The role and importance of toys in the development of a child

Toys for children's development: shaping the psyche

During gaming activity, several important mental mechanisms develop at once:

perception and sensation;
attention;
memory;
thinking;
imagination;
feelings and emotions;
speech.

The history of development begins with a rattle. She flashes before her eyes, making sounds, which attracts the baby. Looking at the first interesting thing in his life, the baby learns to concentrate his attention, he has a desire to touch it, pick it up, shake it. This encourages the child to work with his hands, turn towards the sound, recognize the object and smile when it approaches.

Pyramids, construction sets, and sorters teach the baby to recognize shapes, sizes, and colors. These are excellent simulators for the development of fine motor skills, thinking, and imagination. Toys that imitate adult objects are very useful in terms of mental development: doll dishes, furniture, medical supplies. The child remembers the name of each object and learns to handle them.

To develop emotionality, it is important for children to have a doll or soft toy as a friend. In the eyes of a child, she becomes alive, she needs to be fed, put to bed, cured. Thus, during the game, the preschooler begins to show the first signs of empathy: care, love, he experiences the events of his and adult life, and grows both emotionally and morally.

Functional toys have a huge impact on the development of thinking and imagination. You have probably observed more than once how a one-year-old child fiddles with a jar, lock or switch for a long time. There can be many such things; for convenience, they are fixed on one board - a busy board. It encourages thought and arouses interest in the unknown.

Adults must be aware of the role of toys in the mental development of a child and the process of his socialization. Therefore, before purchasing, you need to determine what benefits it will bring to your baby. After all, among the variety, it is very easy to acquire a thing that, instead of helping in development, can lead to the destruction of the psyche and moral disorientation. For example, scary cyborgs, dolls with distorted faces, ugly monsters with detailed scars and warts, corpse dolls, plush feces.

In addition to mental development, take care of your child's physical fitness. In this case, toys will also be good helpers.

MAGAZINE Preschooler.RF

Consultation: “Toys in children’s lives.”

Soviet preschool pedagogy, noting the great cognitive potential of toys, considers them as one of the important means of communist education of a child. The toy first of all surprises the baby, and this feeling, according to A. M. Gorky, is the beginning of understanding and the path to knowledge.

A toy helps a child get acquainted with the world around him, through it he consolidates and processes received impressions, satisfies his needs for activity and communication.

Toys are of particular importance in the lives of children of primary preschool age, as they are a stimulus for play, its organizing principle: a doll encourages them to play as a daughter-mother, a car - as a driver. The content of the game depends on toys; they serve as a support for the development of creative imagination. By recognizing familiar objects in toys, the child gets the opportunity to combine his ideas, process and actively assimilate new impressions. Repeating these impressions in different combinations with the help of toys helps the formation of general ideas and makes it easier for the child to understand the connections between different phenomena of life.

The strongest educational impact on children is exerted by toys depicting people and objects of the real world in all its diversity: animals, birds, fish, vegetation, vehicles, equipment, household items, etc. Preschoolers associate certain ideas with them and come to life in memory of vivid impressions, it becomes possible to creatively process existing life experiences. Imaginative toys not only encourage children to play games of various contents, they help the child to enter into a role, create a favorite image, and carry out his plans. To feel like a mother, a girl needs a doll, a “driver”

or
“pilot”
- a car or an airplane.
The toy helps to make children's actions real, which is associated with an interesting psychological feature of the game. “...There is a lot of imaginary, conditional, “make-believe” in it
, as the children say, but the experiences of the players are always sincere, real, and their actions are real”
(1)
.

The toy has a great influence on the creation of a play image. For example, a toy wolf from C. Perrault’s fairy tale “Little Red Riding Hood”

does not give children the impression of an evil and cunning beast.
A gray shirt, bright red trousers, yellow slippers evoke a smile, and the character himself even evokes a feeling of sympathy. Therefore, in games, most children portrayed the wolf as kind: he wants to be friends with Little Red Riding Hood, reads books to his grandmother, brings her a Christmas tree as a gift, invites her to kindergarten for a holiday. “Don’t be afraid, Little Red Riding Hood, I won’t eat you,” says the baby. “And I won’t eat your grandmother.”
I don’t even have teeth, look!” As a child develops, his attitude towards toys changes. He begins to select those that will help him realize his plan. However, a toy can become a means of realizing a plan only if the child correctly perceives its image, if he has knowledge about the object depicted by it, if the toy evokes conscious interest and a desire to play. N.K. Krupskaya said: “We must approach the issue of a toy from the point of view of what the child likes and what he needs... We must observe what his initiative is aimed at, and give those toys that stimulate his independence, organize it, directed in a certain direction"
(2)
.
The “Kindergarten Education Program”
sets specific tasks for the teacher in educating preschoolers and determines an approximate range of necessary concepts, skills and abilities.

The child begins to master and explore the real world in the family. Love for parents and loved ones has a great influence on children and makes them want to become “like their mother”

, to be
“like dad”
. This also determines the theme of the games. That is why children are so interested in dolls and toys that represent household items.

Gradually, children’s attention begins to be attracted to other aspects of life around them. With great interest, children look closely at the work of people of various professions: driver, policeman, doctor; They enthusiastically watch parades of the Soviet Army troops and physical education festivals, show interest in animals, various types of transport, etc. These ideas are reflected and reinforced in games, for the development of which

children need appropriate shaped dolls. Works of fiction create a need for toys depicting characters from favorite fairy tales.

