been observed that shortage of play materials in primary school has caused a deficit in the developmental process (Jones. 2002). As a result, most primary school pupils exhibit unacceptable internalized and externalized behaviours such as aggression, defiance, non-compliance, disobedience, fighting, greed, bullying, using abusive words on each other, pushing and tantrum. These behaviours exhibited by pupils at this if not given adequate attention, they can grow up to become harden in heart which lead them into cultism, smoking, drug abuse, unwanted pregnancy, stealing, Childrennapping, pre-marital sex and waywardness.
Most parents and caregivers often give-in to the demands of their children especially when theyask for any sort of toy they have seen on the television, among their peers even when the request is for the latest fad or a child’s whim of the moment. This has no doubt resulted to either wrong effects or unintended consequences. This lack of attention and indiscriminate provision of toys often for the fun of it without achieving the much desired skills and proportionate results while at the same time overburdening children with too many toys is often the case in preschools in Ondo state of Nigeria.
Hence, it is in this regard that parents and caregivers should become acquainted with the specific developmental outcomes associated with the use of various types of toys for children of different age groups. Introducing educational tools that send positive messages and that are purposeful and fun, is one step to take in providing children with the best opportunities for development-even from birth. A good toy, game, book or software has multiple benefits and, as stated, can be a valuable tool in learning and development from birth through the school years.
The problem of the study therefore is: could the impact of toys in children theatre.
Research Questions
The following research questions guided the study:
- What is the influence of toys on children participation in play activities?
- What are the influence of toys in overall development of children?
Objective of the Study:
The main Objective of the study is to determine the impact of toys in children theatre.
Specifically the study will determine the:
- Determine the influence of toys on children participation in play activities.
- Determine the influence of toys in overall development of children.
Significance of the study
Toys play important roles in the education of a child. As a matter of fact, preschool children need a variety of toys that challenge them to use their minds, bodies and feelings. Through its findings, therefore, it is expected that this study will be of immense benefit to preschoolers, parents, teachers of early childhood education, caregivers, motherless babies’ homes, day-care centres, early childhood curriculum planners, home economists, and entrepreneurs and policy makers as this will also provide them with information on toys suitable for children at various stages of development to enhance balanced cognitive development.
This study will present readers with enough information, details, procedural and historical contexts to increase their knowledge, understanding, application, analysis and evaluation of toys. Suggestions from this study are bound to be useful to policy makers.
Finally, the findings of this study will serve as database for future studies in the area.
Scope of the study
This study is restricted to the impact of toys on children theatre. The work is restricted to an experimental study hence the few number of children sampled.
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