Psychologists are concerned about how the quality of children's play has changed modern preschoolers: She became monotonous, aggressive and individualistic. One of the reasons for this sad trend is many fashionable toys that hinder a child’s development, distort his emotional sphere and form negative character traits. Child psychologist Inna Malash told the portal about dangerous “prestige toys.”
More than a game
For a child, a toy is an indispensable tool for learning about the world around him, allowing him to master new actions and solve new and increasingly difficult problems. Therefore, adults should approach the choice of toys with all responsibility - not only take into account the child’s age and make sure of their sanitary and hygienic safety, but also know the criteria for the pedagogical and psychological usefulness and harmfulness of “childhood friends.” To do this, it is important to have an idea of the meaning of play for a child:
– play is the leading activity of a preschooler, determining the development of his intellectual, physical and moral powers;
– creative imagination is formed in the game;
– the game is a “school of voluntary behavior” (the child learns to consciously control his actions);
– a game is a “school of morality in action” (it is a game and a fairy tale that help a child understand “what is good and what is bad”; verbal explanations can be long and unsuccessful);
– in the game the child learns to communicate, interact with other people and gets to know himself;
– in play, the child learns to express his feelings and understand the feelings of other people;
– in the game there is a repetition of social practice that is understandable to the child.
Harmful toys
At first glance, it may seem like there is nothing difficult in determining which toys can harm a baby’s development. Thus, toys that do not awaken a child’s desire to understand the world around them or make independent and free creative play impossible are unconditionally harmful.
However, in practice, drawing the line between toy “good” and “evil” is often difficult for non-specialists. In addition, many adults are confused by the price factor: most toys that are harmful to the child’s psyche are not cheap at all, so there is no doubt about their “all-round” safety.
So, what toys does child psychologist Inna Malash categorically advise against introducing preschoolers to?
Female dolls (Barbie, Cindy, Bratz, etc.). When playing with an “adult” doll, a little girl is limited in her ability to imitate her mother. This adversely affects the attitude of future women towards motherhood.
Many psychologists are convinced that Barbie dolls and their analogues are the embodiment of the anti-cult of the homemaker. There are also opinions that female dolls with unnatural proportions are capable of planting the first seeds of dissatisfaction with their own bodies in the souls of girls. In the future, there may be “sprouts” in the form of mental disorders in girls such as anorexia and bulimia.
Scary toys (monster dolls, mutants, monsters, freaks). If traditional toys - kind and cute - perform a psychotherapeutic function (namely, they help children master their fears and overcome them), then the creepy products of the toy industry, on the contrary, bring an additional portion of nightmares into the lives of children.
These toys have a direct impact on the formation of character traits: a child, copying the image of a doll, identifying himself with it, can become withdrawn, distrustful, and angry. Also, toy monster “companions” awaken uncontrollable aggression in children, cause disturbances in concentration and distribution of attention, and can cause difficulties in building relationships between the child and peers and adults.
In addition, scary toys distort the sense of beauty, and therefore prevent the formation of aesthetic taste in children.
Electronic toys (transport, musical), creating the illusion of a child’s activity, actually manipulate him and set a program of action. In essence, the little person turns into a contemplative and passive “addition” to the toy, his activity is reduced to pressing buttons that are useless for the development of logic. And the lack of space for ideas, fantasy, transformations and experiments hinders the development of a child’s creative thinking.
Interactive dolls and animals contribute to the distorted development of the sphere of emotions and feelings. Having in their arsenal many responses to interaction with a person, these toys emotionally “disorient” the baby: stroking and rocking can be responded to with crying or sounds of displeasure, and aggression or long-term inattention can be responded to with hugs or joyful remarks.
Ways to resist toy treachery
Parental awareness of the psychological harm of modern toys, unfortunately, does not guarantee a quiet life for adults, or a happy and safe childhood for children. Aggressive advertising and laudatory notes ordered by toy manufacturers are doing their dirty work. Therefore, it is important for moms and dads to know what to do if...
...a child dreams of a harmful toy. First of all, parents should think about what attracts their baby to a toy. To do this, you need to find out how and in whose company the child is going to play with her. The answer is “I will beat her!” indicates suppressed aggression. It can be caused by dissatisfaction with the child’s basic psychological needs for love and care. Also, aggression is often provoked by grievances against parents or other close people (grandmother, brother, friend, etc.).
They will help solve the problem cooperative games and conversations between parents and child, as well as special play methods to reduce the level of aggressiveness (for example, you can shout into a glass, have a fight with newspaper snowballs, make a figure of the offender out of plasticine and break it, etc.).
If a child wants to attract the attention of his peers, he will say: “I will bring a toy to kindergarten, and then Masha (Vanya) will play with me.” Also, children often ask to buy them this or that toy, because “Masha (Vanya) has one.” A possible root of the problem is the child’s low self-esteem. In this case, it is important for parents to reconsider their parenting methods. The second common reason is the child’s undeveloped gaming skills. They can only be developed by regularly playing with a preschooler.
...a child was given a harmful toy. Ideally, relatives and friends should let parents know what toys they are planning to give. But in reality, no family is immune from unwanted gifts. Therefore, it is advisable for mothers and fathers to know what problems they may encounter if after the holiday they decide to get rid of a harmful toy.
Firstly, this is an insult to the “donors”. Many parents do not even try to explain to relatives and friends what harm a gifted toy can cause to a child. They are stopped by hidden and poorly understood motives (fear of loneliness and rejection, feelings of guilt, etc.). However, it is important for parents to understand: if they do not know how to negotiate with people, negotiate constructively and resolve disagreements, then they will not be able to teach this to their children.
Secondly, the child may protest violently. In order not to overshadow the holiday, you should not take away a gift from a happy baby. You can “isolate” a harmful toy after a few days. The main thing is to go to the end, without giving in to the child’s demands to return the gift. If adults find it difficult not to retreat from decision taken, which means they should indulge in reflection about their parental role and honestly answer the questions: “Am I being led by the child?”, “Am I following his lead?” Positive answers are a reason to think about the reasons.
Dangerous toys1. What is an “anti-toy”?
Toy in a special way programs the child's behavior. And it is important to remember how the toy works, and what kind of program it contains. Since there is good and evil, ideal and anti-ideal, a toy can be an anti-toy.