The tasks of educating younger preschoolers, in particular the development of their creative games (children move from depicting close, well-known phenomena to them, to more distant ones, associated with the expansion of impressions)

, allow us to determine the approximate theme of the assortment of shaped toys and their quantity for the second junior groups of kindergarten.
Increased emotional sensitivity and instability of attention in early preschool age require a particularly colorful toy, simplicity and expressiveness of its form. The child’s great activity, the constant need for movement, and action determine the main requirement for a toy: it must be such that one can actively act with it, playing out one’s role. Particularly important for children are toys with separate moving parts (dolls with heads, arms and legs on hinges; cars whose front wheels and steering wheel turn, doors open, trunk, body reclines)
or toys that can be assembled and disassembled. You should pay attention to the size and number of toys of different types. Large cars, bears, dolls, etc. are most convenient for children. At the same time, small-sized objects are needed for various buildings made from tabletop building materials.

An important condition for creating children's interest in figurative toys is to combine the latter into a single complex on a theme, ensuring a reflection of certain life or fairy-tale events. In this case, the child’s imagination receives a material basis for combining ideas and performing various game actions that enrich the plot of the game. The complexity of toys stimulates the development of children's games and allows them to solve important pedagogical problems in the formation of play creativity. The set of toys must have a single style design.

For the successful development of the game, the storage and arrangement of toys in the group is no less important. In the younger groups of kindergarten, it has become traditional to place toys in different places in the group room, creating so-called play corners: in one place there is a garage for cars, in another - a house for animals; There is also a special corner in which toys for “family”

and
"kindergarten"
.
However, as a rule, these corners are created by the teacher himself at the beginning of the school year without the participation of children. Children are allowed to play with toys only in a corner, keeping order. But with such an organization of the “life”
of toys, the tendency to impose the theme of the game and limit the creative approach to its plot is not excluded. Therefore, you need to carefully consider which toys to bring in immediately and how to arrange them, where to store the rest and in what order to bring them in later.

Considering children’s tendency to imitate, it is recommended that the younger group have 3-4 toys of each type.

For the successful development of the game, the storage and arrangement of toys in the group is no less important. The first meeting with a toy should evoke joyful surprise in the child and a desire to play. Therefore, you need to carefully consider what techniques to use when introducing it, where and how best to place it. It is unreasonable to offer all toys to children at once. A large number of stimuli are created that distract the children’s already unstable attention, and the element of novelty and surprise is lost.

In the younger groups of the kindergarten, it is advisable to place toys in different places of the group room: in one place, arrange a garage for cars, in another - a house for animals, for dolls, allocate a special corner in which items for games in kindergarten and daughters and mothers will gradually accumulate .

Play corners are very helpful in developing children's organization and discipline. A. S. Makarenko wrote: “If a bear is simply thrown from place to place, if it is only jostled and gutted, this is very bad.
But if a bear lives in a certain place, equipped especially for his life, if he scares someone or is friends with someone, that’s already good” (1)
.

Children's attitude towards toys cannot be compared with their attitude towards various, even very necessary, objects and things. A child does not just play with a toy. He spiritualizes her, perceives her as a friend with whom he can share his joys, little secrets, and experiences. The toy is completely subject to the child’s imagination: he can turn his favorite bear into a child, a sailor, or a fairy-tale Teddy Bear. Taking into account the specifics of children's play activities, it is most advisable to involve children in the creation of play corners, to make them want to organize their “life”

their toys in the group. It is known that the surrounding reality becomes an effective factor in the development of personality when a person does not passively assimilate its influence, but enters into active interaction with it when it appears before him as the object of his activity. Therefore, the main task of the teacher should be to guide the interests of children, to develop in them the desire and need to act creatively with toys themselves.

Using different introduction methods, you can deepen preschoolers’ interest in imaginative toys and make it more stable and conscious; show the possibility of the appropriate use of toys in games of various contents; develop skills in cultural handling of toys; organize "life"

toys.

In various gaming situations, some toys carry a certain emotional and semantic load (dishes, telephone, washing machine, refrigerator, TV, camera, etc.)

, have a strictly defined purpose;
others (dolls, animals, cars)
are given content depending on their role.
Thus, a dump truck is usually used to transport goods, but if necessary, it can turn into an ambulance
, in which a sick bear is taken to the hospital. The Mashenka doll can be just a daughter, but it can also be a schoolgirl and the main character of a fairy tale.

The different roles of toys determine the different ways of introducing them. If a teacher introduces children to objects that are used in games for their intended purpose, then his task is to reinforce this purpose and remind the situations in which these objects can be used. If the teacher introduces toys whose roles are broad and varied, then it is necessary to help children correctly perceive the transmitted image, show options for different uses of the same toy, and the possibilities of playing with it.

However, the development of games is facilitated not only by the introduction of new objects, but also by children acquiring relevant knowledge about these objects and phenomena. Therefore, the introduction of toys must be carried out in close connection with all educational work in the group.

As the main methods of getting to know toys, didactic games with the participation of a doll, which can be called by any name that is close to children, are recommended; asking riddles with this doll; staging a toy theater and creating game situations.

The main character when bringing in toys can be the Andryusha doll. This smiling, charming "boy"

loves to play, joke, wants to learn a lot. Children are very close to Andryusha, because with his actions and aspirations he reminds them of themselves
(1)
.

Andryusha's first arrival in the group should be unexpected for the children. Having loudly greeted everyone, he introduces himself to each child, says his name and says that he wants to be friends with the children, come to visit them, and play together. Then, leaving the door for a moment, Andryusha returns with a large, beautifully tied package and asks to guess what he brought. This is how an interesting didactic game begins

“Andryusha’s Gifts”
(from a series of games like
“Wonderful Bag” ). Children try to guess what is in the bag. When the package is unwrapped, the kids see a set of beautiful doll furniture. Andryusha asks what each item is called and what it is needed for. Children are happy to talk about everything they know. When all the furniture has been examined, Andryusha asks where it will stand and whether the dolls will have their own room. And, having said goodbye, he leaves, promising to come in a few days.

