How are toys important in childhood development?

Can you remember growing up with your favourite toy? If it was a doll, a stuffed bear or a plastic soldier, it did not matter. It was your first toy, and more than anything else in this world, you loved it. What you probably don't know is how your education has been impacted and how, through the years, toys help to develop the knowledge and abilities that children need to prepare them for adulthood. We wanted to reveal here in the blog why toys are so important in the development of childhood.

All experts agree: kids learn by playing, and toys are the tools that allow them to explore the world in which they live. And that is precisely why they bond with their surroundings by toys. Plus, toys offer plenty of fun and joy, all of which help develop their self-esteem.

• Motor Skills: By practising their fine and gross motor abilities, toys get kids involved in physical activity. For example, children use their sense of touch and sight when they colour or dress and undress a doll, while walkers, tricycles or JCB toys cars improve their physiognomy and strengthen their arms and legs. Toys also help them find equilibrium and coordination, and children prevent obesity and follow a healthier lifestyle by becoming physically active. Toys have inspired children to use their feet and hands to explore shapes, colours and sounds ever since they were born.

Toys allow them to be on the move until babies know how to sit and crawl. The baby will use its muscles to try to grab it if their favourite Peppa Pig toy is out of reach.

• Emotional Development: Toys boost the imagination of children, and they help them communicate their feelings. Children get to envision familiar scenarios or to invent fantastic worlds that lead children to abstraction through role-playing. The ability to produce symbolic games shows a mature personality capable of making its laws. Adults prefer to equate the word toy with "something they sell at the shop," but kids see toys, on the other hand, as the items used in their playing. Such products can be something actual, such as a set of keys, a pot, a toilet paper roll, or objects that can be transformed, such as clay, dough, paint. These resources all help teach children how to make choices when building a world in which they can play, as they help ignite their creativity.

• Social Development: Aside from enhancing the language skills of children, toys teach social skills and give them an understanding of the world in which they live. Toys invite kids to communicate, first with adults and then with other kids their age. They face challenges by the simple act of playing with another child to encounter situations where valuable lessons are learned: respect, collaboration, and sharing. Toys also inspire children to take the initiative, learn to negotiate, and show them how to manage themselves properly.