The Russian artist Falk Robert Rafailovich (1886-1958), who at one time visited rich toy stores in Germany, contrasted the dying European toy and all the toy abundance he saw with the unsightly, at first glance, but full of character, handicrafts of the Sergiev Posad region. He wrote: “... society uses a toy to curb the imagination and spontaneity of a child who has not yet been enslaved by machines, in order to instill in him those tastes and inclinations that will make him in the future an obedient instrument of his goals and his laws.” This is precisely the purpose and feature of the “best and most expensive” anti-toys today. A genuine toy is a work of art; it is a piece of goods, and not a thing that children use to “play at being adults.” The spiritual and moral meaning of a toy is its most important characteristic.
Modern children's stores are filled with creepy toys, and parents, without thinking about the consequences, buy them for their beloved sons, grandchildren, nephews... But bad toy- this is more than an ugly, non-functional object - it is an anti-toy that forms distorted values in the child’s soul.
Generalization of work experience preschool teacher: "The influence of modern toys on child development"
Author – compiler: Imangulova Liliya Kabirovna, teacher at MADOU No. 44 in Salavat, Republic of Bashkortostan.Description: This work will help educators and parents choose the right modern toys for children.
Goal of the work: identify how modern toys influence a child’s development.
I don't need a pyramid
The ball was lying in the corner
And the railway
I'll give it to my brother...
I'm playing cars now
Tamagotchi is dearer to me.
Bakugan, transformer, zubbles
It's more fun with you...
Toys are serious business. Perhaps no less serious than the choice of medications, nannies, kindergarten or school for your beloved child. Toys can develop, treat, entertain. But they can also upset the psyche, give a false impression of the world around them, cause aggression and simply pose a threat to the health and life of the child.
Let's think about what our children play?... What toys do we buy them?
In all these fluffy bunnies, rattles, colorful puzzles, blocky cubes, there is hidden a powerful - creative or destructive - educational force.
It should be noted that the modern toy market is an absolute force of nature. The absence of any value guidelines in the toy market leads to their uncontrolled production, haphazard purchasing and meaningless consumption. As a result, store shelves and children's rooms are littered with toys of the same type and, as a rule, useless and sometimes harmful, but necessary and important for them. child development There are very few toys. This situation has a very negative impact on the quality of the game, and, consequently, on the effectiveness of the child’s development.
The choice of toys becomes extremely chaotic. The complex of “the best parents in the world” eats away common sense. If a child has been buzzing all ears about the fact that Petya and Vanya have four Bakugan each, and he only has three, then we immediately fill in the missing - albeit useless - cartoon character. Our child is no worse than others, although it is completely unclear why he needs this toy.
Thus, relevance Problems the right choice toys is obvious, which helped determine the purpose of my work.
Target: determine the psychological and pedagogical influence of a toy on the development of a child, the ways of making the right choice and its use. (tasks slide)
Exact time The beginning of the manufacture of toys is very difficult to determine, but it can be assumed that they appeared at the early stages of the development of human society, as evidenced by excavations.
Since ancient times, toys have been known in the form of tools, household items, made from the simplest natural material. With the help of toys such as bows, arrows, and boats, made in miniature but technically correct, boys were taught the necessary skills for a hunter, fisherman, and nomadic herder. Playing with dolls, sewing clothes for them, and “cooking” taught girls to work as a woman housewife.
A modern child lives in a world that, at first glance, is much brighter and more diverse than his peers 200, 100, or even 40–30 years ago. Let's look around: bright covers of books and magazines, colorful billboards on the street, and, of course, the diversity of toys, sometimes of the most unimaginable colors, shapes, and purposes. Toys are bought, as one father with many children said, by the suitcase, and after a month they are thrown away in the same suitcase. There is a constant change of colors, shapes, flashing pictures and objects. And the child’s psyche cannot cope, the perception of color and sound, ideas about good and evil are deformed.
Let's look at some modern toys. For girls, of course, Barbie.
What life orientation do these curvaceous beauties symbolize for any little girl? Who are they - daughters? Girlfriends? Neither one nor the other. Having such a doll, the girl imagines herself not as a mother rocking a child, but, for example, as a maid caring for the lady cleaning her house.
Generalization of the work experience of a preschool teacher "The influence of modern toys on the development of a child"
The most important advantage of a soft toy is to give tenderness to the baby. As practice shows, a cute bear, a fluffy elephant or a soft dog can “cure” a child from fears and even from nocturnal enuresis. The soft toy embodies some of the deepest needs of a small creature.
What's on sale now? On the shelves of toy stores we see creatures of unknown species and breeds, with unimaginably garish colors. Here in a toy store sits a huge (human-sized) black monkey of a ferocious appearance - if it gets into a child’s bedroom, then the child is guaranteed to have night terrors and neurosis!
To understand how the parents of my preschool children choose toys for their children and whether they need psychological and pedagogical help, I conducted a survey.
As the survey showed, in most cases, toys are chosen and purchased spontaneously, due to prevailing circumstances or external, superficial signs. Adults often do not take into account the developmental potential of a toy and its pedagogical “usefulness”.
Thus, the “School for Parents” club was organized, the purpose of which was to familiarize parents with the requirements and methods of choosing toys for children.
A number of consultations were prepared on the topic: “Children’s toys and requirements for them”, “List of toys necessary for a child early age and preschool children", "Useless toys". Also, parents were familiarized with the letter of the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation dated May 17, 1995 N 61/19-12 On psychological and pedagogical requirements for games and toys in modern conditions.
During a business game:“Choosing the right toy,” together with the meeting participants, divided the toys into three groups.
Toys that promote social-emotional development: different kinds animals (bears, bunnies, dogs); dolls with all kinds of doll utensils; sets for playing doctor, hairdresser, shop; costume details and attributes that help to assume and maintain the playing role (doctor’s robe, car steering wheel, police cap, red cap); transport toys (truck, train). Toys that promote intellectual, cognitive and motor abilities: all kinds of cubes, construction sets, puzzles, mosaics, lotto, dominoes, etc. Toys that promote the development of physical qualities: balls, hoops, jump ropes, skittles.
During the work of our club, parents learned that there are certain requirements for the toy. The first and necessary requirement is the potential to become the subject of the child’s relevant activity. When choosing fun, parents began to focus on age, striving to ensure that all types of toys were available that would contribute to the development of various spheres of life. They also began to take into account the fact that the possibility of a child’s active action depends on many qualities, for example, on the size of the toy. Huge soft “animals” (dogs, hippos, elephants) that are difficult to handle are not the subject of children’s activities. The same toys, but smaller in size, can easily be used in children's games.
Sometimes adults think that the more different properties and qualities a toy contains, the better. So, it would seem, a plastic ladybug on wheels, which is both a train and a telephone, opens up a variety of opportunities for children's activities.
