As parents, one of the milestones we look forward to is hearing our child utter our name. It’s amazing that children can express their wants and wishes through speech. In turn, there’s much we can do to support and develop this ability in our children. In addition to being entertaining, wooden toys teach vital skills for your child’s healthy social and emotional development. While playing with traditional children wooden toys, your kids are also learning pre-academic skills. Let’s discuss it in more detail below.
How wooden toys can improve children’s socio-emotional development
Wooden toys are a great way to encourage kids’ cognitive, social, and emotional growth as well as their language and physical development. Hence, it’s crucial to choose toys that are appropriate for their growth.
One of the main benefits of wooden toys is that they encourage children to use their imagination, which is essential for their growth, development, and cognitive capacity. Wooden toys don’t contain electrical components or voice controls that can give instructions to your kids, allowing them to use imagination and logical thinking.
The characteristics of the wooden toys
- Infants and young children naturally perceive colours through their learning of the natural shades, colour and grain of the wood can be aesthetically appealing.
- One may perceive the smell and natural texture of wood. The weight and smoothness of wood are particularly beneficial for children as they develop their sense of touch, and the natural scent promotes psychological relaxation.
- Most wooden toys have geometrical shapes due to the wood’s properties, making it difficult to curve or express in many ways during the production process. The weight and basic design of wood tend to result in stacking or loosely fitting structures.
- Wooden toys are durable and can be refreshed with sandpaper or repainted if the paint begins to peel. Besides, they are recyclable, and their longevity can be extended with proper care.
Social and emotional development
Wooden toys, such as rhythm instruments, melodic instruments, water pools, sand games, playing home sets, and unit blocks are suitable for social and emotional development. Tone and rhythm provide babies and young children with means of self-expression, emotional stability, and inventiveness.
Water and sand offer children a smooth and soothing tactile experience and emotional stability. Babies stack, dig, and beat the sand. Infants and early children learn social skills, such as cooperation and following rules when playing with others of the same age group, and their social skills develop appropriately as a result.
Babies and early children often express their wants through role-playing to feel good about themselves and maintain emotional stability. By engaging in various forms of role-playing, they can overcome selfish thinking and behaviour and advance their social growth. Moreover, role-playing can reduce tension and resolve negative emotions like anger, fear, and jealousy in newborns and early children.
The table below includes images of wooden toys that are suitable for the social and emotional growth of babies and young children.
Language advancement
Children that can acquire any language are always attentive to what we say. This means that a child raised in a multilingual environment will likely become multilingual, highlighting the importance of a child’s environment in terms of teaching them how to speak.
Having a conversation with your child while reading a picture book is crucial for communication development. Toys for pretend play are also a fantastic technique to improve language skills. By playing with dolls and acting out various scenarios with friends, parents, or other family members, children can understand actual events and improve their communication skills.
Wooden toys suitable for language development include listening, speaking, reading, and writing materials. Young children can enhance their language skills by showing interest in speaking, reading, writing, and listening.
Infants and young children exhibit interest in precise pronunciation, grammatically correct phrases, vocabulary, while also learning a language organically by listening to others speak and imitating them. This allows for the development of excellent communication habits and attitudes. Moreover, language can serve as a useful medium to increase their cognition and creativity through various expressions.
The following table includes wooden toys that promote young children’s language development.
Choose Wooden Toys for Your Child to Learn New Skills
Children enjoy experiencing various weights and textures, but they don’t receive the same sensory stimulation from plastic as they do from wooden toys. Playing with wooden toys promotes creative expression, develops dexterity, and inventiveness, and improves physical, cognitive, and emotional skills in children. Moreover, wooden toys are essential for healthy brain development. Children use play to interact and engage with the world around them from a very early age, making wooden toys a fantastic way to learn new skills. Kids are the best experts on the sensation that comes from stroking your hands over a well-made wooden object, and wooden toys provide a timeless quality that adds an ideal design to any space.