toys, toys, everywhere!

I'm on a mission. For those of you who know me personally, you would probably say that I am always on a mission of some sort. So I guess that actually goes without telling. My latest mission is toys. I know I don't need to get into all the headlines about lead in toys, toy safety, etc. as that has been done over and over again by the media.

It has, of course, got me thinking a lot not only about the safety of the toys that Nathaniel is playing with, but also their questionable value and/or use. I've been reading a Waldorf book (Waldorf being a specific philosophy about how babies/children learn and grow) entitled You Are Your Child's First Teacher and I just went to a great discussion over at Nature's Mother in Leucadia about natural toys and creative play...and it really got me thinking.

I've noticed a distinct difference in the way Nathaniel plays with "open ended" toys or toys that he needs to figure out vs toys that meant to entertain. If he realizes that what he has been handed is, in fact, a toy he's much more likely to look at it, bite it, throw it, and move on to the next thing. If, however, it's a piece of fabric, a long pole, a stick, something squishy, he'll tend to stick around a little longer and investigate.

One of the ideas that I've picked up over the last couple days has also been about the amount of toys that babies and children have. As time has gone on, Nathaniel has gradually accumulated more and more toys. It's not that we're over-run by toys but his one little basket-full soon became two and then I started to realize how these things come to pass. The thing is, the more toys that were going into the basket, the less Nathaniel was playing with them. He would often go up to the basket, dump it upside down and then crawl away from it.

So, what's a mama to do? Well, I've done two things already and we'll see how the rest turns out. First, I got rid of the baskets. I've taken to laying out Nathaniel's toys on a bookshelf that we have. Of course, he's still not too interested in the toys but it has gotten him quite interested in all the board books we have. It has been so delightful to sit and watch him flip through each book, especially the tactile ones, he can sit there for quite a long time now. Second, I'm slowly phasing out plastic toys- especially toys that are good for only one thing. I'm realizing that toys meant for his "age group" are not actually interesting to him at all. Instead, I'm looking for high quality wood or cloth toys that will interest him and give him opportunities for years to come. For example, my mom and I found this great beginning block set from Haba- it's really just large wooden "legos." I brought one to playgroup on Wednesday and was reminded of what "good" toys are capable of. For Nate, the cylinder with a nub on the end was just a good chew toy to roll around on the ground. To the 3 year old next to us, it was the perfect baby bottle for her doll. While to another toddler, it was a building in the city he was making. This is a toy that will 'grow with' Nate.

So, I will step off my soapbox now. If you're curious about other examples of toys that I'm talking about, feel free to check out our Wist list. You'll see that some of the toys may cost more than your average Toys R Us toy, but these are also toys that Nate can play with from now until he's done with toys...not just from 9-18 months. These are also toys that future generations will be able to play with as well. It's like buying one nice shirt from Patagonia rather than 5 from Old Navy. That one will last a lot longer and be a better fit for a lot more years than those 5. Less is more.

Done. Thanks for reading this :)