So, in a playful way, unobtrusively, the children’s thoughts are directed to creating a doll corner. “We will make a room for the dolls so that they can live there. Now they will have a crib, a wardrobe, and a beautiful table.”

, say the children.

To consolidate the interest and show the kids various options for decorating doll rooms, you can take an excursion to other groups. During the excursion, children notice that in the doll corners, in addition to furniture, there is a piano, a TV, a refrigerator, a gas stove, etc. This makes them want to give the dolls not only a room, but also a kitchen: “Otherwise, where will there be a gas should the stove stand?

Children ask the teacher questions
(
“Will we have a telephone, a refrigerator? Will there be a washing machine?” ), which prepare the ground for introducing new toys.

In one of the kindergartens in Moscow, where Andryusha brought gifts - doll furniture, for several days, under the guidance of a teacher, preschoolers worked on equipping a room for dolls. They arranged furniture, hung curtains on the windows, pictures on the walls; determined which dolls would live in this room, where each one would sleep. They proudly informed their parents that they were making a beautiful room for the dolls.

The children's stories about Andryusha and their pronounced joy interested their parents. Some began to offer their help themselves. The parents made various shelves, hangers, and hangers for doll dresses. In the equipped room, each toy had a specific place. “How good the dolls are now. Our room turned out beautiful"

, - the children rejoiced.
They began to treat toys differently and tried to put each one in its place. As children accumulated knowledge and ideas, the design of play corners (
"hospital" ,
"hair salon"
,
"living doll's room"
) became more complex. Work was also carried out to develop skills in cultural handling of toys.

The aesthetic design of the corners made children want to maintain order. This was also facilitated by the teacher’s assessment expressed on behalf of Andryusha. Andryusha's approval evoked a feeling of satisfaction and joy in the children. Gradually, they themselves learned to maintain order in the play areas, began to show intolerance towards the carelessness of some of the children, and demanded that they be careful.

Didactic games with Andryusha’s participation had a good educational effect: they helped bring in various toys and set up play corners. In addition, the content of the games was enriched, as children’s ideas became clearer and more varied, and the kids learned to more freely combine various objects in their play. In addition to didactic games like “Wonderful Bag”

, others can also be used:
“Toy Store”
,
“Friendly Guys”
,
“Mitten”
.
The first two games help clarify children's ideas about the purpose of toys. The game “Rukavichka” (based on a Russian folk tale)
gives children the opportunity to learn ways of operating with new toys, introduces them to the habits of animals: a bunny jumps, runs fast, a fox is cunning, swings its tail from side to side, a bear rolls from side to side.

Toy theater stagings help to arouse interest in toys and show the same characters in different situations (for example, based on S. Preobrazhensky’s fairy tale “The Bear is Sick”

, Russian folk tales
“The Cat, the Rooster and the Fox”
,
“The Three Bears”
,
“Mashenka and the Bear”
and the fairy tale by K. I. Chukovsky
“Doctor Aibolit”
).

When introducing children to new fairy-tale characters, it is necessary to take into account the level of their ideas, on which fiction and fantasy, the development of a game plan, the unification of players, and the combination of toys when realizing a game goal depend. Therefore, performances should be shown after work on enriching performances. For example, during speech development classes, the children became familiar with many fairy tales. The teacher, wanting to systematize the children’s ideas, make them more clear, vivid, and memorable, selects toys for these fairy tales, shows a dramatization, after which the preschoolers independently organize the game with the added attributes. Familiar fairy-tale images do not leave children indifferent and encourage them to express their attitude towards them through play.

Systematic theater shows help children establish a certain relationship between the methods of acting with toys and the character of the characters (the bear walks leisurely, waddles, trusting, and slow; the bunny is afraid of everything, trembles at every rustle, and runs skipping)

, to combine real ideas with fabulous, fictitious ones. Children do not copy the performances shown, but make their own changes, show invention and imagination, thereby enriching the plot. The next method of introducing toys is the creation of play situations, which requires the active guidance of the teacher. Game situations confront children with the need to independently combine, improvise, and select toys to realize their plans. For example, the doll Andryusha says in a letter that in two days his good friend Alenka will come to visit the children. If she likes the guys, she will stay with them. Andryushin’s letter makes the children think about how to meet Alenka, how to make her like it in kindergarten. The teacher’s task is to support the children’s interest in the toy, in actions with it, and to direct their imagination and imagination towards the implementation of their plans.

You can also decorate a corner of a fairy tale, in which the main characters of fairy tales will appear from time to time; You can only create a game background that suggests the plot of a well-known fairy tale. Another interesting technique for introducing toys is Andryushin’s riddles. Their purpose is to show children how the same toys can be used in different play situations; to form moral ideas of children; teach them to correctly evaluate the actions of their comrades; cultivate the desire to do good and condemn bad.

For example, Andryusha comes to the group of children and offers to solve his riddles.

mystery. Andryusha says: my daughter is sick, she needs to call a doctor, but dad is not at home, and mom is afraid to leave her alone. “How can you call a doctor?”
- Andryusha addresses the children.
He gives them a chance to think, and then shows the phone and asks how many devices are needed so that they can call the hospital. “That's right, two.
One should be at home, the other in the hospital . Shows how to dial a number and what to say when doing so.
mystery. Andryusha tells the children how he once saw a fire, but was not taken aback and quickly reported it to the firefighters. How did he do it, since the fire brigade was far away? The children guess that he called on the phone.