But such “diversity” disorients the child: he doesn’t know what to do—carry her, talk on the phone, or feed her? Moreover, the full implementation of all these actions is very limited - it is impossible to transport anything on such a toy (you can’t put anything down and you can’t put anyone down), the handset keeps falling off. It would be much more useful in this regard to “separate” all the functions and offer the child three objects that are different and understandable in their purpose and mode of action.
However, the “usefulness” of a toy from the point of view of a child’s development is far from the only evaluation criterion. Organizing round table with parents and children on the topic “Favorite Toy”, we came to the conclusion: a toy must, on the one hand, develop the child’s abilities, and on the other, bring him joy and pleasure.
The training “Modern toy – what is it?” was interesting. It was noted that in order for a toy to enhance its developmental role, it must not only be attractive, but also open to various forms of child activity.
Small child- this is a fan of possibilities. He actively assimilates the world in order to transform it, and the toy necessary remedy process of creation. Therefore, the wider the range of uses of a toy, the higher its value for creativity and the more it can develop the creative potential of the child himself. Together with our parents, we came to the conclusion that the best toys are natural: pebbles, sand, cones, sticks, scraps - they can be anything! What could a machine be? Only a car, however, if it is a truck, then probably also a box for storing cubes, a bed for a bear or a carriage for traveling a cat. What could an electronic toy with four buttons be? Its monofunctional uniqueness is absolutely obvious - press the buttons and that’s it!
Sometimes the child himself finds “toys” - substitute objects that meet certain, often unconscious, needs. Some shell, pebble, rag, bird feather is endowed with special properties, experiences and meanings. After our interesting meetings, parents, having discovered such “garbage”, trying to put things in order children's corner or, turning out the pockets of children's clothes before washing, do not throw them away. Now they are sure: is a pebble better than a transformer, or a shell than a monster? After all, a toy is not only an accompaniment to the game, but also a means of education, entertainment and even treatment.
The modern toy has undergone an evolution: from smaller copies of objects of labor and household items in ancient times - through toys symbolizing the beautiful in life (toys of the 19th - first half of the 20th centuries), to toys embodying the ugly, terrible, death (recent decades).
Of course, not all modern toys play a negative role in a child’s life. Nowadays, there are also toys that meet the rules of modern pedagogy. These are educational toys, all kinds of construction sets, creativity kits, story-based toys, puzzle games, etc.
The right modern toy is multifunctional. It can be used in several ways, and in a wide variety of games. A classic example is a ball. You can throw it and roll it, it can become a doll watermelon or a fairy-tale bun.
A proper modern toy should be made from environmentally friendly material (fabric, wood, metal, leather). It is unlikely that you will be able to do without plastic toys completely, but you should strive to keep their percentage as low as possible.
Remember: a correctly selected toy will allow the child to come up with different stories for games, which means it will be in demand more often and will not gather dust on the shelf!
Toy and anti-toy
Leaving the eight-month-old baby in the care of her older brother, the mother went to the store. The older boy was playing Tamagotchi and when the baby began to cry, he did not hear the squeak of the toy. Tamagoshka “died” - the baby ended up in the hospital with a concussion, the older boy was under extreme stress. Caring for the virtual “baby” overshadowed the feelings for the real little brother. A piece of plastic and microcircuits turned out to be aggressive in nature. By manipulating the child's consciousness, he turned him into a slave to the toy, real love lost to virtual...
What are parents guided by when buying a toy for their child? Do they think about the fact that a toy is not just fun? It implants in the soul the initial concepts of good and evil, gives bright, imprinted images, and the formation of moral ideas of the individual and its development as a whole often depend on what they are. What kind of modern toy is it? And what should it be? Vera Abramenkova, Doctor of Psychology, Professor, shares her view on this problem with our readers. Perhaps her approach to this issue, based on the best traditions of Russian culture and history, on the main Orthodox principles, will help parents formulate their own criteria for choosing toys. Or at least it will make you think before buying another doll or car: does my child need it? What psychological and pedagogical information does she carry within herself? In a word, it will help you understand: the game is a serious matter.
A little history
The interesting historical document “Catherine II on the upbringing and education of her grandchildren” gives rules regarding the education of princes through play: three-year-old Constantine and five-year-old Sasha, the future Tsar Alexander I. The very existence of such a document testifies to an extremely attentive attitude to children’s games and toys. These are the orders of the Russian Tsarina Catherine the Great for the guardians (mentors) of her grandchildren. “The gaiety of Their Highnesses’ disposition cannot be diminished. Do not forbid them to play as much as they want, as long as there is no harm in the game, and during the game they maintain decency towards the people present.
Small malfunctions during the game cannot be stopped. Their supervisors should not interfere with the game unless they themselves ask to participate in it. Games should be in the will of children, as long as those games are innocent, and their health is not harmed by them.”
The Russian Tsarina rightly noted: “By giving children complete freedom in play, one can quickly learn their morals and inclinations... By nurturing a cheerful disposition in children, one must remove from their eyes and ears everything that is contrary to this, such as sad imaginations or despondency-causing stories , also endearments... Never leave Their Highnesses in idleness. If they don’t play and don’t study, then they should start some kind of conversation, similar to their age and understanding, through which they would receive an increase in knowledge...” Wise reasoning and instructions of the Empress Grandmother! They have not lost their relevance to this day.
Russia for centuries had the highest birth rate in Europe. It was combined with a high children's gaming culture. Adults lovingly made toys and preserved them, passing them on from older to younger children. Some ancient games have gone down in history: grandmothers, burners, pile, blind man's buff, tag, etc. In many games, special game items-toys were widely used: ropes, siskins, sticks, tops, bats, etc.
Adults never stopped the games they started, did not destroy play structures, or throw away toys. Moreover, they were given magical power. It was believed that they could contribute to the harvest, wealth, happy marriage or, conversely, bring misfortune. Giving toys was a common custom - the gift brought health and well-being to the child. Like any work of folk art, the toy served as a kind of standard, reflecting centuries-old ideas about beauty and aesthetic perfection. Russian teachers understood this well. Already in the 60s of the 19th century, K.D. Ushinsky, A.Ya. Simanovich and other teachers relied on national experience in their methods, using children's folklore, traditional toys and games. The most valuable in this regard was considered homemade, created by a child in the process of independent labor and opposed, as Russian teachers put it, to “rude, vulgar and immoral factory toys.”
