Technology is a wonderful thing and young children nowadays are surrounded by it from the moment that they are born. You will see children as young as three years old with a smartphone in their hand or tablet, and they know exactly how to use them. It brings a smile to any parent’s face but it also conjures up some negative thoughts as well. These kids are just staring blankly at the device with no real thought processes in place apart from just hitting buttons and shouting at the screen. Traditional toys have unfortunately taken a back seat to these electronic devices and it’s time that they started making a very important and crucial comeback.
Traditional things like Jellycat toys in Australia have been popular for many years now all across the country and yet many parents are not aware of the many benefits that these traditional toys offer over their more advanced counterparts. Children nowadays need to have the right tools to be able to grow and to learn and they won’t do any of these things with a smart phone in their hands. Play is a very important part of any child’s early development and it helps them with their cognitive skills, their motor skills and also supports their emotional well-being. There is nothing quite like hugging your soft toy to help you feel better in a moment.
There are so many benefits to traditional toys and the following are just some of those.
- Kids become creative thinkers – It doesn’t take any imagination to switch on a game on a digital device but it takes lots of creative thinking and imagination to play with a traditional toy. Kids need to create scenes from their imagination and this offers them a more engaging and mindful playing experience.
- Better language & communication skills – Traditional toys are much more effective when it comes to parents and children communicating together. There are been many studies on the subject and it has been found that electronic toys meant that parents and children did not interact together as much as with traditional toys.
- Lots of physical activity – The only physical activity that a child is going to get with a digital toy is stronger bones and fingers. Playing with traditional toys is definitely going to involve movement in a physical way and so playing with these kinds of toys helps them with their balance and to burn off any excess energy that they have thus making their parent’s lives a little easier. We can enjoy an outdoor lifestyle here in Australia, as the weather is always warm.
As a parent, it’s likely that you want to do the right thing for the environment when you choose toys for your child and so choosing traditional toys and soft toys shows that you are using sustainable sources and you really do want to do your bit for Mother Earth. These types of toys prove to be a lot more durable than their counterparts and many kids still have their childhood toys with them even though they are now adults.