Andryusha asks what number to dial to report a fire. If the children don’t know, he answers himself. Then he asks you to think about in what cases you can still use the phone (to inform, for example, about your arrival, to invite friends to visit)

The introduction of a new toy significantly enriches children's games: they call a doctor to the house by phone, report a fire, invite guests. This toy provides a good service for involving timid, shy children in joint games. Riddle game “What is good and what is bad”

helps the teacher to form certain moral norms and ideas in the children's consciousness.

All children sit near the table. Andryusha comes, greets him and says: “Today I will ask you riddles. I will show good and bad children. If you see good ones, clap your hands, and if you see bad ones, don’t clap, say: “Bad”

. Then Andryusha sits on a chair, and next to him, on the table, the teacher acts out scenes with the help of dolls.

The girl Tanya is sitting with a toy. The fighter runs up, snatches the toy from her and runs away. Tanya is crying. Children shout: “Bad!”
If they do not respond immediately, Andryusha asks whether this boy is good or bad.
Then Sasha approaches the crying Tanya: “Don’t cry, Tanya!
Here are some toys for you, let’s play together!” All the children clap.
A disheveled girl is sitting, Galya approaches her: “Why are you so disheveled?
Braid your hair, fasten your dress correctly and go for a walk .
Roaring Girl: “I’m not going anywhere, I don’t like it in the garden.
Oooh!” Galya:
“Take some milk, Tanya.”
“
The mug is too big!”
I can’t do this one, give me another one! I don’t want this one, better give me some tea .
Children shout: “Bad!”
Andryusha says:
“What a capricious little girl
.
Sasha: “I really want to go for a walk.
Now I’ll put everything away and go .
Collects books, toys, puts everything in its place. Children clap. Andryusha: “That’s right, Sasha did a great job, he cleaned everything up and then went for a walk.
Guys, I will come to you again, but now let’s all say together: “We will do well and not do badly .

Methods of introducing toys can be alternated. If, after conducting a didactic game, the toy is still used by children for other than its intended purpose, incorrectly or rarely, then another technique is used, for example, a dramatization is shown or Andryusha makes a riddle scene about this toy.

The purposeful use of techniques for introducing toys helps to comprehensively solve a number of problems: the toy theater evokes positive emotions in children, influences their imagination, gives the game the desired direction without imposing a plot, shows different options for using the same toys; creating game situations develops the ability to outline the goal of the game, select toys to implement the plan, and encourages creativity; making scenes and riddles activates the mental activity of children, awakens the desire to look for situations where the toy could still be used; didactic games reinforce the ability to use a toy for its intended purpose, as well as how to operate with them.

Thus, games reveal the knowledge and ideas that were given to children, the feelings that were instilled in them, and the toy, in turn, helps to consolidate this knowledge, develop and deepen feelings.

Various methods of introducing toys influence the development of the game concept and enrich the content of games. And if these techniques are combined with all educational work, then the toy becomes important in the child’s life, gives wide scope to his imagination, develops organizational skills, independence, stimulates activity, and promotes the manifestation of collectivist relations.

Next >

Developing physical fitness

The goal of all mothers, and especially fathers, is to raise their children to be strong, agile, and tough. Jump ropes, bowling alleys, tiny dumbbells and hula hoops will all come in handy. But physical development begins earlier, when the baby tries to turn on his tummy, sit up, crawl or take the first step. His movements are chaotic and imprecise, coordination is impaired, and his sense of balance is still dormant. In order for your child to develop normally physically, you will be helped by:

Balls. Small round balls made of wool or cotton with a bell inside will help the baby learn to grasp and hold an object, and after 5 months encourage him to crawl.
Jumpers. They strengthen your legs well and lift your spirits.
Rocking horse. Allows you to develop the sense of balance necessary for walking.
Horizontal bar. You can use it to teach your baby to do pull-ups. You can also hang various objects here, stimulating people to reach for them.

Gurneys. The child focuses on the toy and is distracted from the process of walking itself, which allows him to achieve automaticity in this matter and develop coordination of movements.

By working with your baby for a few minutes a day, you will help him quickly master the simplest movements and before you know it, your child will be running, jumping and practicing on the wall bars on his own. In order for the baby to develop harmoniously, it is necessary to alternate active games and educational ones. Child psychologists recommend conducting educational sessions in a playful way.

Learning with toys

Educational toys play one of the key roles in the early development of a child. With their help, kids can easily master counting, learn letters, learn to understand the seasons, determine the time on a clock and play the first musical notes. To do this you will need:

Calendar. This game guide will make the theme of the seasons easy and fun.
Watch. By taking out and inserting numbers and rotating the hands, the child begins to understand what minutes and hours are and learns to determine them correctly.
Counting material. It can be in the form of simple bright sticks, figurines, or even entire plot compositions in the form of a clothesline with doll clothes and clothespins.
Children's musical instruments. By making sounds by hitting sticks on a xylophone or glockenspiel, children can learn to recognize notes.

By coming up with interesting stories and using manuals, it is easy to teach a child important things and prepare him for school. Don’t forget that toys are an excellent tool for raising children.

What is the importance of toys for raising children?

A bunny, a bear cub or a doll can become real helpers in regulating a child’s behavior. This will become possible if adults manage to form a relationship with them as living friends. Children develop positive emotional relationships with such toys - this is an important educational moment that cannot be ignored.

