Best Toys For Kids To Improve Creativity, According To Alumnus from IIT Delhi and IIM Calcutta

Creative toys for kids is a subjective term basis on how a parent defines creativity. Unfortunately, creativity in most of the cases is reduced to art, craft and painting. Whereas it is well beyond that. Creativity is the cornerstone for any and all inventions. Knowing different materials and experimenting with them is creativity. Infact, when you connect the dots, you will notice that all along while you were trying to resolve a problem, you were being creative!

Best Creative Toys For Kids To Improve Their Intelligence Quotient

If we were to go by the definition given from Oxford for IQ ; a number representing a person's reasoning ability (measured using problem-solving tests) as compared to the statistical norm or average for their age, taken as 100.

They use the word reasoning ability (measured using problem solving tests). It is how your brain reasons and solves problems. Toys that are open ended help a child to think beyond and challenge them by posing numerous problems. For example, a puzzle does help the child to activate a part of their brain that works from part to whole and whole to part. 

A set of blocks with planks and sticks teaches them various subjects together, like science and math. It works on their ability to resolve problems of gravity and measurements. By moving one block what would happen, would it topple their tower, do they have to make a stronger base. Best toys for kids are toys that allow them to explore multiple facets of education through play.

Best Building Toys For Kids

1. Lego blocks for the versatility that they offer
2. Explorer or wooden blocks with smart lines from Bombay Toy Company are a great alternative as they are made in sustainable materials and are more importantly grows with your child. It is a one time investment. You can begin by buying just the blocks and then add planks and sticks as the child grows.
3. Planks and circles also are a great option for building toys.
4. Magnetic toys are great construction and building toys too, as magnets always make a child curious.

Best Art Toys For Kids

1. A blank sheet is the best for a child. Everything is left to their imagination.
2. A blank roll from Ikea is great to have them explore what they feel like drawing.
3. Reusable doodle mats or draw and wipe from multiple brands is another great way to encourage creativity.
4. Doodle with shapes from Bombay Toy Company is a wonderful option as the child is presented with various daily shapes and encouraged to draw what they feel like and visualize it to be. You will be amazed at what all they can make or visualize.

Best Imaginative Play Toys For Kids

Imaginative toys are toys that allow children to pretend they are someone else and play. Imaginative play holds a lot of importance in their world and growth.

1. Cooking sets make a great choice as they are something that children witness on a daily basis but are kept away for safety reasons. A little kitchen with their own cooking set allows them to stir up their version of food. I am a chef! Set from Bombay Toy Company makes a wonderful set as it can be used with real fruits and food items too.
2. Doctor/construction worker sets also make a wonderful option and allows parents to observe how their children relay their experiences of their first few vaccinations or going to doctor experiences were.
3. Hobby horses are something that we have traditionally grown up with. Making sticks or brooms our horses and running away on them being a character. Hobby Horse, from Bombay Toy Company is another great addition to the playroom as it allows a child to pretend and be a warrior, princess or a prince!

Best Educational Toys For Toddlers and Young Children

1. Tracing wooden boards for alphabets and numbers by Bombay Toy Company. The child traces and it creates a muscle memory for them.
2. Pre-writing chalkboards for both English and Hindi by Bombay Toy Company.

Benefits Of Creative Educational Toys for Kids & Toddlers

• Increase boost IQ AND PROMOTE PROBLEM-SOLVING SKILLS
• Develop Senses and motor Development skills
• Encourages Creativity Ideas
• Improves Concentration
• Help Develop Social and Emotional Intelligence
• Improved Concentration
• Develop Imagination and Creativity
• Advances Problem Solving skills

How Does Creative Play(Toys) Help a Child's Development?

1. Social Benefits Of Creative Play

Children can expand their vocabulary and experiment freely with words in their own space and time, without the risk of embarrassment if they use the words incorrectly. By playing with others, using play and associated toys children begin to understand that words give them the power to re-enact a story and to organize play.

Creative play is a great way to build your child’s communication and social skills in a fun and supportive environment. My 3 children when they play together have a different take on play and fun. The way they support and teach each other is very different from their individual play. 

When children are engaged with their chosen material you’ll notice they talk to themselves about what’s happening, as well as with their peers. This in turn leads to building their vocabulary and developing their imagination.

2. Emotional Development

Imaginative and creative play benefits your child in a way to express both positive and negative feelings. It also helps him to work through difficult emotions and to understand them. I remember when of my daughter was having a difficult time in school as one of the child did not play with her. She really wanted to play with her but she did not include her in her play. While it was emotionally difficult but she navigated through her emotions at learnt that it is ok and she can play with others who wanted to play with her.

3. Thinking Skills

Creative play benefits mental growth by creating opportunities for trying out new ideas, ways of thinking and problem solving. In pretend-play, children face a variety of problems to solve. Which vegetable to cut first, what goes where and sequencing.

Whether it’s two children who want to play the same role, or looking for the right material to use for a doll’s bed, children will use important thinking skills that they’ll use through their lives. Cars, trains, boats, castles, forts etc. provide an excellent opportunity for children to develop their role play skills.

Why Are Toys Important For a Child's Development?

It is no secret that the brain of a child is a sponge, and massive amounts of psychological development happen during early childhood – or before the age of eight. Playing with toys is the first opportunity a child has to explore and interact with the world on their own terms, and through doing this children experience a wide variety of psychological benefits.

Some toys – like Building Blocks – help children develop math, science and problem solving skills. Finding ways to match differently shaped pieces and performing the physical placement of the block can do wonders for a child’s fine motor skills and cognitive development.

Strong hands are essential when it comes to learning to write, and time spent building muscle strength in the hands while playing with lacing or doing other fine motor skills will give children a head start when it comes to holding the pencil properly. 

A great way for children to begin to develop their creative skills does not even require a trip to the store – the age-old game of dress-up is a perfect way for kids to have fun while improving their imaginative skills!  While playing dress-up, the world becomes limitless. 

A child can be a doctor, an alien, a construction worker, or even just daddy driving the car.

By pretending to be something else and making one thing “become” another, children learn abstract thinking which is essential later in life. Additionally, their self-esteem and confidence gets a major boost as they complete tasks they’ve set for themselves up for.

Dress-up isn’t the only way children can gain these valuable skills. Dolls (not commercial ones but more realistic keeping in mind all shapes and body forms) offer kids an easy and fun way to engage in imaginary or “pretend play,” an important thinking skill that requires children to both realize a non-present thing exists, and then re-create it in a separate environment. 

Conclusion

Creative toys are only creative if left to the child’s imagination. A creative toy with a booklet or a parent guiding loses its purpose.

Toys for children should be age appropriate, mostly open ended, versatile and different textures.

FAQs

1. Do toys increase creativity?

Absolutely, have you not been creative while playing cards?

2. What kind of toys are best for baby development?

Depends on what you are looking to develop. But, a good pair of sensory toys teamed up with blocks should be good.

3. What makes a toy appealing to a child?

No toy appeals to a child till they are given time to explore. It is the parent who needs to play with the toy before the child does.

4. What makes an excellent educational toy?

Anything that your child finds comfort with. Their learning style is the most important. For example, If they are kinesthetic then invest in a tracing board.

5. What are the qualities of a good toy?

Safe, grows with your child, multiple uses, can be used among siblings and age appropriate.