As you may have noticed after spending a good chunk of dough on the newest toy for your child: Money doesn’t buy happiness—or at least not for long. Children, toddlers, and babies can be just as happy playing with simple and inexpensive toys, as long as they provide enough opportunities for imaginative play. Toys that invite creative play and that can be used in many different ways are called open-ended toys. These toys are great both for a developing thinker, and also for your pocketbook.
The Benefits of Open-Ended Toys
A lot of today’s toys are made to entertain your child. They do funny things at the push of a button and provide all kinds of sensory stimulation. These toys are definitely not bad for your child, but they don’t allow children to entertain themselves by using their imagination. Kids will greatly benefit from being able to look inside themselves to decide what to do with their time. Kids that have opportunities to play creatively grow up better able to think for themselves.
What to Look For
A good place to start when looking for open-ended toys might be to think back to your own childhood. Think of your favorite memories, and what you did while you were playing. Years ago, children spent more time playing with open-ended toys–chances are that you did to. Nearly every place that you can buy toys sells open-ended toys, although they are definitely not the most common things on the shelves. One great place I have found for really inexpensive, great toys is Ikea. All the toys they sell are great options.
When you look for toys, buy simple ones that are versatile. Some great examples are:
Wooden blocks
Balls
Crayons and paper
Dolls
Of course there are simple and fancier versions of each of these toys. A real open-ended toy is simple, and usually doesn’t contain any batteries. Not having to spend money continually replacing batteries will save you money as well. The most important thing is that children learn to create fun, instead of just having it forced on them all of the time.