If you’ve been keeping a close enough eye on primary and kindergarten schools over the past 10 years you’ll have noticed that the toys on offer to children have been getting progressively more educational. There is nothing wrong with this in principle as we all want our children to learn to the best of their abilities, but recent reports have shown that the newest educational toys may not be as beneficial to our kids learning as first thought.
A study by the Federal Education Department has found that children are engaging with toys a lot less in school and are finding other ways to spend their free time, often leading to disruptive behavior. Experts are blaming the formal nature of the toys on offer, most of which have a focus on numbers or letters.The schools board spokesman Tim Penchant stated that in their opinion, “children should be able to relax and enjoy themselves in their break time and it should not be used as a continuation of their learning time”. He went on to say that bath toys and toy diggers should be reintroduced for use in the water pits and sand pits that most schools have available to them. Simple dolls houses can keep children entertained for hours and because they are social use toys (can be played with by more than one person) they help develop communication and interaction skills.
The government have spoken out about these findings and said they would like there to be a mix of toys available but certainly the balance is too far towards education at the moment. They have also suggested that they will be trying to get a 50:50 balance of fun and educational toys so that children can choose for themselves.The reactions of parents have been slightly less unified, with some agreeing that children should be able to play with whichever toy they like, whilst others feel that they can play when they get home and that school is for education
