Toys and technology continue to rise
Gone are the days when a few stuffed animals, a few dolls or a few trucks and a set of blocks would be the basic toys a child would have in their room. Today, the average child’s room will have these things plus at least two or three electronic toys, either just to play or for educational games.
Today, toys are not just for fun. There is a growing emphasis on getting children to learn just a few months after they are born. A doll was once a simple and cute thing for a child to hold. Now the dolls can talk, eat and go to the bathroom. Teddy bears used to be just a cuddly friend. Now some teddy bears have become ensigns. For many years, educational toys meant blocks, beads, puzzles, and balls. These toys help children learn about color, shape and numbers by allowing them to explore the concepts of bigger and smaller, more and less. But that was “yesterday”.
Today, toys that don’t normally have a typical connection to technology are newly wired. There’s a new generation of dolls and stuffed animals that are now linked to Internet sites so kids can hug and dress them up one minute, then go online to social media the next.
In the last five years there has been a significant increase in the number of tech-enabled toys available to children that make the original Tickle Me Elmo and Baby Born look like ancient heirlooms. Children have become key consumers, so it’s only natural that children’s toys keep pace with technology for adults.
Some parents, as well as some in the educational field, may feel that with so much technology a child doesn’t have the opportunity to be truly creative. It seems that everything is already done for them or is easily done by pressing a few buttons. Years ago, preschool and kindergarten were mostly about games. Today, parents expect their child’s daycare to have at least two or three computers along with a good curriculum for learning.
Some toys can be educational, but what do children think of these toys? “Many who have studied children and toy technology say that children have a real fascination with new technology. When they engage in creative play with technologically enhanced toys, they can learn and have fun. While that may be true , the question is: are they really having more fun than other kids before all this new toy technology, or have they just been “programmed” that way?