So off you go, heading to the toyshop and are ready to buy cool toys for kids and the latest craze that your child has been begging for. Awesome, that should keep them entertained for ages you think. You’re convinced that even the latest and greatest cool kids for boys, who tend to get bored more quickly than girls, will keep them entertained for one seriously long time. Phew a bit of a break you think. Oops, sorry wrong! There will be no peace for you.
Each year, hundreds of thousands of new toys hit the shelves. That’s great for toy companies, but for parents, there’s a big problem. Kids don’t play with them for very long.
That amazing brand new gadget and toy that you buy will probably last for a few days and yep, you guessed it, the boredom kicks in, only for it to be left on the side lines with the “I’m bored,” returning in full force.
According to Isaac Squires, who has been studying toys for the last year, he said that “The average toy on a toy shelf, you buy it, you take home, and it’ll last you four days. The best toys, you’ll get seven to 14 days out of.” That’s quite frightening.
The trick is in buying the right cool toys for kids and especially cool kids for boys to make them last and keep them entertained for more than a couple of days. In fact if you choose wisely, those awesome toys can last you for years to come. Here we’re going to show you how, and in the long run you’ll certainly save some cash too! You’ll probably still have the “I wants,” but hey, that goes with childhood, at least you’ll have some armour to fight the boredom for one seriously long time.
So let’s get on with it!
1. Rotate Toys
This is an absolute classic trick that works like a charm. If you rotate your kids toys they will last for longer. If you rotate them, they’ll last longer and your kids won’t lose interest as quickly. When you buy classic cool toys for kids, like wooden toys or building toys that require manipulation, imagination and creativity, you won’t have to rotate these as quickly, but toys like dolls, stuffed animals and even figurines will need to be rotated quickly.
Put all the toys into medium sized bins and just leave 1 to 2 bins out from each pile. Store the rest out of sight. Rotate them every 1 to 4 months. But those classic toys we spoke about won’t need to be rotated as quickly.
2. Choose your Toys Wisely
When you’re looking at buying toys always think quality over quantity. What’s going to last, how can the toy ‘grow up’ with your child as they reach different developmental stages and are they good quality toys that won’t break. Make sure that there are learning opportunities for them as they enter each different phase. You need to offer lots of learning content in the early years.
As an example, the different stages that your child will go through are all about exploring first, then comes some encouragement from you and finally pretend play kicks in. So consider these stages wisely.
When it comes to outdoor play, try and get them to use real tools that will last the distance to dig around in the dirt, play with plants, and rocks as well.
3. How to Choose the Right Toys
Toddlers and kids are young explorers and learn by doing. Play is the best opportunity for them to develop and practice new skills and this is where cool toys for kids and cool kids for boys come into play. Toys that last the distance will allow them to practice new skills at their own pace by following their interests. The toys you have can shape their development in important ways, and that’s something important to consider.
When you head out to the toy store, you’re ready for action and believe that it will take you a quick second to get what you want that will engage your little one for years to come. Well actually the opposite is true…you could probably spend a lifetime in a toyshop as it’s so easy to become overwhelmed with the huge amount of choices, that have flashing lights, voices, and all sorts of other gadgets attached to them.
So how do you know what’s high quality and what will last? What will be the right toy for your child that will engage their interest for more than a few days or weeks?
Here we take a look at some ideas for choosing toys that will grow with your child, challenge them and nurture their overall development when it comes to thinking, physical, language and social and emotional skills.
- Choose Toys that can be used in Different Ways
Kids of all ages like to take stuff apart, put stuff back together again, put in, add on and build up. Choose toys that are ‘open-ended’ and can be used in many different ways and that there are lots of different game playing opportunities with them. Some things to consider are wooden blocks, interlocking blocks, balls and rods to put together, geometrical figures and shapes and other things that spark their imagination and help them develop problem-solving and logical thinking stills.
- Choose Toys that will Grow with your Child
Oh that sinking feeling you get when some cool toys for kids that cost a fortune and they get home only to land up in the toy box never seeing the light of day again. So, the answer is to look for toys that are fun and interesting at different developmental stages. For example you can use plastic toy animals. A younger child might make a house for them or an older child could act out a story they’ve made up with them. You can also use cool toys for boys like action figures, trains and dump trucks that will last for years. Think dollhouses, stuffed animals, dolls and more, all to keep those imaginations alive.
