All parents face this problem: My child has too many toys and these are taking up space at home!
No doubt, toys are a part of your child’s play. But having too many toys detracts your child from enjoying quality playtime as they display short attention spans when flitting from one toy to the next. In this blogpost, we outline for you the different types of play materials and with our checklist, help you decide whether you should get that next toy for your child.
1. Uni-dimensional play materials
These are usually toys that have only one focus and can only be used in predetermined ways. Examples of uni-dimensional play materials include:
- Puzzles
- Cartoon figurine
- Dressing, lacing and stringing toys
- Board games
- Card games
- Hand puppets
- Dolls
2. Multi-dimensional play materials
These are play materials that can be used for any purpose and only limited by the child’s imagination. Examples of multi-dimensional play materials include:
- Natural materials such as water, sand and rocks
- Blocks
- Animals and human figurines
- Vehicles
- Musical instruments
- Balls
- Sensory play materials such as strainers, tubes and funnels
To get more bang for your buck, we recommend that you obtain multi-dimensional play materials for your child and limit the purchase of uni-dimensional play materials. Because multi-dimensional play materials are open-ended in nature, they get to grow together with your child.
We have also included a toy checklist at the end of this post to help you keep track of the types of toys that your child own and hopefully use that information to decide what toy to get for your child next. It also helps ensure that your child gets to have his hands on a variety of toys!
Click here to download the toy checklist!
Happy playing!