Toys are Tools!

Toys are Tools!
Dr. Suni Petersen

The use of tools distinguishes humans from most other species. The reason tools are so important is that they extend the abilities to do tasks. For example, to get something that is beyond our grasp, we typically grab the closest object that will extend our reach. Have you ever thought about how and when this skill is developed?
Toys are tools! And toys are developmentally appropriate educate best. If you place a cookie out of reach on the high chair tray and a spoon within reach, a 10-month old will try to get the cookie with her hand and push the spoon away. But give that baby two more months and she will pick up the spoon to help herself reach the cookie.
Now thinking of the task of grasping the cookie, it takes the dexterity to bring the spoon and the cookie together (educating the child in skill development), the knowledge to determine that the cookie is out of reach (educating the child in spatial relationships), and the association between the spoon and the cookie (educating the child in cognitive development).
Success requires two things: Practice and providing the right toy at the right time. A parent hardly has time to do the spoon and cookie routine to give the child the practice she needs to succeed in this developmental step. But the concept is that a tool actually adds another step for the child to consider - hand (1) to cookie (2) changes when a tool is used to hand (1), spoon (2), to cookie (3). A tool adds an additional step.
Toys that allow the child to do a task over and over and over provide the necessary practice. Put and take toys help to prepare for this skill but only function as the hand (1) dropping the object into a box and getting the object out again (2). This put and take routine prepares a child for the next stage. One such toy that offers this preparatory educational experience is the “Shape Sorter.” To develop the child’s use of tools requires a toy with another step. For example, “Animal Cottage” (www.toyconnex.com) is an example of a toy that develops the use of tools. The child inserts keys to open a door in order to get to the animals inside. However, if this toy is given to a child at 10 months old, she will not be able to get to the toys herself and will become frustrated. In that stage of development, the keys are seen as interfering or another task entirely. By the time she is able to associate the keys with the reward inside (2 months later), the toy has already frustrated the child and she is less likely to use it. If a child is given such a toy at 10 months, it is considered a “pairing toy,” one that can only be played with an older sibling or adult. Such pairing may facilitate quicker development of the skill but not by much because the baby is too young to cognitively make the full association that will hold her interest when she is ready.
Different toys make educational sense at different ages!