I consulted with my mom, who not only raised 3 kids, but was trained as a child development specialist, to give you some tips on the kind of toys that help your child develop in a healthy way: both mentally and emotionally.

• Develops creativity

  That is: an toy that doesn’t do too much on it’s own and can be used in all kinds of ways. Dolls, construction toys, doll houses, clay, drawing material etc.

• Stimulates the senses

  Children are getting to know how the world works and toys are part of that. The difference between soft and hard, wood and metal, plastic and dirt… Examples are putty, musical instruments, craft supplies etc.

• Age appropriate

  This includes watching out for toys with small parts for babies and toddlers as well as making sure toys aren’t too simple or too complicated for your child.

• Calm

  A lot of toys these days activate children without them having to do anything. There are always sounds, movement on screens etc. This may be a great help in keeping your child quiet, but it won’t help them learn to be active in a healthy way themselves. My mom explicitly mentioned wooden toys as the kind of toys that aren’t too intrusive.

• Stimulate your child to do something

  Lego, blocks, dolls (for pretend play), a basketball etc. Classic toys that stimulate your child to go out and learn, without being any less fun.

Dolls Are Great Toys For Kids

Dolls fit into the creativity aspect of play and they require that the child do most of the work when it comes to play time. They are wonderful for pretend play whether the child pretends to be the mommy, daddy or sibling. They might even go further and pretend to be the Nannie or babysitter. A baby doll starts to teach a child about nurturing another individual and they also help with developmental skills in a lot of ways. Little fingers will get practice in the fine motor skills of learning to dress and undress their doll. The simple act of placing clothing over the head and body, getting the arms and legs in and learning to work the velcro fastener, snap or zipper are all helping with those motor skills. They may start to get creative in finding colors that work well together in matching clothing and accessories or even patterns that look complimentary or not.

In the last decade or so, makers of dolls have gotten much better at creating dolls that represent different ethnic cultures of the world. Girls whose roots are from Africa, Asia or Hispanic cultures are no longer forced to play with only Caucasian type dolls. This brings in the importance of being proud of your heritage and the comfort of knowing that even doll babies will look like the members of your own family. It builds self esteem in children that was lacking in years past.

Slightly older children that have a little more ability to work with smaller pieces are fond of the fashion dolls of today. There are so many to choose from with the ever popular Barbie doll losing ground to the more popular Monster High dolls. They again, are encouraged to use their imagination with these dolls by working the the fashions and playing along with popular story lines that they see on television and the little movies that have been created about the popular fashion dolls of this century.

Dollhouses For Imaginative Play

A doll house is a wonderful way to encourage children to use their imaginations and be on the creative side, too. This is a toy option that you should make sure is age appropriate. A dollhouse and all of the little pieces of furniture is not a good choice for a baby or small toddler. The pieces are small and could be swallowed by a child who is too small to understand that the toys are meant to be moved around in the rooms and not meant to be placed in their mouths.

These little houses can be made from wood or most commonly any more they are made of sturdy plastic. The metal ones that were so popular back in the 1950s and 1960s are not found any longer as new toys. They had sharp edges and children could and did get cut on them. The ones found today are much safer and provide a way for kids to pretend, use their own imaginations and be creative at the same time.

A dollhouse does not have to be just for little girls, either. Boys can be just as comfortable with a house to pretend play with as a little girl can be. The house for boys may be more oriented to a profession like firemen or in a line of stories that boys find more appealing.

Construction toys for boys and girls – Lego and other building toys

Kids love to build things and right now the building sets by Lego are very popular with kids of all ages. The wonderful thing about this little plastic bricks is that kids can now build some pretty substantial looking buildings while working on some skills that will stay with them as they grow up. Today’s Legos come with very easy to follow directions that does not even require a reading level. The kids can follow the picture based directions. This allows them to do a couple of things. They will match the pieces to the ones shown in the photo and they will follow directions to accomplish a goal. Once completed they have a boosted self esteem for having done the project on their own and they have a fun toy to play with after the build There are sets for boys and for girls.

Lego is not the only construction type toys either. There are other makers of great building toys.

Also very educational: construction toys help develop all kinds of useful qualities in boys and girls. Lego bricks, giant blocks, ordinary blocks, Play Mobile, Knex, Lincoln’s Logs and more – construction toys are fun and educational toys that and help kids develop their intelligence and hand-eye coordination in all kinds of ways. Construction toys are really the quintessential educational learning toys.

Building Blocks and Construction Toys are a cool gifting option, for Christmas and beyond. Not only do they entertain the children – they also develop their skills, and provide a cool educational factor – which is missing in many of the heavily advertised Toys.

Lincoln Logs Building Sets

Lincoln Logs Wooden Construction Sets have been around for nearly one hundred years now. Their longevity is surely a proof of top class quality and workmanship. The idea is simple: create your own log cabin out of mini-logs. The sets are created in such a way that the cabin can be small or large, just as suits the imagination.

Most of the Lincoln Logs buildings have a historical connection – it’s a great idea to teach Kids some history trivia, while they assemble the Wooden Buildings with Plastic roofs.

Best Playmobil Sets for Christmas

Playmobil is one of the top most brands of Construction Toys and Mini Figures in the entire world. Headquartered in Zirndorf, Germany – Playmobil is very popular in Europe and the United States.

