In Pursuit of a Little Genius? 3 Toys To Buy To Help Your Child Develop Superpowers 

Over the past decade, the landscape of the toy industry has changed tremendously. A large part of this shift can be attributed to the changing technological landscape. As parents, we have gotten more accustomed to working on screens and using our smartphones to drive our lives, and so we see that the relationship kids have to the digital landscape is changing as well.  

Children have gotten accustomed to having devices around them. And how wouldn’t they be? Kids adopt behaviors fast. And since many of us as parents have subconsciously developed the habit of looking at our phones constantly, many of our kids are closely following suit by getting comfortable with devices around them as well. Hand a Smartphone to a toddler and chances are that they’ll figure out how to open it and find their favourite game or cartoon – a sign of the quickly changing times.  

And, while we at Toddle believe in the usefulness of technology and the importance of innovation in our lives, we also strongly believe in ‘balance’ and that a growing child should be exposed to a RANGE of mental stimulation, balancing all senses at such a critical stage in their lives.  

As such, when you’re looking for toys to buy online the next time, we came up with three you must have to give your child a healthy mix of activities during their growing years and have profound effects on your child’s early development.  

1) Building Blocks 

According to the National Association for the Education of Young Children, two decades of research done on kids who played with building blocks from an early age show a direct correlation with improved math skills in later years. Research also shows that children’s block play later relates to competence and a particular interest in both Math and STEM careers.  

Qualitatively, the characteristics of grit, perseverance, and managing the frustration that comes with a structural block collapse are additional benefits that can be attributed to getting your child started early with Building Blocks.  

2) Puzzles 

As per a study done by the University of Chicago, children who play with puzzles between ages 2 and 4 later develop better spatial skills.  

Spatial intelligence is the ability to generate, retain, retrieve, and transform well-structured visual images. It’s what we do when we visualize shapes in our “mind’s eye”. It’s the mental feat that architects and engineers perform when they design buildings. This capacity permits a chemist to contemplate the three-dimensional structure of a molecule or a surgeon to navigate the human body.  

According to psychologist Susan Levine, a leading expert on mathematics development in young children. “Children who play with puzzles perform better than those who did not, on tasks that assess their ability to rotate and translate shapes”

The appropriate age to bring puzzles into a child’s learning environment is 18 months. Having said that, it’s a good idea to be a good observer as a parent and introduce certain puzzles early or late based on your personal observations.  

3) Science Kits 

When Einstein was a five-year-old, his father gifted him a compass. Young Albert was fascinated by the fact that no matter which way he turned the compass, the needle always pointed the same direction. This was his introduction to scientific inquiry. “That experience made a deep and lasting impression on me,” he wrote years later. “Something deeper had to be hidden behind things.”

Einstein was fortunate to have people around him who encouraged his interest in math and science. Now, imagine the progress possible if you endeavor to cultivate the same scientific curiosity in your child. The tools of today have gotten more sophisticated and with the right science kit – you could be raising the next world-renowned Scientist in your own house.  

Conclusion 

Parenting involves making decisions and certain choices for your child every day. Sometimes dozens of them. As parents, we often do not have the luxury of pressing the pause button and pondering over many of these choices, but we know that these choices end up shaping their lives.  

If your a parent who wants to find the ‘right balance’ for your kids, check out our collection of fun learning boxes, subscription boxes, sensory boxes, toys, learning games, and a whole range of educational resources.  Our goal is to make the choice of finding the right toys easy for you by having each product carefully selected and added to our range by highly experienced curators.