It’s one thing when a mother or father asks a child to calm down, another thing when a favorite doll is involved in the process, which “doesn’t like” that the baby doesn’t listen to adults. The fact that the doll will go to an obedient girl and take her beloved teddy bear with her can become a weighty argument. Thus, in education you can use behavior assessment and regulation through a toy to form:

initial ideas about good and evil;
kindness, compassion, empathy;
the ability to overcome fears and whims;
thrift, accuracy, organization.

By and large, toy “friends” help shape a child’s personality and raise him to be a worthy person. The task of parents is to select toys in accordance with the age and level of development of their baby.

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Selection of toys depending on age

In the development of a newborn baby's abilities, rattles, pendants, and black and white pictures hung on the sides of the crib play an important role. But when buying toys, you need to take into account the rapid growth and maturation of the child.

Already at three months, the baby not only lies in the crib, but learns to roll over, grabs objects with his hands and tries to taste them. When choosing toys, you need to take into account his age characteristics. For children aged 3 months, the following are suitable: a musical carousel (mobile), an educational mat, arcs and streamers with toys hanging on them, sound bracelets. We talked in detail about what exactly is needed between the ages of 1 and 7 months in the article “Toys for newborns: what they are.”
From 9 months to a year, when the child already confidently sits, crawls and even walks, the time comes for more complex educational toys. These are all sorts of sorters, construction kits, large puzzles. It is recommended at this age to introduce your child to finger painting and playing musical instruments. However, the main attention should be paid to the development of the musculoskeletal system, offering him jumpers, gurneys, and rocking horses.
At 2-3 years old, the baby begins to understand the purpose of surrounding objects, so he will probably like a set of furniture, doll dishes, a suitcase with medical instruments, and construction sets. At this age, children begin to show interest in educational board games. Also in the arsenal of a three-year-old child there should be multifunctional substitute toys: scraps, boxes, jars. With their help, he fantasizes, and at the same time learns to speak. After all, imagining the box as a magic chest, and the wand as a sharp sword, the child pronounces their new purpose.
A 5-year-old child is already a personality, with his own interests and preferences. He has access to many types of toys with which he plays out various stories. At this age, boys prefer to play with cars and soldiers, and girls prefer to play with dolls and their accessories. However, tabletop gaming aids: lotto, puzzles, dominoes are interesting for children of both sexes.

Consultation for parents “Toys in a child’s life”

Consultation for parents

on the topic: “Toys in a child’s life”

Target

: help parents discover new opportunities for playful reflection of the world.

Tasks:

get interested in the problem;
give parents knowledge about the meaning of the toy, its role in the child’s play;
equip with knowledge about appropriate pedagogical selection of toys.

Move

A game is a huge bright window through which a life-giving stream of ideas and concepts about the world around us flows into the child’s spiritual world. Play is the spark that ignites the flame of inquisitiveness and curiosity.

Sukhomlinsky V. A.

Preschool childhood is a period of learning about the world of human relationships. The child models them, primarily in play, which is the leading activity for him. The child spends a lot of time playing. Playing for a child is a very serious activity. As A. S. Makarenko said: “Play is important in a child’s life, it has the same meaning as activity, work, service for an adult. It is in play, free, created by the child himself, or games with rules that the child leads an active, exciting life. Play is the only form of child activity that in all cases corresponds to his organization. Most children's games involve the use of a variety of toys. (Slide No. 1)

A toy is a child’s life partner, the source of his joy. What is a toy or toys? (Slide No. 3) The main feature of the toy is that it presents in a generalized form the typical features and properties of the object, depending on which the child, while playing, reproduces certain actions. However, the meaning of toys in raising children is much broader. For each child, a toy is a creation no less grandiose than a computer and has universal human value. In addition, there is no teacher or educator in the world who is more competent and fun at the same time than a toy.

The educational value of the toy is great. (Slide No. 4)

(Section No. 5) At every age, a child needs toys that are different in theme and purpose: story toys (dolls, animal figurines, furniture, dishes), technical toys (transport toys, construction sets, etc.), tool toys (hammer, screwdriver , sweeping brush, rake, shovel, in other words, toys that imitate the simplest means of adult labor), fun toys: theatrical, musical.

(Slide No. 6) Large toys, such as scooters, children's cars, tractors, large, easily transformable construction kits, help combat physical inactivity and teach the child movements and orientation in space. Sitting at the table, it is more convenient for a child to play with small toys that are clearly visible from all sides. For games on the floor, larger toys are needed, commensurate with the child’s height in a sitting and standing position. Outdoor games in the yard require large toys; small ones are not suitable. The selection of toys is closely related to the tasks of the aesthetic and moral education of the child, with his desire for collective play, in which he uses all the toys together with all the children. When selecting toys, age-related patterns of development of play activity should be taken into account. Not all children have the opportunity to see live animals and birds. Books, toys, and television help us get to know them. (Slide No. 7) It is very important that the selection of toys contributes to the child’s formation of correct ideas about the environment. It is advisable that toys be brought into play by an adult. He interests the child in the plot of the joint game, asks him questions, encourages him to “communicate” with the new toy. “Did the doll wake up? Treat her to compote."

When offering a toy to a child, it is important to remember:

When introducing motor toys, it is necessary to disclose their purpose and methods of operating with them.
By presenting a figurative toy, show your positive attitude towards it, awakening the same attitude in the child. Give a name, a place where he will live. Any toy cannot be separated from the game. Children master the toy through play and accept it into their world.
There should be no toys that depict instruments of violence, cruelty, or horror. A toy for a child is full of meaning.

All of the above toys can be classified as so-called “ready-made forms”, i.e. these toys are manufactured in a factory and they already have a functional purpose. But there is another, no less important group - substitute items.

