Children's playing games not only helps them spend time during the day, but also helps them develop in the right and proper ways. For this reason, the types of games and toys to be chosen for children are very important. Each of them is an effective tool in their long-term development. Türkan Şenbacak from ERA Schools Psychological Counseling and Guidance Department gives useful advice to parents on this subject. It emphasizes that games and toys play an important role in children's physical, emotional, social, mental and linguistic development.
How are games effective in a child's development?
- Instills thinking and making decisions on one's own
- Teaches to take risks
- Explains taking responsibility, cooperating and sharing
- Shows investigating the environment, recognizing objects and solving problems
- Helps focus attention and organize skills
- While explaining how to express himself, it also makes it easier for him to understand what is expressed verbally. Strengthens socialization skills
- Teaches to respect the rights of others and obey the rules
- It develops imagination and skills.
- Allows one to get rid of the urge for aggression
- Helps them try different social roles and express their emotions
- Accelerates and strengthens language and muscle development
- Improves problem solving skills
What to Consider When Choosing a Toy?
Türkan Şenbacak from ERA Schools Psychological Counseling and Guidance Department says that when parents choose toys for their children, they should be careful not to buy every toy that their children like.
- The toy should be appropriate for the child's age, interest, skill and developmental period. Simple toys will cause the child to get bored quickly, while complex ones will cause his self-confidence to decrease.
- The size of the toys should be equivalent to your child's physical development. Care should be taken not to choose toys that are larger or smaller than the child can grasp according to his physical structure.
- Toys that the child can play both alone and with group friends should be chosen. Technological toys that children play alone can cause harm to their social development.
- Care should be taken to choose toys that will exercise children's hand-eye coordination and muscles.
- There should be no gender discrimination when purchasing toys for children. However, toys should still be in a color and shape that the child will like.
- If your child has a habit of breaking toys, care should be taken to ensure that the products purchased have removable or detachable features. A choice made in this direction not only satisfies the child's curiosity in breaking, but also helps him/her to mentally grasp the part-whole relationship.
- Toys must be of high quality so as not to harm the child's psychological and physiological health, and must not contain violent symbols.
