The toys designed for small children are increasingly numerous and sophisticated, but are they really necessary?
Exploiting in their favor the desire of the parents to see the happy children, The market for childhood products bombards us daily with ever new proposalspushing us to an excessive and superfluous consumption in all respects.
Unlike what is commonly believed, however, to play the child does not need an infinite number of toys, but of the Possibility to act actively and intelligently in his life environment. Too often, unfortunately, one forgets that games and materials are the vehicle, not the end. If we fill our child of a multitude of games although beautiful and innovative, but we do not allow him the opportunity to exercise their movements, to have direct experience of everyday objects or to manipulate and experience natural elements such as earth or water, we certainly are not facilitating his work of growth and self -construction.
The magic of the hand
What the child really needs to grow can often be satisfied by offering him common, concrete and daily use objects. Especially in the first months of life, no real toy is necessary: the child is in fact primarily interested in knowing the reality that surrounds him.
If we carefully look at a very small child, we will discover that His first gaming experience is the one with his own hands. The “discovery” of the hand, as Maria Montessori called it, marks a first fundamental stop of the child’s psychophysical development: he moves it, he brings her to the mouth, observes her with careful and concentrated, as a critic would do in front of a work of art. Starting from this precious instant, the child will begin to use his hand in an increasingly aware way to explore and know his body, that of the others and the first objects left at his disposal. The latter should not be those electronic toys full of lights, colors and music that today seem to be the environment of the little ones from the cradle, but osimple, light, pleasantly noisy ggetti that the child can explore in complete safetyin a serene climate and in a relationship of trust with an adult who protects and accompanies, without ever hindering unnecessarily.
An example is the classic rattlewhich with a minimum of effort and inventiveness can also be made at home: it will be enough to obtain a segment from a round wooden strip and apply to the two extremes (through eye) of the bells. Alternatively, we can sew some bags (making sure they are closed well) inside which we will have stained dried legumes or cherry hazelnuts.
Play with common objects
A little further on, around 5-6 months, when the child is acquiring the faculty to transfer things from one hand to another and the ability to sitwe will be able to offer its free exploration some simple objects of materials, consistencies and different smells: of fabric cutters, a wooden ladle, a steel or silver spoon, a shell, a brush … and everything that the inventiveness suggests.
The important thing is that they are safe objectsthat the child can bring to the mouth and explore without danger and without interruption. In this way he will be able to discover and experience independently of different temperatures, textures, sounds, flavors, perfumes …
Proposals such as the “Treasure Tarning“Or the”heuristic game“, Both the result of the work of the English psycho -pedagogist Elinor Goldschmied, who demonstrate how simple domestic objects of different materials can turn on the interest of the little ones to a much greater extent than the best toy on the market.
Common objects and materials, especially natural, little or at all structured, will not return to the classic conception of “toy”, but present numerous advantages: they are able to adapt flexibly to the evolutionary needs of the child (he will make a different use according to his own abilities and interests of the moment), to support the development of creative and divergent thinking (there is no “correct” way to explore these materials: the child can do it at will, experimenting with unpublished and particular uses and combinations) and, above all, do not risk overestimular the babyas electronic toys do instead, which precisely for their load of stresses end up tiring quickly.
A further negative aspect of electronic toys, then, is that they tend to reduce children to a passive condition; in a phase of the development in which The construction of intelligence passes through sensory, movement and active experience in the environmenthow can we expect this type of proposals to represent concrete help to growth?
Put the child back to the center
In general, Many less things will do the toy, the more you can actively do the child. To put it with Anna Tardos (childhood psychologist and daughter of the well -known pediatrician and early childhood scholar Emmi Pikler): “The essential is that the child play with toys and not toys with the child”.
If our child, after receiving a toy, pay more attention to the box that contains it, we must not feel sorry, but let’s strive instead of not disturbing it; We await and observe. In this way we can understand what the power has had to polarize its attention so intensely. Maybe we will discover that the simple gesture of opening and closing a container is for him, at that time of development, much more satisfying than making a cumbersome tires all lights and sounds. Instead of letting ourselves hypnotize from marketing strategies, we return to the center of our choices the child we are facing. Let’s observe it with attention and respect and ask ourselves: “What are your growth needs at this moment, and how can I help him answer you?”.
An extraordinary mind
Over a century ago Maria Montessori began to illuminate us about the functioning of the childish mind: a mind with truly extraordinary faculties, capable of absorbing the external elements like a sponge and, from there, to self -build and develop. In the first years of life, however, this assimilation activity takes place unconsciouslyand the mind does not yet have the ability to organize the stimuli it absorbs alone.
Here then let’s go back toimportance of simplicity and order. Our task, as attentive and aware adults, must be to accompany our child in growth, offering him a suitable environment and the tools he needs for his development.
So let’s commit to being more attentive to the choice of objects we want to allocate to our children and We do not underestimate the sacredness of the game: it, in fact, is the “work” of the child, the means through which the men and women of tomorrow are formed.