(Slide No. 9) From an adult’s point of view, it includes completely unnecessary things, or rather garbage, but for a child this is the most valuable material for the development of imagination and creativity. These are all kinds of scraps, rags, boxes, pieces of planks or sticks, circles, fragments of something, etc. (Slide No.

The introduction of these objects is advisable from the age of 2-3, since it is during this period that active speech develops, and substitute objects confront the child with the need to name them with a word that actually exists and is accepted in relation to a particular object. In addition, they help expand living space by introducing an imaginary situation (that wonderful “as if”!).

By the age of 4-5 years, the child begins to be most interested in all kinds of sets of families, soldiers, and animals. The child begins to come up with different options for games with them. In general, at this age, all types of toys begin to be available to the child: dolls, building materials, puzzles, attributes of professional activities, and various technical toys. Children of four to five years old carry out play actions most often with the help of toys, but their play actions can already be indicated by gesture and word. At this age, those items that in practical pedagogy are usually called attributes: all kinds of hats acquire special significance. Beads, aprons, robes. During this period, toys are needed that reflect the specifics of a particular profession. For a captain, the ship is not as important as it is important to have a telescope, binoculars, and a cap. A doctor needs a robe, a reception table, a thermometer wand, a syringe, and he certainly needs patients who patiently endure the care of the doctor and nurse. These patients may be large dolls. Sick “children” should have their own “moms” and “dads”. Gaming preferences are beginning to be divided by gender. From the ages of 4 to 7 years, children become clear that boys become men and girls become women, and this gender will not change depending on the situation or personal desires of the child. Therefore, boys choose cars and construction sets (Slide No. 9), and girls choose dolls and everything connected with them. (Slide No. 10)

(Slaytsd No. 11) But both of them continue to develop an interest in various types of mosaics and lotto, children awaken an interest in construction, that is, in those games that allow him to make something with his own hands. In addition to toys bought in the store, children’s games also include toys made by parents or the children themselves. Slide No. 12)

You say: “This is all good, but each of the listed toys costs money and not every family can afford them!” Yes, this is undoubtedly true. But it is important to remember the rule: Toys must be chosen, not collected! Naturally, you cannot help but buy some toys for your child. But if you wish, you can make all the toys yourself and they will look no less beautiful and valuable to your child than those bought in a store. Use your imagination and you will succeed. Firstly, dad can make magnificent doll furniture and a car from scraps of wood; secondly, mom can sew a magnificent doll and clothes for it from leftover yarn or fabric; thirdly, lotto and puzzles can be cut out from newspapers and magazines. . On the one hand, this is budget savings, and on the other hand, it is a good opportunity to unite the family.

(Slide No. 13) Cultivate a caring attitude towards the toy. Try to gradually teach your child to maintain order among his toys - first of all, by your own example. Start cleaning and ask your baby to help you. Explain that each toy should have its own house. Praise works better than blame: praise your child every time he puts the toy back in its place. Convenient cabinets, beautiful boxes - all this will help instill in your child a love of order in the nursery, and later - of order in the house. Correct guidance of the game by adults makes it meaningful, truly leading in preschool age, and significantly expands the child’s horizons.

So, from an early age, a child has a need for play and toys, and our task, dear parents, is to satisfy this need, because while playing, the child learns and experiences life. Game and toy are inseparable from each other. A toy can give rise to a game, and the game, sometimes, requires a new toy for development. Toys can be very diverse, but they all must meet certain pedagogical, artistic and aesthetic requirements, so at least adults need to take the choice of toys very seriously. If you want to buy your child a new toy, follow 4 rules. (Slide No. 14)

In conclusion, it is necessary to remind you, dear parents, that no toy, even the best toy, can replace live communication with your beloved dad and mom! (Slide No. 15)

Tips and tricks

Often parents are faced with the question of how to choose a toy for their child so that they like it, captivate it and at the same time turn out to be useful? This is where advice from child psychologists will come to the rescue. Here are some recommendations:

Buy toys that are appropriate for your baby's age and developmental level.
The younger the children, the larger the construction kit parts should be.
Periodically remove objects from visibility. After some time they will be perceived as new.
Offer your child play aids of different types. Every child should have balls, jump ropes, jumping ropes, as well as toys that require concentration and attentiveness: puzzles, mosaics, construction sets.
Help organize the game. Tell me, or better yet, take part in the construction of a garage, be a client in a children's hairdresser or a patient at a doctor's appointment.
There shouldn't be a lot of toys. It is difficult for a baby to choose from a huge variety, as a result he will stop noticing them.
Pay attention to which benefits arouse increased interest in your baby. Even in early childhood, one can identify the inclinations or even talents of future artists, sculptors or stylists.

Play helps children develop the abilities and skills needed to live in the complex adult world. The importance of a toy in a child’s life is very great, but even more important for him is the attention, care and love of loved ones. Only by being close to the baby, guiding and teaching, will you be able to raise a comprehensively developed person with a capital “P” from a little person.

You can find more interesting articles about toys on our blog.