About the game of spillikins. Traditional toys have always had an important influence on the formation of a child’s soul. It is worth recalling one historical example, which remains for the majority in a proverb that means something meaningless and empty - “a game of spillikins.” The true meaning of this game is known today only to historians. This game was quite popular in Russian, mainly peasant, families back in the 30s and 40s of the century before last. Having its own “practical task” - to teach children patience, to cultivate the ability to concentrate, the game at the same time gave an idea of the complexity and interconnection of all processes occurring in the world. “Spillies” were a handful of evenly cut straws and a straw hook. The idea was that the players would pull the straws out of the pile one by one with a hook, trying not to touch the entire heap. If he still fell apart, then the next attempt was made by another player. The game fostered patience and caution, dexterity and attention, and most importantly - with the help of a heap of straws, the child unconsciously gained an understanding of cause-and-effect relationships, how difficult it is to change a part without destroying the whole - the entire complex system of relationships.
In our time, the game of spillikins has been reconstructed, only now the spillikins are made not of straw, but of wood. A bunch of small objects that look like elongated spools of thread must be taken apart one by one with a small hook so that the pile itself does not collapse and the neighboring spools do not move. Whoever moves the neighboring spillifish passes the hook to the next player. This continues until the whole pile is cleared or until one of the players collects the agreed number of spillikins. I think that the game has a psychotherapeutic effect and can help develop perseverance and attention. Spillittle players need to gain not only patience, but also a friendly attitude towards their fellow players - without this nothing will work. What if, for example, two brawlers were offered to sort out a pile of spillikins as punishment? At first, apparently, it will be difficult for them (emotions are seething: “He was the first!”; fists are clenched: “No, he was the first!”, etc.), but gradually the game itself will require that the conflict and aggression go away, “sort it out”, like little spillikins.
About rattles, trinkets, rattles. For a long time, there has been a custom of giving infants rattles. These toys are several thousand years old. And more than a hundred years ago, heated scientific debates arose around them. Some teachers “revolted” against the rattle, having an exorbitant desire for the scientific training of children from a very young age and seriously asserting that an object hidden inside the rattle, which produces noise when moving, accustoms the child to thoughtlessness, since the cause of the noise is not visible to him. But others objected that any noise in itself pleases the child, which is already very important. Noise, rustling, knocking introduces the concepts of “sound, tone, volume”, teaches them to regulate the quality and strength of their reproduction. Of course, it is also very important that from a certain time the child begins to correlate his own movements and the sound that appears.
About the mysticism of traditional folk toys and their wise mysterious power. After the baptism of Rus' by St. Vladimir, many customs and rituals associated with ancient, pagan “toys” were organically woven into the Orthodox religious and cultural context. Thus, one of the favorite children’s toys of “pre-Christian times” - a boat made of tree bark or birch bark, which was launched along a stream on the first water, began to symbolize the sailing of the “ship of salvation” (like the biblical ark) through the “waters” of the vain “sea of life”. In those same time immemorial, the traditional Russian toy was not forced out of the sphere of everyday life. This also corresponded to the attitude of the Russian person, with his feet standing on the ground, but with his soul and heart residing in the Heavenly World. The toy, despite its “familiarity,” contained something supernatural. It is no coincidence, for example, that dolls did not have faces drawn: they were afraid that a toy with a face would come to life and live its own life, which could harm a person. It is not for nothing that the inanimate object “doll” in Russian is an animate noun that answers the question “who?”, and not “what?”.
As for the influence of a traditional toy on a child’s consciousness, it affected all levels of sensations - tactile, sound, visual. The material from which the toys were made was of particular importance. Eg, Ragdoll, unlike plastic ones, removes the psychological barrier between the child and the “world of big things”, fosters an affectionate, warm, joyful, trusting attitude towards the world, necessary for a full-fledged child’s existence. That’s why toys made from natural materials are so valued today.
But the ancient toy “whistles,” according to our ancestors, designed to ward off evil spirits and evil spirits from the child, were also the first “musical instruments” that the child encountered.
Considering the figurative symbolic picture of the world of the ancient Slavs, in relation to toys, we can recall that many clay figurines are literally strewn with images of birds. The bird - the messenger of the heavenly divine peace - symbolized the grace of the Heavenly Kingdom, the joy of angelic singing glorifying God's peace.
To this day, at the heart of traditional toys made by craftsmen in Sergiev Posad, you can see the outline of the Cross.
In contrast to these traditions, the so-called “modern toys”, most often produced according to Western models, do not leave room for “plot conjecture” and the child’s independent spiritual and artistic creativity.
Why is the game needed?
Firstly, the game is a school of voluntary behavior (D.B. Elkonin). Try to force the child to stand still - he will not stand even for two seconds. But if this action is included in the game context, the goal will be successfully achieved. Remember: “The sea is worried - one, the sea is worried - two, the sea is worried - three. Freeze! After all, even the most restless boys and girls freeze and stand, even on one leg.
Secondly, the game is a school of morality in action (A.N. Leontyev). You can explain to a child for as long as you like “what is good and what is bad,” but only a fairy tale and a game can, through emotional empathy, through putting oneself in the place of another, teach one to act and act in accordance with moral requirements. Psychological research showed: if “enemies” are included in game interaction, in which they are forced to work together, taking care of each other, mutual hostility will soon disappear, and vice versa - for friends who turn out to be game rivals, excitement and the desire to win are often stronger than friendship.
Thirdly, play is the leading activity in preschool age, an activity that determines the development of a child’s intellectual, physical and moral powers.
According to the Russian historian and philosopher Vasily Zenkovsky, “game is free creativity, the most important manifestation of the aesthetic principle in a person,” a means of penetrating the sphere of meaning, comprehending the unity of the world and its Creator.
Also K.D. Ushinsky noted how important it is to observe children’s play to determine the general and intellectual health of children. If a child does not express interest in games, is passive, or plays in a stereotypical and primitive way for his age, this is a serious signal for an adult: such a child demands special attention, this is a “special” child - maybe a genius, or maybe dysfunctional...
With the help of games, a child’s learning is more effective and parenting is more enjoyable. The game is a diagnostic tool mental state child, his personal development, but it is also an excellent method for correcting certain defects, shortcomings, and developmental delays. One of the youngest psychological methods is play psychotherapy.
What is a toy?
Games and toys, according to scientists, are the most important components of any culture. As is the culture, so are the toys. A toy is a cultural tool through which the state of modern culture (civilization), the direction of movement: towards life or death, prosperity or degradation, mutual understanding or alienation, is conveyed in a special “folded form”. With the help of toys, the very essence of human relationships and the complex world order are conveyed to the child.
Games and toys are specific media, since they record the main trends in influencing the consciousness and behavior of a person, methods and means of his education. The media are built on the principles of games (why aren’t modern newspapers toys with countless scanword puzzles, crosswords, teawords? And how many games are there on television!), and games are built on the principles of the media.
