Tuesday, March 03, 2009

inexpensive toys (infants)

If you've had kids you probably discovered this the first time your child opened the gift and had more fun with the box or the paper than they did with the gift. Someone sent me this YouTube video FW, "Why Buy Expensive Toys?" It's really cute. But notice all the different elements.

- The baby seems pretty happy to begin with
- There is a grown up there that the baby seems to enjoy
- The grown up seems to enjoy being with the baby
- The grown up and the baby are interacting (we can't see the grown-up's face but I'd guess he's smiling lots)
- There is something to see
- There is something to see that changes
- There is something to hear
- There is something to touch
- There is something to anticipate (in this case fun and funny)
- It keeps happening over and over but it's not exactly the same every time


It would be interesting to see if it's the same experience

- with different babies (I wonder if some babies will get upset and want to hold on to the paper and put it in their mouths)
- changing the grown-up (rotating family members or rotating family with safe strangers)
- using a paper tearing person who doesn't want to be there
- using the tearing sound, without touching
- using touch, without sound - without tearing (just letting the baby play with the paper, supervised, of course)

I absolutely believe that most kids get more out of toys that aren't toys or from simple inexpensive toys. Toys and objects like that give kids lots more room to explore and create and discover.

Fun, isn't it? :)

No comments:

Post a Comment