The Best Toys
Perhaps children are programmed to master the world they will one day inherit, and that is why they automatically gravitate toward the everyday household objects their parents use. In any event, until TV ads and trips to the store change their minds, it won't matter to youngsters that the house doesn't contain a single store-bought toy. Toddlers' attention spans are short, but they are easy to entertain. Since everything is new to them, every room is filled with objects they find fascinating. (That, of course, is both a blessing and a curse!)
Parents already have all they need on hand to keep their child busy for the next two years. As every toddler knows, the pots that parents only consider useful for cooking make wonderful drums, hats, dollhouses, and containers for filling and dumping. The plastic lids from juice cans are fun to stack, and the sound they make when smacked together is music to little people's ears. Before you buy lots of manufactured toys and trail your toddler around the house with long litanies of no-no's, ask yourself if the household object she's chosen to investigate must really be off limits:
Could she actually ruin it?
Would it be dangerous if she mouthed or chewed it?
Does it have sharp edges or rough surfaces that could cause abrasions or cuts?
Does it have dangling cords that could strangle?
Could small parts be bitten off, swallowed, or cause choking?
Could moving parts or hinges catch a hand, pinch a finger, or smash a foot?
If not, maybe it's okay for your toddler to play with it. Try not to inhibit learning! With supervised independence, your toddler will find plenty of safe items in your kitchen or bathroom to keep him entertained for hours.
Is the toy small enough to fit through the middle of a toilet paper roll? Then it's small enough to fit into a toddler's throat … meaning it's
Plastic Containers
So many foods come in plastic containers and they make great toys. Just wash them and hand them over. Be sure to save the containers from cottage cheese, whipped topping, soft-spread margarine, and yogurt. The colorful plastic tops from cans of cooking spray, and other nontoxic aerosol products also make pretty toys.
Kitchen Utensils
Take a quick look around the kitchen, and you'll see lots of items a toddler would be delighted to manipulate, bang, stack, and, inevitably, taste:
Beaters from electric mixers (kids love the shape)
Ladles (show them how to use one to scoop up a ball)
Tongs (useful for picking up small objects)
Spatulas (show them how to slide them under a small object; see if they can move from squatting to standing without dropping it)
Pie and cake tins (for filling, dumping, banging, and clanging)
Cookie cutters (to put in and dump out of pie tins or cardboard boxes; check for sharp edges first)
Nesters and Stackers
It's not easy to stack a few metal spoons, but toddlers practice visual/motor skills when they try. And they learn important information about shape, size, and volume by fitting items inside one another. Try nesting plastic bowls, measuring cups, measuring spoons, and nesting plastic funnels.
First, give a nesting demonstration. Next, turn the cups upside-down and give a stacking demonstration. Then let them do their own thing. Just don't hover and try to dictate how toddlers play. Stacking three objects is a challenge for an eighteen-month-old. It may take days, weeks, or months to figure out how to fit nesting objects one inside the other or how to stack a group from biggest to smallest. While they might be able to create an organized pile or tidy arrangement much sooner if a parent were to guide and coach every step of the way, learning to solve problems on their own spurs intellectual development.
Don't short-circuit learning by providing the answer. Let their brains do the work! Toddler learning (and fun!) comes from exercising mental muscles by experimenting again and again until a puzzle problem is solved.
Little Drummers
Toddlers love to drum, and for many, their high chair tray is their favorite instrument. For safety's sake, you must draw the line if they begin beating on something breakable. Drumming can also become dangerous if they create enough vibration to cause hot liquid to slosh or spill or a bowl to topple over. Say, “Don't bang the plate. It might break!” while removing it, but don't except young toddlers to understand. If you prefer the serenade of toddler banging to toddler wailing, trade a breakable plate for a sturdier item.
Boxes!
Cardboard boxes are great for kids of all ages, providing entertainment that can last for hours. Keep a supply of various sizes and shapes on hand, including empty shoe boxes, Band-Aid boxes, tea boxes, tissue boxes, gift boxes, packing boxes, and cereal boxes.
The most wondrous of all, of course, is an appliance box. If you haven't bought a refrigerator or big-screen TV lately, you're bound to find a giant box at your local recycling center or at stores that sell large appliances. Cut a door, windows, even a small escape hatch, and your toddler has a castle, fort, spaceship, cave, or anything else she can imagine.
Give your child some ideas for creative play, but let his imagination do most of the work. You'll be surprised to realize how much he has learned from you already, and you'll have a better understanding of how his mind works.
You can go all-out with paint on the exterior, contact paper, wallpaper, and fabric scrap curtains. Outfit the playhouse with a small pillow and blanket to make a little bed. Better yet, let your child decide how he wants it decorated. But don't go too far. Even the best packing boxes don't last forever.
Use boxes to make a toy kitchen sized to your child. Cut a square in the side of a box for an oven door and draw or paint burners for a stove top, a refrigerator, and a freezer door so they'll open, just like on your kitchen appliance. Cut a small hole in the top of a box and insert a plastic whipped topping container for a sink; then cut cabinet doors in the front. Stock the kitchenette with cottage-cheese-container bowls, pots, yogurt-container cups, and a few plastic spoons. Show toddlers how plastic coffee-can lids can be platters and plates.
