Creative Toddler Toys

When I was pregnant I swore that I would allow my son only quiet, creativity-inspiring toys. I also promised myself that I would not let him watch TV. After reading several articles about attention deficit disorder in children, I became convinced that noisy toys and television were the main ingredients in the perfect recipe for raising a child with limited attention span and no imagination. But reality being what it is, my son is now a toddler and over the last twenty months we’ve accumulated an amazing collection of noisy toys whose only goal seems to be to encourage a short attention span. And every afternoon I am serenaded by cheerful monsters reciting their alphabets and numbers to catchy songs as my son sits in front of the TV for an hour in slack-jawed awe of the delightful wonder that is Sesame Street.

I’m learning that there is no black and white to this parenting job. Things are neither good nor bad and there isn’t much that can destroy a child unless it’s excessive. An hour of Sesame Street each day won’t hurt him, but watching eight hours of war movies every day could. A toy box full of noisy toys won’t ruin his imagination as long as he has other things to play with and he’s not staring at a Leapfrog toy all day as it mindlessly entertains him with lights and music. Something else I’ve learned as a parent is how much of what comes into my home is out of my control. After Christmas and birthdays I could easily stock an entire aisle in Toys ‘R Us thanks to the generous contributions from relatives and friends.

So the noisy toys have their place in my home, as does television, but when I’m not listening to the singing caterpillar or watching the letter “J” fly through a cartoon jungle on TV, I try to devote some time to coming up with alternative things for my child to do. And over the months I’ve found some great activities and toys.