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Babies: 9 - 12 Months
Anyone else prefer natural toys over flashy ones?
I have noticed that when Arlo is playing with more "flashy" toys that "perform" for him that he gets frustrated more easily and his attention span is actually shorter than when I give him a more natural toy to play with (like wooden blocks, or stacker). Plus, I feel like he can be more creative with them since they don't just do one or two things. Not to mention the fact that they are made better and will last longer (and don't require batteries!)
Anyone else notice this with their DC? I am hoping to encourage grandparents to go more this route in the future with him for birthdays and Christmas.
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Re: Anyone else prefer natural toys over flashy ones?
Alaina loves the natural and home"made" toys I've handed her!! Her fave thing to play with is an empty and cleaned gerber baby food plastic container and one of our red solo plastic cups. omg LOVES them.
she can also play with her blocks and ring stacker for so much longer than the flashy ones we bought her.
hate them. and my parents got DD a TON of toys (b-day and xmas) - almost all of them require batteries. I asked for simple things on her wish list - things that required her imagination or had things like a door - she loves doors. not one thing on her list was purchased, which by itself isn't a big deal. But yes, almost everything was flashy lights. she likes them, but honestly she loves to turn the pages in her books much more.
how do you think you will tell people not to get your DC flashy toys? It is a hard conversation to have without sounding ungrateful.
While we don't want all of ds's toys to have flashing lights or noises I disagree that they can't trigger any sort of creativity in children.
Saying that, right now ds loves to play with his socks and empty water bottles the best, so it doesn't really matter what he has.
I won't tell them they "can't" get him flashier toys, but if they ask that's what I'll tell them we'd like him to have. I also can't promise I'll let him play with everything that's given to him if it is flashier. It just depends on the toy.
Toosdai, you are SO not depriving her of anything! I have friends who feel the same way I do about it and their kids are very intelligent, creative and independent (not to say you can't be with light up toys!). They also allow them to play with the flashier stuff when at other kids' houses so that they don't feel deprived of them.
I never said that they can't trigger any creativity, just that DS seems more interested and content with more natural toys.
Dd only has one or two light-up toys, and I never turn them on. She does just fine with natural toys! She loves them and finds tons of ways to entertain herself with them. I see no reason for all that loud and flashy stimulation.
I just tell everyone that dd doesn't play with light-up or noisy toys. No one wants to buy her stuff she won't use, so they all get her stuff she will. It's really quite easy!
We've made a conscious choice to not have lots of flashy toys with lights and batteries. We also try to cut down on lots of plastic toys. The only toy DD has that has batteries is her Busy Ball Choo Choo train, but she loves the music it plays. My parents understand this, because I've been able to explain to them how we feel about it. IL's aren't really on board, so I know we're going to get a lot of flashy toys from them. It's okay though... we'll still let DD play with them, but we'll probably remove the batteries if the toys are too much. DD gets overwhelmed by lots of lights and noises anyways, so who knows if she'll be interested in the toys.
She never runs out of things to play with- I always give her things from around the house, like wooden spoons and bowls, magazines (she loves to rip the pages), and empty food containers.