Article:

Toys accompany children from the first days of life and are usually considered as means of fun and entertainment. However, we must not forget that they also have a great influence on the physical, mental, communicative and creative development of children. Toys in a child’s life As a rule, the first toys for a child are rattles, rubber rings, various pendants, etc. They are primarily aimed at developing vision, hearing and finger motor skills. Therefore, such toys should be different in shape, texture, color (preferably bright), so that the baby has a desire to look at them, touch them, and pick them up. In the first month after birth, the child develops auditory reactions, so it is important to provide him with several musical toys with different sounds. Thanks to such toys, the baby gradually begins to understand cause-and-effect relationships: when the toy is shaken, it makes sounds. It is important that toys for babies are made of safe and soft materials (preferably rubber, plastic), because the baby will in any case pull them into his mouth and bite. One-year-old babies will be interested in multi-colored plastic cubes, pyramids consisting of several elements, boxes, glasses or bowls of different sizes, which are nested into each other like nesting dolls. Such toys bring joy to children and have a great effect on the early development of intelligence. Also buy a large, lightweight ball that won’t roll under the bed or closet, and your baby can play with it in the room, pushing it with his foot or throwing it up. Children from 2 years old can be introduced to soft toys. Firstly, a child at this age no longer puts them in his mouth, and secondly, such a toy will become a friend for the baby, with whom he will fall asleep faster and eat more willingly. Also, the presence of a “soft” friend will make the child more confident and help him adapt to a new environment, for example, in kindergarten. Children begin to feel an emotional attachment to their favorite soft toys and take care of them. Thus, they develop such qualities as caring, responsibility and a humane attitude towards others. Children need soft toys and dolls for role-playing games. By playing out various situations from life or seen in cartoons, children develop their thinking, memory and imagination well. Almost all children are attracted to musical toys in the form of a pipe, drum, accordion, and mini-piano. If a baby is curious about the sound itself coming from a rattle, then older children are already beginning to be interested in melodies that can be reproduced through children's musical instruments. To teach your child to be neat and independent, provide him with a large box or other container where he can put his blocks, cars, balls and other toys after playing. Little children are often interested in objects of living nature, so for games they often collect all kinds of twigs, sticks, leaves, cones, pebbles and shells. Children's toys in the form of various animals will also help your baby get to know the world around him better. Children from 3 years old begin to actively engage in the world of social relationships and understand that each person does some kind of work, that everyone has a certain profession. Therefore, toys for children of this age category are, first of all, accessories for role-playing games (for example, children's dishes, sets for a doctor or hairdresser). This also includes toys-tools (buckets, spatulas, scoops, various molds). By the age of 5, children do not lose interest in role-playing games, but they begin to get involved in more complex toys: various construction sets, puzzles, which develops their logic, patience and perseverance. At this age, children learn to use the same toys for different games. This contributes to the development of the child’s imagination, imaginative thinking, and enrichment of his inner world. Technical toys with simple and complex mechanisms introduce the child to the world of technology, encourage experimentation and stimulate logic. At 6-7 years old, children begin to be attracted to board games, as well as toys made with their own hands. Fortunately, today you can purchase special kits for children's crafts. For example, a set of items for sewing, a set of spare parts for constructing an airplane, kits for modeling, drawing or appliques. Sports toys not only help the development of muscles, coordination of movements, motor skills and the respiratory system, but also form such useful qualities in a little person as willpower, endurance and perseverance. Among other things, children's toys and games have a huge impact on social adaptation and communicative development, since children, by playing together, learn to communicate and interact effectively with each other. Why does a child break toys? According to psychologists, a child breaks toys not because he is too spoiled or does not appreciate what he has. There are other reasons that explain this behavior: • Kids learn about the world every day, they are interested and curious about everything. Accordingly, they have a strong desire to see how the inside of a plane works or what a doll is made of. • During role-playing games, children often divide toys into good and bad characters. And they want to defeat, punish, and destroy the latter. And the easiest way to do this is to break a “bad” toy. • Sometimes children spoil toys when they feel the need to throw out negative emotions (anger, resentment, jealousy). The emergence of a toy, changes in its appearance, and use in the process of preparing a child for future life have a long history. The toy, as an object of children's amusement, over time became a means of mental, moral, physical and aesthetic development. The first Russian toys were not of good quality and were made from second-class raw materials. In May 1932, in Russia, for the first time in the world, the All-Union Scientific Research Institute of Toys was created in the city of Zagorsk. Toys have many classifications, types, groups, but not one of them mentions toy weapons and toys depicting monsters and vampires. This is explained by the fact that this type of toy appeared in large quantities and became available to literally every child only in recent decades. According to A.V. Lontionova, toys include several of the most important groups: - defenders-calmers - toys-comforters - symbolic toys - toys-intermediaries - ephemera toys - toys-collections Currently, another group of toys has appeared - these are heroes modern cartoons and horror stories toys. How to choose the most necessary and useful toy from all this variety? In modern toy stores, adults, and sometimes even children themselves, get lost in choosing the right toy. The assortment is so diverse that your eyes just run wild. But often adults do not think about what feelings toys can cultivate in children: kindness, attention, care, curiosity or aggression, anger, ruthlessness and irritability. It’s not for nothing that experts say that toys shape a child’s character and influence his future destiny. How does this happen and how do you understand what is beneficial for the child’s body and what will only bring harm? Every parent, trying to keep up with the times, buys their child a lot of toys, buys what they didn’t have in their childhood, what they think is very modern and fashionable, but also, of course, what their child wants, and children always want want more, more and more. Scientists once calculated the approximate number of toys in children's rooms. This was, in their opinion, simply a huge number. The average number was close to four hundred for one child. With such abundance, he cannot love or master any of them, and many simply become unnecessary and, in the end, depreciate. Everyone should understand that a toy is a means for playing , and play is of great importance for children's development. Play is a form of life for a small child; he lives by playing, expresses his