From an early age, play is an important component of a child’s development and learning. Great philosophers and scholars such as Plato, Aristotle and Locke placed significant value on play. Today’s educational experts continue to support the importance of developmentally appropriate play and developmentally appropriate toys for boys and girls. Choosing toys that appeal to our children and also support learning are important.
The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) provides basic guidelines supporting Developmentally Appropriate Play. They encourage adults to: identify and plan for purposeful play; guide children to make choices; interact with children to enhance play and provoke children to engage in more complex play.
The NAEYC guidelines support the notion that play can lead to learning when meaningful guidance and support are provided advocating that adult involvement plays a vital role in children’s educational development. Parents can guide, encourage and engage their children in purposeful play helping them work towards mastery of important developmental concepts such as sharing, taking turns, identifying colors, shapes, numbers, counting and learning the letters of the alphabet. Playtime can also be used as an opportunity to share ideas, thoughts and model problem solving skills. Parents who talk and interact with their children during playtime can take advantage of many learning opportunities to support their child’s development while enjoying some quality time with their little one.
VTech has made a commitment to developing a variety of electronic learning toys that are fun to play with and expose children to many important learning concepts. VTech’s Alphabet Activity Cube has five sides of fun for little ones to discover. Young children can stack blocks, see all the letters of the alphabet, play a little tune on the five piano keys, count and much more. Brilli the Imagination Ball is a perfect pal for young children. Colorful, animated and durable, Brilli encourages children to engage in lots of fun, playing Hot Potato, making silly sounds, counting and identifying rhyming words. Cogsley the Robot comes with 30 computer chips ready to count, share letters and words and demonstrate some rockin’ dance moves.
The VTech electronic learning toys mentioned are terrific for all tots. Spend some well-deserved time with your little one and play! It is a wonderful way to fuel your child’s creativity, curiosity and desire to learn more.