Firstly, let’s look at what constitutes a ‘traditional’ toy.
A traditional toy is typically non electronic, made from materials such as wood or other types of natural fibres, and often handmade. There are popular types of traditional style toys which have been played with for generations of children. This includes dolls houses, play kitchens or work-stations shops, garages, cars, trains, shopping carts and more.
While electronic toys have grown in popularity over the years and at one point almost side lined traditional toys, there is a growing number of parents/ guardians who are becoming aware of the numerous benefits offered by traditional toys, and as such, seek to ensure that their children have the right tools to be able to engage in productive play.
These toys are often miniature replicas of everyday objects. This gives the child the freedom of creating stories and using their imagination. That shopping cart could be a trip around the supermarket OR it could be a cage to hold evil aliens! That train could be going along the countryside OR it could be an underwater train, splashing past the fish! Unlike electronic toys which say or mimic what the child is experiencing.
And this leads on to language development. Many traditional toys are aimed at pre-schoolers, an important time where language is being nurtured. Results show that electronic toys resulted in the exchange of fewer words between the child and parent/guardian. Many traditional style toys support interactive play and social skills such as communication and turn taking – when playing together, children learn to compromise, share, and collaborate as well as developing their language and communication skills.
They also benefit from the physical aspect of play. The serving in a shop, cooking in a kitchen, pulling along a toy, revamping a dolls house or building a new car from their workshop…all involving imagination and physical moving which you don’t always receive with some electronic devices.
Traditional toys typically relate to real life scenarios. This type of play often requires the child to put themselves in the place of another person, and to imagine how this person would potentially react within different situations, helping to foster empathy, by encouraging children to imagine other people’s points of view.
Playing with other children, also helps to develop social skills such as cooperation and turn taking.
They can also help children to understand their surroundings and the world around them within a safe space.
And finally, traditional toys can be more ethical than electronic toys. Not only can they be made from a sustainable source and locally produced by small businesses helping the local economy, they also are built to last and can be handed down from generation to generation.
Beehive Toys has a wide selection of traditional toys to help your child’s development and more importantly, to have fun and adventure!