inner world, desires, events, interests. In play, a child learns the features of the surrounding reality, expresses himself, learns to think and invent. A game is a complex process where a child creates his own imaginary world. He puts into the speech of the toy his experiences, thoughts, his idea of the world. Children who play are more independent, because when adults teach a child, they simply assimilate what is offered to them, and while playing, he comes up with something himself, takes initiative, and creates. These children are more creative, independent, and organized. An important and pressing question in the modern world: what is more important is play or learning for a child at an early stage of development? Parents for the most part devalue the game, considering it entertainment. This is a huge misconception. After all, learning involves not only knowledge of letters and numbers, but also the cognitive activity of the child, his readiness to learn. The child acquires all this only through play. Psychologists say that play has a great advantage over early learning; everything is effective only in combination. Those children who did not finish playing in preschool age move the game to a later period (7–8 years), when it is time to study. You need to play at a certain age. Having looked at children's modern toys, adults wonder if they have any use, and few of them try to look at them through the eyes of small children. Modern toys are often accompanied by well-known TV series and cartoons among children. They want to play in familiar situations that they have seen, so they ask to buy the hero they like so much. If you remember, toys for mothers and grandmothers were also created based on fairy tales of that time, and carried the same idea of good and evil. Children, unlike adults, are able to see a completely different content behind the appearance of toys. An ugly toy is not always evil and vice versa. The usefulness of a toy is not always related to its price; sometimes, the simpler the toy, the better and more convenient it is . The most important thing is that you want to play it. And for a game to arise, there must be a person with the child who teaches and introduces him to the game. And for the most part, parents must take on this role. To summarize, I would like to think about why you should not throw toys at your child. Probably because he should appreciate each of them, and parents should not just pay off the baby. A toy will not replace the attention and care of mom and dad. A toy should function, teach and develop a child. And if you have doubts about buying this or that toy, then the best option is to make it yourself. The child will appreciate the time spent with you, will be able to fantasize and understand that not everything valuable can be bought with money. For a child, a toy is an integral part of his life and therefore requires the most serious attention. Anything can become a toy . It is the child who turns an object into a true toy in the process of playing with it. A toy can have enormous power and ability to teach. And the future of children depends on how we approach the choice of toys for our child, whether we know how to properly organize the game, direct his actions, and develop the plot. A toy is a child’s companion from the first days of his birth. This is not only joy and fun, but also an excellent teacher who prepares the child for life in society. For a child, the variety of toys should be important, not their quantity. After all, sometimes children take their first example from toys. The appearance of a new toy sometimes not only reflects the existing level of technical equipment, but can also, to a certain extent, contribute to the birth of a new technology. Thus, at the end of the 19th century, the idea of the world was expressed in the widespread distribution of optical toys (binoculars, telescopes, microscopes, etc.), which is believed to have prepared the invention of cinema in a certain way. A mass-produced toy, which, unfortunately, a modern child most often deals with, is essentially an anti-toy: it contains the idea of possession, rather than joyful comprehension of the world; it creates a tendency to crowd out educational play and genuine creativity. Mass production profanes individual emotional relationships with a toy as with “another self.” The external attractiveness of a toy-product becomes more important than its playful use, hence the emergence of new forms and materials that are not typical of a traditional toy. Today, children's toys, as part of modern mass culture, contribute to the child's construction of a very gloomy and joyless picture of the world, as evidenced by children's drawings. Consider modern toys . For girls, of course, Barbie. The dolls come with an instructional program: how many girlfriends Barbie should have (it turns out, at least 8), clothes, furniture, cosmetics, “boyfriends,” etc. This creates the need and prospects for life—to be “like a good American girl.” . What life orientation do these curvaceous beauties symbolize for any little girl? Who are they, daughters? Girlfriends? Neither one nor the other. Having such a doll, the girl imagines herself not as a mother rocking a child, but, for example, as a maid caring for her mistress, cleaning her house and bringing her boyfriend to her. Before our eyes, the archetype of motherhood was quietly replaced by the archetype of fornication. The children themselves feel this very well, although the youngest ones often give Barbie a “bad” rating, refuse to play with her, and even break her. Naked dolls that need to be sewn, treated, fed and nursed have disappeared from sale. Instead, in the store there are eerily real newborn babies made of plastic, absolutely natural - like a manual for midwives. The most important advantage of a soft toy is to give tenderness to the baby . This feature is used by psychotherapists and simply good pediatricians; and, as practice shows, a cute bear, a fluffy elephant or a shaggy dog can “cure” a child from fears and even from bedwetting. The soft toy embodies some very deep needs of a small creature. And now you can very often see creatures of unknown species and breeds, of unimaginably garish coloring; you don’t want to pick up or stroke any of them. Having given their beloved child miniature handcuffs and a rubber truncheon, parents should understand that they are orienting the child not towards the profession of a police officer, but towards deeply hidden aggressive tendencies, when violence is the shortest way to solve problems. This does not mean that all weapons provoke violence. A toy sword can turn out to be a formidable weapon for a boy against the fear of the dark, a means of mastering his own behavior: a four-year-old child, having received a plastic sword as a gift, immediately went with it into a dark room and after a while came out of it smiling happily: “He ran away, Barmaley!” Of course, we need to instill courage, bravery and masculinity in our sons. But maybe the toy warriors that parents make together with their son will be more acceptable for educational purposes? A serial toy in its spirit is opposed to a creative (developmental) toy, one that promotes the development of a child’s creative potential and his personal, moral and spiritual growth, which does not require a unique way of handling it, but, on the contrary, provokes a variety of behavior strategies. These are all so-called archetypal toys - constructive, indefinite, multifunctional: a ball, a hoop, a stick, etc. In essence, a creative toy has its roots in folk toys. The traditional folk toy contains the simple-minded love of an adult for a child and recognition of his right to a special play space. A modern industrial toy often forms and fixes in a person (and above all in a child) such personal qualities as relaxation of the will, indifference of feelings, lack of inquisitiveness of mind, and consumerism.