As adults and adults, taking care of the external environment to which we expose our children is one of our primary functions. The toys or games that we offer you are part of that environment that facilitates experiences that favor the integral development of your personality. Therefore, I think it is essential that this Year, we can reflect and make a conscious shopping and choose based on our needs and values beyond the catalogs of major brands.
Then we explain what would be the criteria or points that you should observe or about which you should reflect when buying online best subscription boxes or educational toys for kids this year.
Kids Age
Age is a criterion that is usually the main one when selecting a toy or kids' subscription box. The needs of the type of game and the degree of development of certain psycho-motor skills will cause some toys to generate interest and others not. Giving an excessively simple toy or game to a child's abilities can quickly cause the child to lose interest.
On the other hand, if what we give away is too complex for the child's abilities, it will also lose interest soon. One way to alleviate this sometimes is that dad or mom play with him or her, but if the excess of support or help needed by the child is very high will become a passive subject in the game while the adult rest. So if we want to promote autonomy, it may be better to wait until it is ready for use by him or herself. If we can no longer return the toy, we can save it for later.
Personal interest
Obviously, if our son or daughter shows a personal interest in a toy it is important to take it into account. As we discussed in the previous program, listen to what you are really asking and observe what type of games you interact with freely, what interest you show in other houses or in the school can give us ideas about the type of toys that you may like but if it is interesting to differentiate between authentic interest, casual, fashion or social pressure.
Structured or unstructured games or toys
When we talk about toys or unstructured materials we refer to those toys that have no specific purpose and can be used for many types of games such as blocks of wood, stones, balls, sticks, boxes, etc.
In contrast, structured toys or organic subscription boxes are those that have a specific purpose, in which the material itself indicates what it is used for (a puzzle, for example) or are games in which there are clear instructions and rules (team sports, games of the table, etc.).
Both types are interesting but if you wanted to show the toys with loose pieces " that seem to be useless " are interesting toys can be used in different evolutionary stages in different ways and that having a predetermined design favor creativity and play symbolic.
Sometimes structured toys have a very clear educational purpose but often less structured games are more versatile and allow broader learning of concepts or skills but we are not aware.
Materials
Another aspect to consider is the materials with which they are made. Choosing natural and real materials such as cotton, wood, metal or wool allow us to have different textures and aesthetics of colors, smells, different sounds that I personally love as opposed to plain and flat plastic toys.
Eco-social Toys
Being aware of where the toy comes from can also be in favor of our values. We can decide to support fair trade, organic products or local or artisanal production.
There are other factors to take into account such as security or ease of cleaning, whether electronic or not, that encourage passivity or activity, group or individual, etc. Whatever the criterion, what I think is important is to ask ourselves what are our values and the kind of vision on childhood and education we want for our little ones and try to adjust to them as much as we can.
