It seems for new parents, the most common gifts they receive for their children are battery-powered plastic toys with lots of buttons and make lots of noise. For a toy to be educational, it does not need to have many functions. What’s important is for the child to be able to focus and grasp the clear purpose of the toy rather than simply press buttons and be entertained. Jane Healey, author of “Your Child’s Growing Mind” describes playing with these toys as promoting passive learning, kind of like watching television. One also aught to be careful when toys talk, Healey adds. They are most likely not properly representing the human voice and pronounciation, and could be a bad template for developing speech for the wee ones. Last but not least, most of these toys are made out of plastic, which is a synthetic material. Montessori, among others, emphasizes the importance of having toys made out of wood or natural materials, as it is more beautiful for the eyes and to the touch, making it more inviting for the child to play with. However, in this day, plastic is often inevitable and indeed some wonderful toys are made with it.
I fell in love with the Montessori philosophy and method when we first decided to homeschool. It is where i first discovered th
e idea of child-led learning. I won’t go into too much detail, but this implies that learning is brought about by voluntary action. We all know that when we are interested in what we are learning, we actually remember it years later. By following my children’s interest, we can dive as deep into a subject as they wish, for as long as they wish. This discovery led me to the term “unschooling” which we could say that we do, since we do not implement a rigid schedule of learning specific things at specific times, and we do not use school textbooks. I observe my children with a scientific eye, as suggests Montessori, approximating where they are in their understanding. When I judge it is the right time to introduce something new or more advanced, I do so casually and do my best to make it the most interesting possible. A.A.Furutan, in his book “Mothers, Fathers, and Children” says that if you can’t make whatever you are presenting interesting, don’t present it at all. I like that. It also happens that they lay their hands on things far advanced for their age and go with it deftly. Sometimes you just have to try. Another great book, “The Unschooling Handbook” by Mary Griffith helped us embrace the idea of “using the whole world as our classroom”, as the book is fittingly subtitled. It became natural for us to see life as a big field trip with learning opportunities everywhere, whether on the trot or at home baking muffins. We find it of utmost importance to surround our children with tools and materials that promote learning and discovery and also that trigger their curiosity. While homeschooling might not be for everyone, I believe toys should nonetheless serve to encourage the love of learning.
These plastic noisy gifts are not too bad if you make sure they are outnumbered by simple wooden games, puzzles, blocks, books, train sets, balls, musical instruments, art supplies, big pieces of fabric for dress-up… the simple “old school” toys that actually demand some thinking and creative participation from children. I love Montessori approach for that. A child pulling out the pots and pans from the cupboards and fitting them with the right lids is totally “Montessori”. From 0-6 years of age, the main focus, in Montessori’s opinion, should be to develop the senses so that the child may create order out of the information derived from exploration. The future information that gets ingested in his life will be classified more clearly due to this preparation. Another benefit is described in her book “The Secret of Childhood“, wherein she illustrates the difference between a child that might have developed his senses during this “sensitive period” – deduced by montessori as periods where a child is particularly susceptible to certain types of learning – and one that might have not. Supposing they both went on to become medical doctors, the one who didn’t develop his senses would go through his schooling and in the end practice medicine. On the other hand, the child that developed his senses might be the type to go out into the Amazonian jungle and find plants for cures.
One can help a child develop his senses by smelling the different spices in the spice rack, touching different things around the house and outside, looking, listening, sorting and in the end learning to verbally label the differences between smooth and rough, soft and hard, hot and cold, shortest and tallest, etc. I’ve heard of mothers getting into Montessori and then being discouraged
that their children didn’t play with the materials and thought it was a big waste of money. There are many options and ways to discover, so it’s important that when you are not a school with a classroom of 20, funded by tuitions or whatnot, you might want to hold back from buying a lot of expensive materials and get crafty instead.
If you are interested in learning more about Montessori, I strongly suggest reading The Secret of Childhood (a short read) and The Absorbant Mind (a slightly bigger brick). You can also read Michael Olaf’s short intros on the child’s developmental phases in this nifty pdf catalog which can serve as a guide for montessori in the home.
Toys should serve a child’s development and the unfolding of his potential. They should be engaging, incite active participation, exploration and creativity. They should be put to use. If when looking at a possible buy, you ask yourself “what can my child do with this toy” and the only answer is “press the buttons”, it should stay on the shelf… unless of course it is a shirt with snaps!