A toy is the same information carrier for a child as a newspaper or the Internet is for an adult. . Ask yourself: what information does it convey?
The toy is a national information security agent. For example, dolls can be a political object or, as is sometimes said, a political figure. It sounds funny. However, if you remember the TV show “Dolls” with characters similar to our political figures (analogs of this program exist in many countries), you will think seriously. A scandal recently erupted in the United States: a master made a doll in the shape of the terrorist Bin Laden, which was selling briskly in stores. Young Americans really liked the new villain toy. Then - “for balance” - they made a hero doll with the features of President Bush. The business turned out to be profitable - dolls literally disappeared from the shelves. And then the puppeteer received a call from the White House and, with a severe reprimand, was accused of anti-patriotism and undermining the national security of the United States. However, he managed to convince that toys form an adequate attitude of young Americans towards the president and can positively influence the future election campaign.
A toy is a spiritual image of an ideal life, an ideal world, it is an archetype of ideas about good - real or imaginary. A genuine toy affirms goodness and predetermines the distinction between good and evil. For example, the ball symbolizes the perfect shape of the ball - the Sun or the Earth. The pyramid is a hierarchical world order. Please note: on the altar barrier in temples, angels are depicted at full height with ribbons flying in their hair, as if they had just descended from heaven, and the rustling of their wings can still be heard, and in their hands they hold a transparent sphere (an image of perfection and harmony), similar to children's ball or rainbow soap bubble.
The toy always performed, among other things, a psychotherapeutic function - it helped the child master his own desires and fears. The fear of darkness, for example, can be defeated with the help of a wooden sword - a weapon for overcoming it. Sometimes the child himself finds “toys” - functional objects that meet certain, often unconscious, needs. Any driftwood, pebble, shell, nail, rag, bird feather, etc. are endowed with special properties, experiences and meanings. We often find such “garbage” when trying to tidy up a children's corner or turning out the pockets of children's clothes before washing. And every time we encounter protests and requests from the child not to throw them away. It’s worth thinking: maybe a pebble is still better than a transformer, or a shell than a monster? Remember: a toy is not only an accompaniment to the game, but also a means of education, entertainment and even treatment. Are modern toys like this?
Modern toy - what is it?
One of the main means of spiritual and moral education is the creation of an educational environment that allows you to build a hierarchy of moral values and ensure the full functioning of the child. The most important components of the educational environment are games and toys.
Modern girls and boys, the very same ones for whom play is a vital necessity and a condition for development, are actually “unlearning” how to play constructively. This worries psychologists and educators around the world. What would you say if the birds stopped singing, the hares stopped hopping, and the butterflies stopped flying? The very quality, the very essence of children's play has also changed: it has become sad, aggressive, and individualistic. The centuries-old chain of transmission of the gaming tradition from one children's generation to another was interrupted. And this led to a crisis in gaming culture. In the early 70s, newspapers were full of headlines: “Where are children’s games going?”, “Who will help the toy?” and so on. But, according to the famous teacher V.M. Grigoriev, the collector, organizer and “restorer” of the folk game, began to play not less, but worse: “... the quality of games is rapidly falling. More and more primitive game forms- pranks, pranks, fun, which are already at the last edge of the game and are increasingly turning into mischief and even hooliganism: fun with fire, explosions, cruel treatment with animals, senseless destruction, etc. It is necessary to save and revive traditional folk games - the genetic fund of the gaming culture of every nation.”
In response to the question “What do you like to play?” the majority of children (from 4 to 6 years old) named outdoor games - tag and hide and seek, but only a few were able to formulate the rules of the game, its semantic core, 5% could not remember a single game at all, 4% named computer games, a quarter of children named toys (cars, transformers, Barbie dolls) that they simply manipulated. The game's consistency with rules and correlation with the image of an ideal adult disappears.
Unfortunately, group games, the “air” of children’s life for older generations, have completely disappeared. Where are the Cossack robbers, boyars, blind man's buff, lapta and other children's joys? All of them, along with counting rhymes, chants, songs and other forms children's folklore- the greatest wealth of our culture - were preserved in the children's subculture for centuries, passed on from mouth to mouth.
Many psychologists have tried to answer the main question: why does a child need to play? Numerous scientific concepts of the game have appeared, including psychological ones. However, the very essence, the “secret” of the game was never revealed.
A modern child lives in a world that, at first glance, is much brighter and more diverse than his peers two hundred, one hundred or even thirty years ago. Let's look around: bright covers of books, magazines and textbooks at school, colored billboards on the street, and at home - felt-tip pens and pencils, colorful clothes and, of course, a variety of toys, sometimes the most unimaginable colors and shapes. I'm not even talking about the TV screen, the computer monitor - with their riot of colors, unnatural angles and graphic solutions. We all and our children live in a world filled to capacity with various and... short-lived objects: disposable tableware, underwear, clothes, etc. And toys are bought, as one father of five (!) children said, in suitcases, and after a month they are thrown away in suitcases. Colors, shapes change, pictures, objects, faces flash. And the child’s psyche cannot cope - the perception of color and sound, smell and touch, the idea of good and bad, good and evil are deformed.
Sensory aggression in the child’s environment disrupts the stability and sustainability of the world, i.e. deprives little man confidence that the world is strong, reliable, and therefore safe. The predictability of the world, which is necessary for a child to be adequately socialized and to control his own behavior, is called into question.
Appearance new toy sometimes not only reflects the already existing level of technical equipment, but to a certain extent can contribute to the birth new technology. Thus, at the end of the 19th century, the idea of the world was expressed in the widespread distribution of optical toys (binoculars, telescopes, microscopes, etc.), which is believed to have prepared the invention of cinema in a certain way.
A serial toy that, unfortunately, most often deals with modern child, is essentially an anti-toy: it contains the idea of possession, rather than joyful comprehension of the world; it creates a tendency to crowd out educational play and genuine creativity. Mass production profanes individual emotional relationships with a toy as with “another self.” The external attractiveness of a toy-product becomes more important than its playful use, hence new forms and materials that are not typical of a traditional toy. Today, children's toys, as part of modern mass culture, contribute to the child's construction of a very gloomy and joyless picture of the world, as evidenced by children's drawings.
A serial toy in its spirit is opposed to a creative (developmental) toy, one that promotes the development of a child’s creative potential and his personal, moral and spiritual growth, which does not require a unique way of handling it, but, on the contrary, provokes a variety of behavior strategies. These are all so-called archetypal toys - constructive, indefinite, multifunctional: a ball, a hoop, a stick, etc. In essence creative toy its roots go back to folk toys.
