More Need for Creative Play in a Digital World
During inservice meetings in the last few months, Davis Early Intervention has been discussing the need for more creative play in an ever-increasing digital world.
In the article, “Selecting Appropriate Toys for Young Children in the Digital Era,” Healey and Mendelsohn (2019), state that there has been an increase in screen time over the past decade with young children and has caused a decrease in active play and play with toys by children. This is significant to young children’s development because screen time has been interfering with children’s play activities and with interactions between the parent and child. (Importance of play and interacting with parents in play was something that was discussed in last month’s blog and the impact it has on not only the child’s brain and development, but the parents too – see March 2, 2019 Davis Early Intervention blog post from last month for more information).
In the article “The Case for Creative Play in a Digital Age,” Dr. Alan Mendelsohn, an associate professor of pediatrics at New York University School of Medicine says the problem is that parents are getting so many messages from all different sources about how screens, tablets, mobile devices, laptops, and many other electronic devices will help their children to learn and will advance their child’s development (Klass, 2018). Like stated previously, these devices are inhibiting the child playing with their parents. He further states, “It’s that playing together that matters most, both while the children are young and as they grow. Spending some time playing with your child or reading with your child builds the relationship. It helps them as things get more complicated in later childhood and adolescence” (Klass, 2018).
So then what do parents do? Klass (2018) states The American Academy of Pediatrics is saying that parents should pick high-quality traditional toys rather than the extravagant digital toys.
Traditional (physical) toys can be categorized in a variety of ways: (1) symbolic and/or pretend (eg, dolls, action figures, cars, cooking and/or feeding implements, etc); (2) fine motor, adaptive, and/or manipulative (eg, blocks, shapes, puzzles, trains, etc); (3) art (eg, clay and coloring); (4) language and/or concepts (eg, card games, toy letters, and board games); and (5) gross motor and/or physical (eg, large toy cars, tricycles, and push and pull toys). High-quality toys in each of these categories can facilitate caregiver-child interactions, peer play, and the growth of imagination. It should be emphasized that high-quality toys need not be expensive. For example, toy blocks, in addition to household objects, can be interesting for a child to examine and explore, especially if the child observes adults using them. Unfortunately, many caregivers believe that expensive electronic toys (eg, sensory-stimulating noise and light toys for infants and toddlers) and tablet-based toys are essential for their children’s healthy development; however, evidence suggests that core elements of such toys (eg, lights and sounds emanating from a robot) detract from social engagement that might otherwise take place through facial expressions, gestures, and vocalizations and that may be important for social development. (Healey and Mendelsohn, 2019)
“The less bells and whistles a toy comes with, the more it lends itself to creative play and imaginative play. The more the toy can do on its own, the more distraction it lends itself to” (Klass, 2018).
As children get older, they are more influenced by marketing tactics and they begin to crave and have very strong wishes for certain toys and objects. How do parents handle this, especially because it’s natural for parents to want to please their children? Dr. Mendelsohn said that parents need to find a balance between finding toys children want and that will make them happy and finding toys that will be positive for the child and lead to the parent and child being able to interact and enjoy the item and their time together (Klass, 2018.)
Parent-child interactions and play together are so important for the development of their child. Choosing traditional toys over the digital and highly sensory toys, will also better help a child’s development and provide better opportunities for the parent and child to interact and play together.
If you would like to read more about this, check out these articles (referred to above):
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/17/well/family/the-case-for-creative-play-in-a-digital-age.html
https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/143/1/e20183348
References
Healey A., & Mendelsohn, A. (2019). Selecting appropriate toys for young children in the digital era. Pediatrics, 143(1). Retrieved March 27, 2019 from https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/143/1/e20183348
Klass, P. (2018, December 17). The case for creative play in a digital age. The New York Times. Retrieved on March 27, 2019 from https://www.nytimes.com
