Age-appropriate
One of the best tips we can give is to make sure you’re the toy you put under the Christmas tree is age appropriate. Toys and playsets always indicate the minimum (and sometimes also maximum) age on their packaging. By checking this, you make sure the toy is not only safe for your kid to play with, but that it matches your tots’ development stage and abilities. Age-appropriate toys challenge your little one just enough and nurture their motor, language, and socio-emotional skills.
Multi-functional
Toys that offer open-ended playtime are great for toddlers! These are toys you can play with in many, many ways. Toys like these are usually simple in design and do not have flashy lights or sounds, so kids are encouraged to use their own imagination. By open ended or imaginative play, your tots boost both their intellectual growth as well as their emotional intelligence. It can increase self-confidence, helps practice language skills and abstract thinking. Extra benefit: this type of toys usually also grows with your kid.
SmartMax examples: Magnetic building sets like the SmartMax Builder Set or sets with abstract figures like SmartMax Wobbly Cars and My First Hide & Seek.
Tickle their little brains
Kids are never too young (or too old) to start learning! Why not look for toys that are not only fun to play with, but stimulate critical thinking skills? Toys like shape-sorters, clay or blocks are splendid examples. Some toys even have challenge cards enclosed, to tickle little brains even more!
SmartMax examples: My First Totem and My First Acrobats include challenge cards and help your little ones learn about spatial insights, problem-solving and practice their motor skills.
Grow with your kid
A tip received from other parents is to look for toys that will last in your house even when your kids grow older. Toys can be fun for kids in various stages in their development. Playsets that are compatible with each other are a clever way to keep kids interested. A theme from one set with more sensory materials that is suited from the age of one, might make an interesting embellishment or a challenging building block on a construction your kids build at the age of 6.
SmartMax examples: SmartMax Start Plus Set and Roboflex. All SmartMax sets are compatible with each other, for years of fun!
What type of toys does your toddler adore? Let us know via @smartmaxsocial !
More information & sources:
Parents Editors (17 May 2022). Age-by-Age Guide to Toys. Parents. https://www.parents.com/fun/toys/kid-toys/toys-for-all-ages/
Rebecca Parlakian (4 December 2018). Tips for choosing toys for toddlers. Zero to Three. https://www.zerotothree.org/resource/tips-for-choosing-toys-for-toddlers/
Naeyc (2022). Good toys for young children by age and stage. Naeyc. https://www.naeyc.org/resources/topics/play/toys#:~:text=Things%20they%20can%20reach%20for,and%20vinyl%20and%20board%20books
