Top 10 Toys for Preschool Children

What makes a good toy? For me, observing the daily habits of my 3-year old, a good toy is one which is selected most or which lends itself to use in multiple ways. Living in India, there is not a wide variety of playthings available in shops and many are plastic, which I try to avoid wherever possible. However, I’ve appreciated the lack of choice as it has forced me to be highly selective about toys. There are so many playthings which are initially attractive – perhaps have flashing lights or movement – but soon lose their appeal and end up gathering dust on the shelf.

I’ve put together a list of things which, in our house at least, my child returns to again and again and in which he seems to find fresh interest. The list excludes books, which play a different role in a child’s world and which require a separate Top 10 list of their own. I have not put soft toys on the list either nor board games, vehicles or balls ‘n’ rackets etc.

Article 31 (Leisure, Play and Culture) of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child states that children have ‘the right to relax and play, and to join in a wide range of cultural, artistic and other recreational activities.’ The importance of play and its role in child development is much better understood these days and is a growth area in academic research. In 2017, Paul Ramchandani was appointed the world’s first “Professor of Play” working for the Department of Education at Cambridge University in its Centre for Research on Play in Education, Development and Learning. As well as being surely one of the coolest job titles, his role denotes a fresh interest in the notion and importance of play.

I had hoped to include a definition of ‘play’ within this article, as it can be broader than perhaps many of us may conceptualise it. However, it seems that there is considerable debate on the subject and most scholars tend to agree only upon the fact that it is an extremely elusive concept to define! As a function of human development, play involves social, physical, emotional and intellectual skills and rewards. I am personally drawn to an understanding of play as an example of the ‘flow’ espoused by Csikszentmihalyi. He describes ‘flow’ as ‘being completely involved in an activity for its own sake’ (1996) which can, of course, be applied to a number of activities in life but especially play. I feel like the toys listed below can, at time, lend themselves very well to that state of complete absorption and intrinsic motivation that flow in play produces.

So here is my list:

10) Building blocks No list of favourite playthings would be complete without building blocks, right? Offering children endless simple pleasures from the earliest age – towers to build and knock down, imaginary worlds to create, shapes and patterns to explore - this evergreen toy finds its way in to most homes and early years’ settings. A child engaging in imaginary play with blocks has the ability to turn them into people, animals, trees, food and vehicles. Constructing patterns and structures with blocks develops children’s understanding of balance, symmetry, size and proportion. It is the open-ended nature of this plaything which I feel is the secret to its enduring appeal across the generations and I’m pretty sure will secure its ubiquity into the future.

9) Cardboard tubes The amount of fun that can be derived from a simple cardboard tube is really quite remarkable. Tubes of varying sizes become pirate telescopes, talking tubes, slides, trumpets, walking sticks and more. One of our favourite games with tubes is whispering messages or silly sounds down them which generally ends up in fits of giggles from all involved.

8) Lego As far as branded toys go, can there be any better than Lego? The colourful interlocking bricks really need no introduction as their appeal has sustained over the years since they hit the shops in the late 1950’s. In our house, we began with the bigger Duplo bricks but for my son’s 3^rd birthday, he received a sizeable stash of the ‘Classic’ Lego bricks. The best sets are the non-themed ones, sets of plain bricks, wheels and other parts which can be made into anything the imagination creates. They are excellent for fine motor development and creativity and are just simply great fun to play with. My son lost interest in putting things in his mouth quite early on so the choking hazard Lego pieces pose was not really a risk but it always pays to be cautious in regard to young children and small items.

7) Small world animals and people Our collection of small animals and people (many of which had been kept since I played with them in my childhood) are a firm favourite with my son and his friends. Quite often the setting-up is the most absorbing part of the play, creating houses, castles, zoos and various worlds for them to live in. I generally try to avoid plastic toys and we have a fantastic collection of wooden and metal animals, but I am really fond of Playmobil people, with their friendly, appealing faces and movable limbs.

6) Hats The transformative power of a hat is really extraordinary. A hat can instantly enhance imaginary play as the wearer takes on the character’s role. The ‘right’ hat is not really the point for a preschool child but it is simply the wearing of it which provides the stimulus. Wearing a cowboy hat while pretending to cook might not look quite right to an adult but it makes perfect sense to a young child. Pretend play props are numerous and varied but the hat seems to have the most appeal.

5) Musical instruments Making music is something that seems inherent in all of us and even the shyest bathroom singer likes to sing or hum to herself from time to time. One of the earliest actions a baby achieves is banging an item on another and seems to derive infinite pleasure from the sounds produced. It seems that young children just love exploring sounds on instruments and can become absorbed in this for surprisingly long periods of time. I’ve always favoured ‘proper’ instruments over ‘toy’ ones as the sounds they produce are usually much more satisfying. My little one had a ukulele from the time that he could sit up and it has survived being bashed, chewed and sat on. We’ve also got a collection of drums, shakers, a xylophone and various things to blow down; all of which have remained undamaged through almost daily use.

4) Scissors Admittedly, not a conventional item on a list of toys, scissors earn their place partly because of the understanding within the child that this is a special item to be handled with care and, once mastered, can produce exciting results. Certainly, it takes quite some time to learn to use scissors and there are various levels of mastery, each of which produce an extreme feeling of satisfaction once achieved. There is plenty of literature too on the benefits of scissor control, its development of hand-eye coordination and especially as a precursor to using a writing implement. Simply cutting paper into smaller pieces or following lines seems to be a very relaxing activity for young children, one which my little one independently returns to time and time again.

3) Chalk There are, of course, numerous implements to draw or write with, but chalk, particularly the chunky playground variety, has some qualities which have resulted in its presence on this list. It is pretty difficult to do damage to anything with chalk unlike paints, crayons or pens and it doesn’t require any extras like water, brushes or even paper to draw on. This means that children can play with it unsupervised and with a great deal of freedom. If you are lucky to have an outdoor space like a balcony or garden with any kind of tile or brickwork, children love creating on those surfaces. It rubs or washes off effortlessly and encourages process over product. Of course, the artistic expressions can be captured on camera but, in essence, a chalk picture is a thing of the moment. Another quality is that is allows children to make large hand and arm movements, allowing for fluidity and expression.

2) Torch The toys which make it to the top two spots on my list are both ones which encourage seeing things in a new way. A darkened room and a torch suddenly becomes a whole new space, and the imagination can run wild as shadows move, shrink and grow. A torch invites us to look at things from different angles, to peer under objects or up to un-noticed corners. It also encourages night-time walks to hunt for nocturnal creatures and just enjoy the thrill of seeing the familiar in a different light.

1) Magnifying glass So the toy which gets the most playtime in our house is the humble magnifying glass. Its near-magical power to distort the image of an object and reveal things usually unseen makes it a very special plaything. Even the ‘toy’ magnifiers produce adequate magnification to see great detail in ordinary items. We actually have three different ones, each of which get played with pretty much every single day.  Possibly the single most-used and most-treasured item in our house at the moment is a combination magnifier and torch with a very high magnification, allowing us to see things up close in truly fascinating detail. My son revels in examining the weave in clothing, bumps and veins of leaves, uniform dots of colour on printed images and the tubes in a cross-cut plant stem. Regular exclamations are heard as he insists on sharing his discoveries with the rest of us – “Come and look at this, it’s absolutely amazing!”

So there you go! I hope that you might rediscover the value of a particular toy or have been introduced to a new one. Each child develops unique interests and goes through phases of enjoyment in play activities. This was a list inspired by my own youngster’s preferences and those of his friends and intended as a suggestion only. I’d love to hear what has made it to others’ own top toys list, so please feel free to comment and share.