Toys for Toddlers & their Development

There's so many great toys for toddlers this holiday season, but the ones that help them develop best may be simpler than you think!

This holiday season, there are a lot of tech toys out there, even for toddlers and young children. This is not surprising, since the iPad has debuted in kindergarten classrooms throughout the county. However, which toys will help boost your toddler’s development—the high-tech ones, or the simple ones?

In a recent article from Parenting.com, simpler toys that have most likely been around in some form since you were a kid, were highlighted for boosting development in your toddler.

Large Blocks
Blocks can help toddlers learn to use both hands in order to accomplish something, in addition to strengthening their fingers. Toy blocks can also help your child develop motor skills, hand-eye coordination, spatial skills, creative problem solving skills, social skills and language skills. Parenting Science actually features an in-depth study on how toy blocks can make a significant impact on development.

Large Puzzle Pieces
Puzzles help your toddler exercise his or her memory, develop fine muscle movements, enhance eye-hand coordination and increase mathematical awareness and problem solving skills.

Push Toys
With the help of a push toy, toddlers can move faster because of the support that the toy provides. With more support, toddlers become more confident in their walking abilities, increasing their strength and balance. When the push toy resembles a real-life object, such as a lawnmower, it can even help stimulate the imagination.

Shape Sorters
Matching a shape with its corresponding hole helps toddlers develop spatial recognition, demonstrating the cause and effect of when the shape is dropped into the wrong hole.

While you're doing your holiday shopping this season, you may want to think twice about that new, costly electronic gizmo for toddlers and help your child maximize their development by sticking to these simple toys. Share what’s on your holiday shopping list for your toddler by commenting below, or on our Facebook or twitter pages.