- Toys for Exploration and Problem Solving
The best toys out there will help your child to practice new skills over and over again. They need to be able to figure stuff out on their own, or maybe with a bit of coaching for you. This will build their logical thinking skills and help them to become the problem-solvers of the future. These types of cool toys for kids will help them develop their spatial relations skills, how things fit together, hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills.
You can consider toys like puzzles, shape sorters, blocks; art materials and even things like play dough.
- Toys to Spark Imaginations
Creativity really starts to rocket from the age of 3 and up, as they now understand the role of someone else, like a king or a queen. What they then do is imagine that something, for example a simple block is somebody else, like a piece of cake or a garage or something similar. Look for toys that your kids can use as they develop and they can act out stories with them. Pretend play is critical for kids and builds language and literacy skills, problem-solving skills as well as the ability to sequence, which means putting thing in a logical order.
You can use things like dress-up clothing, which is always a winner, wooden blocks, toy foods and plastic plates, stuffed animals, dolls, trains, trucks, toy tools and real life accessories like wrapping paper tubes for a firehose for the young and budding firefighter. The cardboard box will never lose its appeal and can take your kids on adventures of note as they become houses, ships, barns and tunnels.
- The Real Stuff
Unbelievably cool toys for kids and cool toys for boys are the real stuff that’s lying around your house. They start getting really good at figuring out how things work in the world like that television remote, which keeps disappearing of course, light switches, cell phones (which also seems to do another disappearing act). They are keen as anything to be as capable as you. You can either give them the real deal, or get toys that look like the real deal. It depends how attached you are to your goodies! These types of toys help them to problem-solve, learn how things all fit together and develop fine motor skills too. Give them plastic dishes and food, toy keys, toy phones, dress-up clothes, musical instruments and child-size things like brooms, mops, brushes and dustpans. Nothing wrong with getting them to help out with the cleaning at an early age!
- Getting Ready to Read Toys
We all want budding readers, and you can get some toys that will encourage a reader from a young age like books, magnetic alphabet letters, art supplies like crayons and finger paints. All of these types of toys will help your child develop early writing and reading skills. Also use ‘real-life’ props like take-out menus, catalogues and even magazines. They love these as they look at them and start recognising different letters, text and print.
- Get them Active
It’s really important to make sure that your kids are active from an early age…as they say, start early. Kids love doing physical tricks, no matter how much it scares the life out of you. They get more confident in their own skins and experiment with their bodies. Look for cool toys for kids that help them practice their physical skills and develop new ones too! Think balls of different shapes and sizes, tricycles, bicycles, scooters, bowling sets, basketball hoops and push and pull toys, gardening tools to dig and get dirty and even get them to move boxes to make tunnels to crawl through.
- Nurture Cross-Generational Play
There is no doubt about the fact that adults and kids can play together, and kids love it when you play with them. You can play almost anything together, but there are definitely some games that need your participation. Start with board games that involve using memory skills, but depending on their age, you might need to look for games that don’t require reading. These are fun for all ages to play. Why not start a family game night tradition when you all set time aside to play together. Board games encourage counting, matching, memory skills, listening skills as well as self-control as kids need to follow the rules, even though they might not want to. They also are great for building language skills and social skills too. You also need to teach them to be gracious winners and how to deal with losing.
4. Last Thoughts
There really is a myriad of toys out there to choose from, whether they are cool toys for kids or cool toys for boys and it’s all about using your imagination when choosing these toys and bearing your child’s interests in mind. Here are some final things to consider.
- Sensory Toys
Make sure that the toys you choose stimulate your child’s senses like hearing, seeing, touching and tasting. These are the very first windows to helping your kids to learn and to lighten up their brains.
- Toys that Encourage Curiosity and Discovery
Always consider their natural sense of wonder and amazement. If you get this right they will want to learn more and more every single day.
- Security and Happiness
Playful kids are happy kids for sure. And when all is said and done you want your kids to have great emotional connections, feel happy and secure, taking them all the way through adulthood.
Enjoy the pleasure of shopping for cool toys for kids and cool toys for boys and you’ll see how long the right toys can last! Enjoy.
