Japanese mothers are very careful in choosing toys for their children. They always have many good secrets to both find something that children like, bring practical effects when raising children, and save on shopping costs.
1. Set your criteria
When buying children's toys, Japanese mothers adhere to 3 important criteria:
- Toys can create connection and interaction: babies can play with others, parents can communicate and talk with children through that toy.
- Toys help children focus: it makes children attentive while playing, or transforms when they play or interact with.
- If possible, handmade toys are a good choice because it has special meanings for children such as: letting children feel the love of their parents, saving childhood memories for them ...
A good toy is one that can be used in a variety of games
2. Number of toys
Is it necessary to fill the child's room with stuffed toys, intellectual development toys, flash cards, clay, crayons, organ to piano ...? In fact, in addition to stimulating the desire to explore and nurture wisdom, the downside of having too many toys is that children quickly get bored and do not focus on a game for long. Even parents become confused because they do not know how to arrange and how to let their children play effectively.
In fact, just 1-2 favorites to help children concentrate will be much more effective than the number of dozens of different dishes. If parents still want to buy a lot of toys but promote efficiency, the best way is to take out a certain amount each day, how to only take about 2 minutes to fully clean. Next is to schedule the week to use all the toys.
3. Flexible usage
The most important purpose of a toy is to use it as a tool for parents and children to talk or interact with. Sometimes, a game takes place in silence so that the child can focus. One toy can be used to play many different games.
If your child is 3 years old, parents should let their baby play by themselves and join their children's games occasionally when they want.
4. Toys must be of age appropriate
Every 3 months, the baby has different strides and with this, parents should choose suitable toys.
For example, in the stage of a child under 1 year old, nurturing the five senses: hearing, seeing, touching, smelling, and tasting is the most important thing. Do you know what the best, most perfect game is right now? That is my voice, my smile, my face when I do bad things, make jokes for you, or play with me howling, making a crane, making a plane for me ...
In the first 6 months, because the baby's hearing and vision are very developed, the mother can also let the baby play with sound-emitting toys. At the same time a little older children love to see moving objects so let them see the ball while rolling and making a noise.
Here are a few more specific suggestions for toys for children of different ages :
5 months old: to practice the baby's fingers, let him pick up the plastic bottle cap, practice removing the sticker ...
6-12 months: make a secret box for your baby to practice pulling out the items. Your baby can practice drumming with toy drums, old milk cartons or anything that makes a sound.
12-18 months possible: practice walking on straight lines, playing with clothes pins and smiling faces made into lions, playing with drawstring boxes, mixing watercolors, moving items from box to box.
18-24 months: blowing soap bubbles, fishing, throwing rings on columns, stringing seeds through strings, practicing to be a singer, practicing cooking with props made from foam cardboard, drawing drawing lines available on paper ...
2- 3 years old: playing model train, jigsaw, puzzle, clay, drawing ...