Asides

Science Toys In Child Development

By brokencode ⋅ April 22, 2008 ⋅  Email This Post ⋅  Print This Post ⋅ Post a comment

Science toys are thus designed to encourage reasonable development milestones within appropriate age groups. For preschool age youngsters, simple wooden blocks might be a good starting point for a child to begin to understand causal relationships, basic principals of science kits (e.g. if a block falls from the top of a structure, it will fall until a surface stops its fall), and develop patience and rudimentary hand-eye coordination. For a child moving towards elementary school, other, more sophisticated manipulatives might further aid the development of these skills. Interlocking manipulative toys like Legos or puzzles challenge the child to improve hand/eye coordination, patience, and an understanding of spacial relationships. Finally, a child in elementary school might use very sophisticated construction sets that include moving parts, motors and others to help further understand the complex workings of the world. Importantly, the educational value derived by the child increases when the educational toy is age appropriate. Science toys enhance intellectual, social, emotional, and/or physical development.

From manipulatives, to dress up, to board games, to musical instruments, to interactive electronic toys, the breadth of science toys is vast. While it is not uncommon to find computers in the modern elementary school classroom, it is not yet common to find children actively engaged in video games for educational development. However, as computers and video games take an ever larger role in our lives and the lives of children, so too will their role in educational toys and games. This underscores a crucial point about the fluidity of the definition of an science toy.

Atomic Elephant Toy takes pride in offering science and educational toys that promote all facets of learning. The company is owned and primarily operated by a former scientist with a background in chemistry and physics- but with a love of all things educational. We are still a small, family-owned company so we take a personal pride in our product selection and our ability to provide the best customer service possible.

Tags: Asides, education, science, toys