I will never forget the Christmas that brought me an unexpected gift. My sons were 5 and 7 at the time. As I watched them play with the carboard boxes that previously housed an expansive array of educational toys—carefully selected for their healthy development, I might add—I couldn’t believe it. They were totally engrossed and never even looked up to see me staring—they were so quietly and creatively focused in turning the boxes into monsters, plants, villages, and rocket ships. After about 45 minutes of this, they brought in clothes from the “costume box” we kept handy and starting acting out their stories. Soon paper and crayons were added to write messages to the moon and beyond. This went on all morning. They returned to the boxes after brunch and continued until late in the afternoon. The pile of expensive plastic toys left untouched in a forgotten heap.

As a teacher, this mom was a bit baffled as what to do next. Weren’t educational toys the best for their brain development? To answer that question, I did some digging into the research. At the time Dorothy and Jerome Singer at Yale had done some seminal studies on children’s imaginative play and how important simple toys were. Best if the toys provided 10% of the content and 90% came from the child’s know-how. Yikes! I did a quick turn-around. And for the next holidays and birthdays, I tried to keep their toys as simple as possible. My decision may have paid off. As adults now, both are scholars and their love for learning evident—although I hesitate to say this was the one thing that influenced them. I do think, though, simple toys in childhood contributed to their critical and creative thinking skills—the research was pretty clear on this. And continues to remain so.

Two recent articles, one by a British journalist and one by Dr. Susan Linn, psychologist and child advocate, reminded me of that seminal Christmas. Both articles cite a significant 10-year study, released in 2019, that affirms the power of simple toys. Researchers at the Center for Early Childhood Education at Eastern Connecticut State University looked at the sorts of play elicited by different kinds of toys. After watching kids play with more than 100 different types of toys, the researchers concluded that simple, open-ended, non-realistic toys with multiple parts, like a random assortment of Legos, inspired the highest-quality play. While engaged with such toys, children were “more likely to be creative, engage in problem solving, interact with their peers, and use language,” the researchers wrote. Electronic toys, however, tended to limit kids’ play: “A simple wooden cash register in our study inspired children to engage in lots of conversations related to buying and selling – but a plastic cash register that produced sounds when buttons were pushed mostly inspired children to just push the buttons repeatedly.”

This makes so much sense to me. If we give kids the skeleton to work with, they can add the muscle and all the rest, taking off in so many directions. If too much is given up front, then there is nothing to conjure up. No stories or decisions or actions on their part to contribute to the play scenario. A lot of piece parts gives children unlimited ways to put anything together to make up anything!

PCI Certified Coach^® and PCI Instructor, Tierney Boggs recommends the book, Loose Parts: Inspiring Play in Young Children by Lisa Daly, MA (Redleaf Press, 2015) to PCI’s parent coaches in training. Tierney explains, “We used this book while curriculum planning at our infant/toddler and preschool Lab School. It inspired play in a creative, critical thinking way, teaching students about the importance of play during early childhood development. I have recommended this book to many parents about creating age-appropriate environments in their homes to engage their children while not having to buy anything new—we all have loose parts!”

From their findings of that decade long study the researchers at Eastern Connecticut State University developed a “What Makes a Good Toy” handout. They stress three qualities to look for:

Simple—let’s hear it for wooden blocks or crumbled paper.

Open-Ended—anything must be possible!

Non-realistic—a puppet that can be different characters works better than one can’t be.

And two types of toys, especially:  construction toys and small replicas—more piece parts!

While putting youngsters in front of screens to play a game or solve a problem can support their thinking skills, screens limit play to a flat surface with much content and outcomes previously programmed by others. Screen play cannot do near what play in the real world can do for optimal development, although the transhumanists would tell you exactly the opposite. I am here to continue my mantra of “Real world first, with tech in the support of our children’s development, not destroying it!”

And I do know how challenging it can be in these tech times with the elite and the comprised organizations, even many schools, pushing the tech agenda. “What! Provide quiet to play with cardboard boxes! You got to be kidding me.” I do hear it. However, I do see the major shifts that happen when parents muster time, energy, and confidence to provide simple toys on a regular basis. 

I also know: Parents can’t compete with the draw and conditioning that fast-pace screen games supply. So, I encourage the parents I coach to not even try. Instead—go with the flow of innate human needs. When parents take some weekly time to provide simple toys and quiet space and let the kids go at it, they see amazing things happen. They observe their children change right in front of their eyes. Really! 

With more and more evidence daily, parents I work with learn to trust that the young human brain/mind/body knows what it needs. And throughout this adventure of “real-world first” they learn a valuable lesson that transforms their children’s lives—just as I did that Christmas when my sons were 5 and 7.

Copyright, Gloria DeGaetano, 2022. All rights reserved.