As compensation for the “underplay” in their own childhood, adults develop a manner of evaluating any thing - regardless of its use - as fun, inauthenticity, a toy.
Adults and play. Before our eyes, gaming is becoming not just temporary entertainment, but a way of life for millions of adults. One scientist was asked: “What will you do if the world ends?” He replied: “Play.” Yes, yes, don’t cry, don’t save yourself, don’t save, don’t pray, but play?! This testifies to the great importance of play in the life of a modern person. Maybe too big when it comes to an adult.
Modern adults enthusiastically play children's games. A few years ago, the American film “Big” was shown about the fantastic story of a boy who turned into an adult who made a dizzying career in the production of... toys, since no one knew the children's consumer market better than him. Sometimes it seems to me that this story is not so fantastic, and the transformed adults irresponsibly create their pranks in different areas of life, as if switching places with children.
The toy is useful and harmful. Unfortunately, the toy that sells well is the one that appeals to adults. But often it is least suitable for children. The only thing about many current toys that is childish is that they are small. What should a toy be for a child? A source of joy, a motive for play. It must create conditions for development, leaving the opportunity for independent creativity. In contrast, modern toys, most often made according to Western models, leave no room for “plot conjecture.” A child surrounded by plastic Barbies, cyborgs, and transformers represents a person charged with the energies of Western society. If a child is surrounded by representatives from childhood evil spirits, then the ability for faith, compassion, empathy, mercy will atrophy in him, perhaps forever. As an adult, he will be programmed to serve those whose plastic likenesses he gave the first moments of play in his life, with whose help he learned about the world.
A toy can create monsters in the soul of a little person. Unfortunately, not only psychologists, but also child psychiatrists and doctors have to deal with this more and more often. They have more and more work. Here's one example.
The grandmother of her six-year-old granddaughter came to see a psychologist: the girl does not sleep well, jumps up at night, often cries, and is afraid to enter a dark room. It turned out that the ultra-modern mother bought her daughter a black monster with horns and a tail, quite, as it is now fashionable to say, a “cool” monster. At first the girl was happy and played with him. But then all these neurotic manifestations began, and the girl herself complained to her grandmother that “the devil was looking at her,” and became more and more restless. The wise grandmother and her granddaughter took the toy and, while walking in the park, built something like a fire, burned the monster, and buried the remains under a tree. The girl calmed down, her neurotic manifestations disappeared. However, the story did not end, since the mother, having learned about what had happened, accused the grandmother of obscurantism and removed her from raising her daughter. No arguments had any effect on the mother; there was a family conflict; the grandmother, in tears, turned to a psychologist for help. How to clearly explain to a non-believer modern mother, what spiritual danger (temptation) is she exposing her only child to?
A useful toy sets itself a noble educational task - to teach goodness and beauty, wisdom and joy.
Our children almost never play with domestically produced toys. Psychologists unanimously say that a generation is growing up raised on toys that have nothing to do with Russian reality. Toys from foreign manufacturers occupy the best shelves in stores. They introduce the child to the culture of another people, “reprogramming” the Russian soul in their own way. At the beginning of the 20th century, a popular theme for the toy was the image of a victorious Russian warrior. Today on store shelves it is difficult to find toys that stimulate the development of military-patriotic consciousness. Perhaps it is worth remembering the story of the Russian warrior, Prince Svyatoslav, who, at the age of two, did not let go of a wooden toy sword. Maybe that’s why some psychologists and educators, sponsored by American “child education centers,” are demanding a ban on the sale of any “militaristic” toys in Russia, arguing that these toys stimulate violence and aggression...
Now on sale a large number of soft toys, descended from television screens and “promoted” by children’s television series: Pokemon, monsters, etc. These characters, invented by cunning English, Japanese, and American psychologists, bring huge income to developers.
Ninja Turtles, transforming robots, Batman, Spider-Man - these toys contribute to the accumulation of aggressive fantasies of the child, often realized in life in relation to weaker ones - animals or small children. A seven-year-old boy - a lover of such toys - caught chickens and tortured them in front of four-five-year-old children, despite their tears and requests. Before that, he had watched tapes with children's horror films many times, and his favorite toy was a spider.
There is a famous psychological technique- “non-existent animal”: an adult or child is asked to draw an animal that does not exist, give it a name (name) and tell where it lives, what it likes to do, what it eats, etc. Based on the nature of the drawing and the story, a specialist can determine the level of abilities a person, the nature of relationships with the outside world, traits such as openness or anxiety, responsiveness or aggressiveness, etc. So here it is. Pokemon was apparently invented by a person familiar with this technique, but himself extremely aggressive and anxious. Judge for yourself. Translated, “poke-mon” means pocket monster. Such a creature cannot have exact analogues in living nature; it is not similar to any of the known living creatures. For example, an ordinary bunny is not a Pokemon, but a bright yellow bunny that can shock like an electric stingray is already called the Pokemon Pikachu. Maximum absurdity, unnaturalness, deceit and aggressiveness - this is what is inherent in all Pokemon.
A Pokemon cartoon shown in Japan several years ago caused various mental and physical disorders in more than 600 children; many were hospitalized with symptoms of epileptic seizures (falling sickness). The cartoon was withdrawn from the show, it was remade and... sold to Russia. Our children love Pokemon and wear them on their clothes, eat them as sweets, read about them in books and, most importantly, demand their parents to buy such toys. And they are happy, without thinking about the consequences of their child entering into communication with a “sharply negative information field,” as scientists say.
The showing of the animated series “Pokemon” on Channel One has been discontinued, but the consumption of products based on it continues. Almost half of the boys and girls around the world are crazy about Pokemon, and global sales of Pokemon products are playing cards, video games, coloring books, sweets, etc. - are estimated at 6 billion dollars. Cases of theft of these “jewels” from briefcases and fights over them are not uncommon, which is why a “ban on Pokemon” has been introduced in a number of Moscow schools.
TO monster categories You can include all kinds of transforming toys: man-machine, man-monster, man-robot. What feelings do these toys foster in a baby? Thus, through an ugly toy, a child’s need for magic and fairy tales is cynically exploited! Adults seem to have forgotten that a toy, as we said at the beginning, is not just fun. She implants in the child’s soul the initial concepts of good and evil. And it is dangerous if this happens in a game with a negative toy hero, and this danger is directly proportional to the aggressiveness of the character.
What's wrong with monsters - they're just toys?
