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Guide to Buying Preschooler Toys
Preschoolers learn by playing. Therefore, providing your preschooler with the best preschooler toys can boost the growth on many key areas such as physical, emotional, social, language, intellectual and creativity.
To determine what the best toys for preschoolers are, let's see at their developmental stage.
Social and language development Contrary to babies and toddlers, preschoolers are a bunch of social individuals. They love to play together with their peers. Their language, emotion, and social capabilities flourish when they interact with their peers through play. So, try to arrange play date or enroll your preschooler to a part time play group to give your preschooler opportunities to meet and interact with their peers.
You will notice that preschoolers are master of make-believe. They love to pretend and therefore they like to have a
pretend play
with their peers or siblings.
Preschooler toys like medical kit sets, kitchen sets, cash register and play money, doll house and furniture, doll, stuffed animal, wooden train, car, theme play set, dress-up play set and puppet show set are ideal toys to buy since they support pretend play. But of course you can always encourage your preschooler to use real household items. For instance, bed sheets over a dining table will turn a dining table into a cave. Also, don't overlook your long-forgotten "treasure trunk in the attic". They may contain items which will interest your child.
Support your child's pretend play by not interfering with their play. Let them have a free open-ended play which can stimulate their imagination and creativity.
Preschool stage is also a good time to start introducing simple board game. Your child will sure enjoy the evening playing the board game with the family and share the laughter together.
Motor skills developmentPreschoolers have a better gross motor skill than toddlers. They can walk, jump, run and hop with confidence. Hide-and-seek and hopscotch are some of their favourite game.
Your child will love to play with preschooler toys which will support their physical development like: balls climbing toys pull toys push toys . (Click here for tips on choosing push along toys). child ride on toys , including battery-powered ride on toys and pedal toys . (Click here for riding toys buying guide)
rocking toys, including toy rocking horse kites crawling tunnel slides swings scooters jumping/skipping rope. This is also an ideal time to introduce simple sport to your preschooler: gym, swimming, soccer, and skating.
How about your preschooler's fine motor skills ? Your preschooler's fine motor skills can be enhanced by doing lots of fun art and craft, including drawing and coloring, lacing and sewing, cutting and pasting, tracing and moulding. Try to provide a lot of open-ended art activities since these activities are good to spark their creativity. With a bit of good luck, you may even uncover your child's potential and find yourself raising the next Leonardo da Vinci. Who knows !!
Other preschooler toys which can be bought to improve hand-eye coordination are:
And, don't overlook these simple and cheap activities: helping mommy around the house. Filling glasses with water, and sweeping the floor are good activities to help improve hand-eye coordination.
Cognitive ability Which parents are not proud to have smart children ? Now it's even easier to boost your child's cognitive ability and school readiness by using fun preschool toys and games.
Nowadays, more and more preschooler toys and games are specifically developed to address these needs. They are collectively called child educational games. If you want your preschoolers to learn and play, then invest in
child educational games.
Your preschooler will love to learn this way.
Readiness activities for preschoolers
For more readiness activities for preshoolers, visit www.shirley-preschool-activities.com
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