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Three Questions To Ask Yourself
Before You Buy Toys For Your Kids
By: Peter Legrove
So you can buy a useful toy.
Some toys are over hyped and others that I quite like,
are never advertised. When I see new toys or the kid
wants something she saw on TV, I usually ask myself
“What can this toy be used for” and “How long will it
keep the kid interested.” The last question I sometimes
never ask, cause I never get that far is “Does the toy
teach anything or does it build imagination or some
other characteristic.”
These three questions, hopefully will give me an idea
about the usefulness and longevity of the new toy. If
the toy passes the first two questions then it is into
the realm of learning. Some toys never make it this far,
they are just ornaments. I don’t look at the safety
aspect as most toys are safe, but I am careful with
little bits and pieces.
For the first question I think about what you can do
with the toy. Whether you can play alone or with
friends. Can it be used with other toys to do other
things, or is it a one hit wonder.
As an example we will use the Star Wars Darth Vader
Mask. This little toy is very popular because of the
film, but I think its usefulness is very limited. You
could use it in pretend play but how long will that
last. I would say this type of toy is used for sharing,
a sort of play and share toy to see who can come up with
the most outrageous line. It is not really the type of
toy you could play with by yourself.
For the second question I think this toy would be
discarded quite early, as there seems to be very little
to keep the kid amused. Once you have said your few
lines what do you then. Then again there are all the
accessories to buy to go with the mask, like the clothes
and boots. The money is in the accessories these days.
Unless your kid wants to be an actor I would not get
around to asking the third question.
The toys I do like are the LEGOS, the MEGA BLOKS and the
PLAYMOBILS that the kids use to build things. Gone are
the days when I was young and LEGO was a bucket of
bricks that you could make anything with. The only limit
was your imagination.
Nowadays imagination has gone out the door to be
replaced with an operator’s manual so you get all the
bricks and accessories in the right place. They are
still fun to do. The finished product is a beautiful
crafted masterpiece that usually ends up on top of the
piano or coffee table until the cat destroys it.
So far for my kid the max is three times to redo one. So
I would say the novelty wears off after three attempts.
These toys build finishing ability and teach how to
follow a plan. Also they are good for a rainy afternoon
as they can take some time to finish. But the downside
is they can be very pricey.
For these toys the answer to the first questions would
be-- the kid can build something. They can see the
finished product and match it with the picture to see if
it is correct. The next answer would be they can remake
it or make there own design. And for the last question I
would say the kid should definitely learn something
while putting the blocks together.
Using these three questions I somehow manage to buy what
I consider to be useful toys. Therefore I am not swamped
by the advertising hype or the “Keeping up with the
Jones” sort of thing. |
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