Any action played out by a child can reproduce itself in reality. If a child in a game is able to behave humanely, mercifully, and caringly, then he has a certain model of how this should be done. And vice versa, if a child in a game is forced to be aggressive, rude, cruel, this will certainly reproduce itself someday in a given situation. The toy programs the child's behavior. And it is important to understand how the toy works and what kind of program it contains. Since there is good and evil, ideal and anti-ideal, a toy, as we can see, can be an anti-toy.
After all, you wouldn’t put a radioactive apple, a loaded gun or a drug into the hands of a boy or girl.. Monster toys are equivalent to them. A demonic toy is a transmitter of spiritual destruction: obsession (mental illness), neuroses, suicidal tendencies (suicides), etc.
The traditional folk toy contains the simple-minded love of an adult for a child and recognition of his right to a special play space. A modern industrial toy often forms and fixes in a person (and above all in a child) such personal qualities as relaxation of the will, indifference of feelings, lack of inquisitiveness of mind, and consumerism.
In a toy store. We, adults, invent and then purchase toys for children, based on our needs, our own - sometimes unconscious - preferences.
Here is the main children's store in the country - "Children's World". There are a lot of toys. It turns out that toys are a very profitable business, and the “game industry” is expanding every year: electronic and computer ones are being added to soft and mechanical toys. And adults are seriously passionate about creating them, as if they were doing them for themselves. With a sinking heart, recently, like many years ago, I went through the halls of Children's World to buy toys.
Remembering that a toy is a cultural tool with the help of which a child comprehends a huge and complex world, becomes familiar with the latest achievements of humanity and the traditions of his own people, I was anticipating the pleasure of shopping in advance - how many things people must have come up with in recent years! At the same time, it is also known that every toy, even the most simple one, symbolizes one or another aspect of human relationships; it almost always contains a certain educational meaning. With this measure I went to the departments.
Here is one of my favorites - the department board games: good old blocks with fairy tales, mosaics, construction sets for kids, and all this at prices affordable for families even with a very modest income. These toys have proven their entertainment and educational value to many generations of children, developing intelligence, quick wits, teaching patience, training fine motor skills hands. And here is the spirit of the times - board and printed games: “Pirates”, “Master of the Universe”, “Conqueror”, etc., focusing on the manifestation of individualism, pride and vanity against the backdrop of false romance with heroes from the fantasy world - aliens, fossil monsters, monsters; “12 Chairs” and other games about business, money, markets, real estate, banks, etc., in which the passion for profit is encouraged, deception and fraud are cultivated. There is also a game “Beauty Contest” - a guide for girls on how to prepare to participate in such a competition, i.e. how to better show off your body, about outfits, cosmetics, fighting with rival contenders. Are moms really buying these games? According to the sellers, very willingly.
The advantage of board games is that they involve joint activities, which means they give the child the opportunity to have positive interactions with peers. I don't think this applies to the board games I've seen. Well, I'll go to the dolls.
It turns out that dolls can be not only for girls, but also for boys. Instead of miniature soldiers, there is a large Batman (the man-bat from the American cartoon) in different guises, sometimes paired with his bestial enemy, apparently to organize and implement fights for the child. On the open display case are American professional supermen (a climber, a pilot and... a killer with a set of various weapons - from a knife and a pistol to a laser). Recently, a young father appeared on one of the television programs and was planning to guide his son into the highly paid profession of a killer (?). This toy is probably a visual aid for people like him. The toy sells well, although it is quite expensive.
What can you say about a soft toy? Its most important purpose is to give the baby tenderness. This feature is used by psychotherapists and pediatricians. As practice shows, a fluffy bear, a cute elephant or a shaggy dog can “cure” a child from fears and even bedwetting. A soft toy embodies some very deep needs of a small creature, and not only a human one. American psychological researchers, the Harlow couple, while studying baby monkeys, discovered the following: if the monkey is given the opportunity to choose between two “surrogate mothers”, one of which is made of wire, but with a bottle of milk, and the other of faux fur, but without a bottle, then the frightened and hungry cub chooses... the second one, soft and cozy, giving him a much-needed sense of security. It's no wonder that our little children love furry animals so much.
What is sold in " Children's world"in the soft toy department? In front of me are creatures of unknown species and breeds, of unimaginably garish coloring; I don’t want to pick up or stroke any of them. True, there are also German Shepherds, stunning in their naturalism - better than living ones, but for some reason you don’t want to pet them either. And the prices are steep. Here in the center of the hall there is a huge black monkey of a ferocious appearance sitting on a palm tree - if it gets into a child’s bedroom, then night fears and neurosis are guaranteed for him!
And finally, a whole stand of black Mephistopheles (!) with the inscription “Devil” (by the way, one of the cheapest toys). What considerations did adults make when designing, manufacturing and selling this toy? And do they have children of their own? Some mother, standing at the stand in confusion, asked: “Don’t you have any angels?” “No, we don’t sell angels,” the saleswoman snapped.
The conclusion suggests itself: in the central children's store The vast majority of products presented are gaming products that do not meet basic psychological and pedagogical requirements moral formation, intellectual development and spiritual health of the child.
Of course, they may object to me: was there really no such thing in the whole store? good toys and games? What about Lego constructors? Are electronic toys the dream of every boy?
Yes, there is a whole large department dedicated to the Lego designer. It is advertised on television: these are bright, colorful, environmentally friendly toys, as they say, which involve the construction of various plots and pictures. But which ones? “Western”, “Search for Pharaoh’s Treasure”, “World Disasters”, “Space Aliens”, “Spider-Man”, “Ghosts”, “Harry Potter”, “Pokemon”, “Star Wars” - these are perhaps the main topics .
Many parents do not share my cautious attitude towards Lego. “The construction set develops thinking and trains fine motor skills,” the young dad persistently convinced me. “My daughter learned to distinguish colors thanks to Lego,” my mother persuaded. It's like that! And yet... These bright plastic toys ultimately orient the child towards foreign cultural models: foreign landscapes, unfamiliar, non-native characters, foreign attributes. With an abundance of domestic game examples and designs, it would be very good to learn about the American Indians or the treasures of the Egyptian pharaohs. But children sometimes do not see anything that reveals the beauty of their native land, teaches them to honor the good heroes of Russian fairy tales...
Why is the Barbie doll an anti-toy?
An almost fifty-year-old male journalist (not some reformist youth!) wrote an indignant protest article to the central newspaper - a response to the condemnation by the public and the Ministry of Education of the Barbie doll as a corrupting and unaesthetic toy. Exciting public opinion and preparing it to accept “new values” and “ healthy image life,” he asks: “What, exactly, is bad about sexuality? Sexuality originates in childhood... You can't be afraid of Barbie. Sooner or later, a child will learn about human nature, and if this happens at home, while playing Barbie, when his parents are nearby, this is only good.”
