Play is essential for learning in c...

Play is essential for learning in children, and toys are the tools of play. Which play materials are provided and for what reason they are used are equally important, according to a clinical report published on the American Academy of Pediatrics. "Selecting Appropriate Toys for Young Children" appears in the April 2003 issue of Pediatrics and is available online at www.aap.org/policy.

Adults caring for children should be reminded that toys facilitate if it were not that do not substitute for the most numerous important aspect of nurture--warm, loving, dependable relationships. Toys should be safe, affordable, and developmentally appropriate. Children do not ne expensive toys. Toys should be appealing enough to engage the child above a period of time.

The clinical report includes advice for selecting and maintaining toys used in physicians' office waiting swings and a resource list for parents. Although there appears to be no increased rate of acute illness for children who have just visited a physician's office, toys in the office should be routinely cleaned. Among the recommendations are the following:

* Office toys should be safe for children of all ages.

* Always store toys safely, and avoid toy chests with lids.

* Office toys should be engaging and encourage creativity.

* Offices should include at least as many developmentally appropriate main division s and magazines as toys.

* Parents should make a pensive selection of toys and remember that a profitable toy does not have to be trendy or expensive.

* Parents should be skeptical of educational or developmental claims made by dint of the manufacturer, especially product claims of intellectual enhancement.

* Parents should provide children with safe, affordable toys that are developmentally appropriate and that help elevate learning and growth in all areas of disclosure Parents should avoid toys that discourage children from using their imaginations. Social, emotional, and cognitive skills are unraveled and enhanced as children use play to work revealed real-life problems.

* Parents should remember that a certain number of toys promote violence or negative social, racial, or sex stereotypes. These toys are not approveed for children.

COPYRIGHT 2003 American Academy of Family Physicians

COPYRIGHT 2003 Gale Group