Melissa Doug Victorian Dollhouse Furniture
The Value of Wooden Toys for Children
Melissa & Doug are one of the better known wood toy companies. You can often find this brand in major retail stores as well as online. This company has a wide variety of wood toys for babies and toddlers. You can choose from simple wood block sets or musical instrument sets, or surprise a toddler with an elaborate wood doll house, puzzle or shape sorter sets.
Melissa & Doug's classic ABC/123 blocks are a very popular gift for toddlers.
The History Of Wooden Toys
Children have been playing with toys since time immemorial, and one can safely say that they shall not continue to do so in the future as well. Love for toys is one common link that binds all children irrespective of race, caste, sex, religion, geographical and cultural differences. It is a no brainer that all children, and many adults, love to play with toys.
Today, there is enough evidence for us to categorically state that despite being separated in time and distance, all ancient civilizations played with toys. Kids have been playing with toys ever since the beginning of civilization.
Some popular toys of the ancient world were:
painted wood balls,
glazed papyrus,
clay, wooden or stone spinning tops,
pull toys
dolls and
terracotta animals
Today, we have archaeological evidence that suggests that the young ones of the Roman, Mesopotamian, Indian, Greek and Egyptians civilizations played with a variety of toys, which included balls, dolls, wooden blocks, hoops, rattles, kites, marbles, chariots and tops.
Early toys were simple objects meant to entertain and amuse the children. Unlike today, almost all the toys in the past were made of wood. It is only in the past two hundred years or so that toys made of material other than wood became popular.
Wooden toys have been popular since the ancient times for the following reasons:
1. Until recently, wood was the easiest substance to mould for making toys.
2. Unlike iron and other metals, it was not very heavy.
3. It was not scarce and expensive like the metals.
4. It could be easily painted and made attractive.
5. It could be shaped into wooden blocks or tops or other objects without any difficulty.
6. Pieces of wood could be stuck together to create moving toys.
7. Wooden toys were, and still are, safe.
While simple wooden toys were popular in the ancient world, the medieval world led to an improvement in the technological capabilities of man and this led to more complex toys. Wood continued to remain the favorite raw material for making toys. However, complex toys which could move and even imitate real life came to be designed.
The 18th century saw the introduction of wooden alphabet blocks, wooden sleds and wooden miniature animals. The first wooden puzzle was introduced in this period. Since then, such toys have become the favorite of children all around the world and continue to remain so even today. Wooden cars also became very popular in this period. . Wooden blocks captured the imagination of the children after they were introduced in the 20th century.
The development of new technology led to growing preference for non wooden toys. However, wooden toys still retain their charm and never really went out of favor. Today, wooden toys are making a comeback. That they are not as hazardous as plastic and other toys is the primary reason.
The most popular modern toys of today, like construction blocks, are nothing but plasticized versions of wooden toys that have existed since long and have been very popular since time immemorial.
What Some Of The Classic Wooden Toys Are
The wooden toys available today can be divided into two categories. One category consists of classic wooden toys that have remained a favorite of kids all over the world since time immemorial and modern wooden toys that have essentially been conceptualized in the recent past. The other consists of the new generation toys.
It does not take a lot of effort to list out the popular classic wooden toys. These invariably happen to be the first toy that a kid ever plays with.
The most popular classic wooden toy that has attained iconic status is the wooden rocking horse. No person, no matter how old he is, will ever forget the joy of riding the wooden rocking horse. All of us, at some point of time in our childhood, have climbed on the wooden horse and imagined ourselves to be adventurers. This toy was and remains the most popular classic wooden toys of all times.
If the boys move on to wooden soldiers and wooden vehicles after they outgrow the wooden rocking horse, the girls move on to wooden doll houses, wooden kitchen play sets, wooden doll furniture, and wooden puppet theatre.
All these classic wooden toys remain very popular amongst a majority of the kids in the world today. Despite new technology games intruding in our lives, the innocence of the dolls and doll houses simply refuses to fade.
Another popular classic wooden toy is the wooden train on the wooden tracks. Nothing matches the thrill and excitement of watching a train run on its tracks.
One classic wooden toy that is the favorite of all kindergarten school teachers is the wooden building block. Wooden blocks can rightly be described as the key that unlocks the imagination and creativity of the children.
The best thing about the classic wooden toys is that they are so exquisitely simple. It does not take a lot of effort to understand how these toys work. Yet, kids never seem to tire with these classic toys.
Kids play these toys for years and years and yet these toys succeed in retaining their charm. The reason why classic wooden toys are so popular is that they never try to entertain the kids themselves. They are simply means to an end. They are the tools in the hands of the kids who entertain themselves using their creativity and imagination.
It is the girl who visualizes the wooden doll as a living person and builds a whole world around the doll. The doll is merely an object and that is the reason why such classic wooden dolls are so helpful in the development of the kids.
Another popular classic wooden toy is the Yo-Yo. Now this is a no brainer. This toy has redefined the meaning of fun for innumerable children. Further, this toy helps in the development of the motor skills and reflexes of the children.
Despite modern toys, kids still swear by classic toys because of their simplicity and the scope of freedom that such toys offer to the kids. All can have fun by playing with the classic toys.
How do wooden blocks aid in the education and development of children?
The development of children does not refer to development measured by schools, exams and grades. Development of the child encompasses not mere academic development but also social, emotional and physical development. Only then will the child said to be a developed child.
Mere classroom instructions and exams are not sufficient for the development of the child. The development of the child takes place more from the various activities that the child is engaged in rather than by formal instructions.
Researches have identified toys as tools that help in the development of the children. The child learns a lot while he is playing with toys, alone or in a group. Amongst toys, the favorite of teachers and educationists is the wooden block. The wooden blocks may consist of letters, alphabets or pictures painted on them or may consist of mere plain blocks that can be attached to each other to form any structure or object.
Children who play with wooden blocks are found to develop faster and better as compared to children who do not. There are many reasons for the same.
1. Wooden blocks are objects which compel the child to think. Rather than restricting the imagination of the child, the wooden blocks compel the child to be imaginative and creative.
2. Wooden blocks are always painted in bright colors and are made as attractive as possible. Such toys can be used to determine whether the child has the ability to identify the various shapes, sizes, colors and objects. Any disability identified at such an early age can be rectified before any long term damage occurs
3. The wooden blocks stimulate the sight and touch of the children. The children see the blocks, they feel them. They touch and handle them. They learn to grasp and work with different objects. They lead to coordinate their eye with their hands. This simple task which we take for granted in our day to day life must be, in reality, learned by the child. Toys like wooden blocks speed up this process.
4. Wooden blocks encourage the child to be imaginative. However, the child must follower certain rules. For example, a square block will not fit into a round block. The child must use logic and reasoning to build structures. Sooner or later, the child learns that some obvious rules cannot be ignored.
5. If the child plays with wooden blocks in a group, he quickly learns to work in a group. He learns to get along with others. He learns to work together towards the achievement of a common goal- of having fun. A toy like wooden blocks that offers unlimited scope for creativity and imagination can inculcate the spirit of team work in a child in a very short period of time.
6. Wooden blocks encourage children to experiment. The child has to concentrate, remember and implement the idea that is present in his mind. The lessons learnt while playing with wooden blocks are implemented by the child in his day to day life.
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