The Official Guide to the Right Toys

In the same way that our own work may be frustrating without the right tools, our children’s play may be less challenging – and not as much fun – without the right toys.  Play is the “job description” of childhood, and a more educational and rewarding task cannot be found.  For, it is during play that children develop important skills and spend time rehearsing the roles of adulthood.

The “right” and most appropriate toys are those that challenge children’s interests and are closely linked to their skills and abilities.  Sounds simple, but selecting the “right” toys is anything but child’s play!

Educators and psychologists guide research on child development and investigate how youngsters learn.  But, parents have long known what these studies seem to confirm; that children learn spontaneously, continuously and naturally during play.

Watching children at play demonstrates that learning is a developmental process. Whether in the crib or in the classroom, play is a prerequisite to many future problem-solving abilities and abstract thinking aptitudes.  As children move through ages and stages, their playthings and interactions become more complex. Therefore, at six months or six years of age, children’s days are still well spent, hard at work - at play.

Ask the savviest shopper -- a mother on a budget – and she will concede that finding toys to fit her child’s unique needs and interests is an awesome challenge.  I therefore wrote this book to share some useful parenting insights about toys and to shed light on the role of play in the learning process. My purpose was to provide you, the reader, with specific suggestions regarding the best toys currently on the market that meet the distinctive requirements of children at different developmental stages. 

Like millions of other parents, I have walked the aisles of toy stores in search of the “right” toys.  Most of these shopping trips left me overwhelmed by the endless array of choices available.  And, although the selection of good toys was enormous, little information was available to guide me through the maze of which products were the “right” toys for my individual child.

In arranging this book for ease of use, I have grouped recommendations by  “age-appropriateness” and special interest areas.  Age classifications based on developmental milestones -- or the ages at which most children accomplish certain tasks or demonstrate specific behaviors -- are useful because they provide general reference points and help to predict future performance.  Although generalizations about large groups of children at certain ages can be helpful in selecting toys - they do not explain variations between individual children, nor should serve as rigid markers for evaluating any child.

No two youngsters develop at quite the same rate or will use a toy in precisely the same way. Children have particular play styles and strategies, which are as unique as the youngsters themselves. Since toys will change and grow along with kids, the categories in this book should serve as guideposts - not rules - for selecting appropriate toys.

The “right” toys included in this book are representative of many other excellent products of similar quality. Member companies of the Toy Industry Association (TIA), the international toy trade group, were invited to submit products for review and evaluation. Playthings selected for inclusion in this book had to meet the safety standards prescribed by the TIA as well as those regulations imposed by the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).  But, perhaps most importantly, the toys included in this book passed the very stringent criteria and high standards of the most discerning judges of all -- children found them fun to play with!