Wooden Toy’s Available at EASE!
Wooden toys are becoming more and more popular. Both parents and teacher are starting to recognise the pros of using wooden toys. Not only are they a timeless beautiful piece that appeal to a range of ages, on a practical level they are durable and easily cleaned, a must have feature for a busy mammy. A wooden toy is a toy that grows with your child. A child’s first experience of wooden blocks begins with the most basic manipulation and movement of the block. This interaction graduates to more complex structures and buildings being created by the child. As the child’s skills grow the uses for the wooden blocks become more versatile. A wooden toy piques your child’s interest and from here your child’s imagination drives the game and decides what direction their interaction with the toy takes. Children are now surrounded by toys that flash, make sounds and attack the child’s senses. These toy’s encourage solo play and with all the sounds and distractions the child does not need to use their imagination to play they only have to focus on the toy and what the toy is telling them to do. When a child is engaged in play with these interactive toys it is not child lead play, it is play dictated by the toy. This type of play does not encourage your child to explore the toy or use the toy in different ways. My son will sit and watch his leap pad and not move for minutes, mesmerized by the lights and the noises. He is completely absorbed in the sounds and zoned out from what is going on around him. However when Conor plays with his wooden blocks he looks at me for encouragement and gets excited when he stacks the blocks and then they fall over. We play together on the floor with his blocks and he is always testing the physics of the block by stacking and creating different structures. While I watch him play with his blocks I can see his skills improving and developing through his movements and confidence with the blocks. I can see him getting braver as he stacks the blocks and the smile on his face when everything crashes to the ground with a big loud bang!