There are lots of Playmobil sets centered around the Christmas theme. This Squidoo Lens presents some of the best Playmobil sets for boys and girls this Christmas and the Holiday Season.

 Develop Creativity – modeling clay and crayons

Along the lines of building or creating things with their hands is the idea of giving a child modeling clay or putty to play with. They can use their own imaginations to create all kinds of things by taking the clay or putty and rolling it, squishing it, flattening it and anything else they can think of to make wonderful creations that they see in their own little minds. There are different products that you can use with the clay or putty to create things like food, monsters and a plethora of items. Those are great but then the toy is doing more of the work than the child. Giving them the basics and letting them come up with their own ideas is even better.

Encourage them to use items found around the house to help them. Old cookie cutters that can cut shapes for them are fun ways for them to play with the clay or putty. Have an old rolling pin that you do not use any more? Let the kids roll out their clay or putty with it.

Wikki Stix

Clean creative fun! Wikkie Stix are used by parents on the road, keeping children busy from 1.5 years and up! 

Shown here is a 3-D elephant the manufacturer dreamed up, but the stix are versatile: they can easily be used on a flat surface too. 

The only drawback is that they do become messy on fuzzy carpet or close to pets. Otherwise – clean fun that helps develop motor skills and creativity. 

Play Time For The Future Little Artist

Many children love to draw, color or paint and it is a wonderful activity to make sure they have some time to do. It certainly is something they do on their own and it helps them in more ways than you can imagine. They get to let their creative juices flow, they think about the colors they want to use, they may come up with their own idea of the concept of the art and they have some quiet time as they plan and execute their little masterpiece. Their fingers are getting some practice in holding and using a utensil to draw, color or paint with, also.

They might also like to work on a simple little craft project rather than draw or paint. There are some pretty awesome craft kits that are simple for children to use.
Of course you can purchase some special paper for the children to draw on but something that is a little more environmentally friendly is to let them use the backside of those papers you printed out on the computer and are about to throw away in the trash. Let that paper have one more use…the beginning of a child’s artwork.

Let the kids get a little crafty!

School age children might be interested in creating something from a craft kit. They most often come with the supplies that are needed to complete the craft and have easy to use directions. Another option would be to get a book that has craft ideas that you can have around the house to let the child decide which project they want to try. This is a way to reinforce the ability to follow directions and it may involve cutting, piecing, gluing and other activities that will help with their fine motor skills.

Doing craft project is also an activity that children can go together or the family can work on for some fun bonding time.

Stimulate Their Senses With A Musical Instrument

It is always a good idea to stimulate a child’s senses and most toys do that in their own way. An important one that some parents forget about is the sound aspect as far as music goes. Certainly their are toys that make noise with clicks, clacks, bangs and booms but encouraging music can be a nice stimulant, too. Providing them with a toy that allows them to dance to the beat of their own music allows them to be creative, become familiar with musical notes and the cause and effect of doing certain things to make the instrument play music.

One less well known advantage: children who learn music will be better able to understand people: both in vocabulary and things like the nuances of facial expression. Music is good for you!

Body Sox

We had hearing-sense just now. This is all about touch, movement and spatial awareness. It’s also simply fun. 

The material is see-through, so even if the head is put inside the body sox, your kid is never lost. 

These Body Sox are especially recommended for children with sensory motor issues (ADHD, Autism spectrum etc.), however, I know I would have loved it myself at that age. Available from age 3, recommended from age 5 all the way into adulthood. I suspect below 5 adult supervision is necessary.

Kinetic Sand

Another touchy feely toy is kinetic sand. Like clay it sticks together, but you get the rough feel of sand. It’s suitable for all kinds of play – from pretend play to developing creativity or just messing about. Which ever your child ends up doing: they’ll be developing their creativity, spatial coordination and sensory perception. 

Wooden Toys For Christmas

The toys made from wood are not usually ones that will fall into the category of doing more than the child does during playtime. They usually are things like blocks that the child can build with, learn numbers and letters with and their colors, too.

Other wooden toy items may be vehicles that they will have to move around with their own power or make it fly using their arms or hands. They are usually constructed in a way that enhance play while encouraging some pretending and imaginative thoughts on playing with the toy.

It may look like a tool that Daddy and Mommy uses and they will really like that. A pounding bench stimulates the senses while working on hand to eye skills, cause and effect and so much more. Because they are so colorful a child can also pick out the blue pegs to pound or the red ones. You can also begin to work on following directions by suggesting they do a blue peg first and then a yellow one which starts to develop their memory, too.

Let them play ball!

Balls are magical toys! There are balls that are meant for specific sports and then there are just balls for rolling, tossing, kicking and just having pure unadulterated fun with. As your child begins to develop a ball can help with eye to hand and eye to foot skills. They can learn to roll softly or roll strongly. Lightly tap the ball with their foot or actually kick it. Later they may learn to throw it like a real basketball or baseball. Work the ball for a game of soccer or hit it with a racket in tennis.
Kids can have so much fun with the simple ball! Using their imaginations while developing their bodies at the same time.

See also:

• Best Electronic Toys and Gadgets for Kids
• Airplane Toys
• Toy Advent Calendars
• Talking Dolls
• Harry Potter toys for girls and boys