Let me, child psychologist, mother and grandmother, do not agree. First, of course, there is nothing wrong with healthy sexuality, especially if it is based on love. Secondly, gender in the child’s mind has primarily social and psychological characteristics. Thirdly, the formation of “healthy sexuality” in children under 16 years of age is called molestation, including intellectual, it is criminal and punishable by law. Parents reap the benefits of a liberal approach to sexuality education very early.
Modern Barbies, having different names, are very similar to each other. Upon request, Barbie’s face can be similar to the face of the girl herself, thus the toy acquires the power of a second “I”. Why is this? When playing Barbie, a child comes as if “everything is ready” (everything is too predetermined) - this is a quasi-toy, as defined by psychologist A.N. Leontyev. The child finds himself in the shackles of stereotypes and the imposition of a certain lifestyle and worldview. It is known that Barbie's proportions cause girls to be persistently dissatisfied with their figure - an inferiority complex that leads to neurosis.
Four years is the age when a child masters his body in harmonious movement. Toys should provide an opportunity for dynamics and dance (music boxes, balls, balls, ribbons on sticks, etc.). The instinct of motherhood is strong in girls of this age; it finds its embodiment in playing with a doll. Therefore, at this age it is better not to buy Barbie. After all, Barbie is a pseudo-ideal model of a woman, a sex symbol of a consumer society, a monstrous spiritual substitution of the Mother archetype. You can dress her, undress her, buy new things for her. Barbie conveys a lifestyle - endless outfits, entertainment, changing partners. In relation to this doll, the girl will feel more like a maid, a servant, or at best a friend, and not a mother or nanny. This is not a small defenseless creature that you want to nurse, feed, put to bed, treat, i.e. to feel at least a step higher, more mature. A doll at this age should focus the child’s attention not on “beauty,” but primarily on feelings of care.
Barbie’s “beauty” is invented and imposed on children by adults; in a child’s understanding, the idea of beauty in general often does not coincide with the aesthetic views of adults.
Let's summarize some results
Modern games and toys, in their overwhelming majority, are anti-toys; they do not orient children toward positive cultural values and spiritual models, but instill a desire for evil, violence, hatred, promiscuity, and acquisitiveness.
The general conclusions of the review of modern games and toys indicate obvious transformations in our children’s worldview. Significant shifts have appeared in it towards, firstly, the mercantilization of children's consciousness, expressed in an exaggerated attitude towards money, a desire in the future to engage only in business, and the acquisition of financial independence at any cost. Secondly, Westernization as an orientation towards Western values, behind which is the cult of strength, expansion, aggression, combined with the romanticization of criminal life, etc. Thirdly, in the children's picture of the world there is a growing tendency towards thanatization - motives of death, the death of all life on earth , destruction of nature, environmental disaster, etc. It is this trend that has largely provoked the increase in child suicides - not without the help of the media, as well as such specific forms as toys: transformers, killer dolls, board games like “Death of Civilization”, “War of the Worlds” and similar ones.
Another characteristic feature of our time is the tendency towards the sexualization of children's consciousness (the active formation of a cynical attitude towards the intimate side of adult life, premature preoccupation with sex issues), one of the reasons for which is dolls with genitals.
An anti-toy is a specific means of information that promotes anti-values. It poses a danger to the life and health of children and can harm normal physical, mental, moral and spiritual development.
An anti-toy is not just a bad toy, i.e. poorly made, crudely colored, with sharp edges or small details. Often anti-toys are branded products of foreign or domestic production that are externally impeccably made from environmentally friendly materials. But what mental processes and personal-semantic relationships are manifested in the interaction of a child with an anti-toy?
Russian children have archetypal models of perception of reality inherited from their ancestors. The modern appearance of a human doll, the landscapes of board games, the color and shape of construction sets, etc., as a rule, do not correspond to these models, and sometimes directly contradict them. By playing with toys of foreign origin, the child, as it were, receives the first experience of cultural colonization, facing the need for rejection, alienation and subordination to a foreign toy pantheon. Thus, in the life of a child, according to scientists, the first sociocultural trauma occurs, due to which a complex of cultural and national inferiority is then formed. Foreign toys can contribute to the destruction of the connection between generations, even in infancy, designing a fault line between “fathers” and “children”.
Modern anti-toys, most often made according to Western models, leave no room for “plot speculation.” A child surrounded by plastic Barbies, cyborgs, and transformers represents a person charged with the energies of Western society.
A toy with genitals, supposedly for adequate sex-role socialization of a child, can arouse premature sexual interest, and in combination with the efforts of the media and, most importantly, adult “suggestions”, it contributes to the sexualization of children’s consciousness and is essentially intellectual corruption.
A set of alien toys was presented at the New York International Exhibition. The advertising brochure says: “New toys allow kids who love thrills to use toy scissors to rip open the belly of the little green messenger of extraterrestrial civilizations and, one by one, pull out his insides: spleen, stomach, liver, etc.” Why not a guide for Jack the Ripper?! And this fills the child’s consciousness!
The toy, as we can see, seriously affects the child’s psyche and the development of the baby’s personality. After all, for him she is alive and real. Being carried away by playing with a toy, a child most often identifies himself with it, its “habits”, appearance, and its hidden essence. And it’s dangerous if this happens in a game with a negative toy hero, this danger is directly proportional to the character’s negativity.
Smart and kind toy
But it is not all that bad. We have good and “smart”, or rather, wise toys. Most of them are not sold in regular children's stores. They are made by hand at home or in small factories that exist on the edge of profitability - small editions, semi-manual production method. But you can avoid factory soullessness with a common template.
In stores you can find characters from our favorite television program from childhood “ Good night, kids!”: Filya, Stepashka, Khryusha and Karkusha. What do they teach kids during their evening meetings with them? Goodness, justice. They teach not to deceive or betray and much more. And all this is told in a form that children can understand. These now rare positive characters radiate kindness and love to each of the viewers, and they also respond with love. Therefore, the presence of at least one of your favorite characters in the nursery will bring another piece of warmth and tenderness and will remind you of the topics that they touched on. Of course, the “creative potential” of these dolls is small, but it significantly exceeds the negative charge of anti-toys that is saturated in modern stores.
For older children, you can now buy kits for building ships, planes, and boats. For girls they sell beautiful kits for embroidery and sewing dresses for their favorite dolls, and for boys - carpentry and plumbing tools. They teach children independence, hard work, and caring for others. For example, a teenager might (hopefully!) be very pleased to make some furniture for his sister’s doll with his own hands. And any toy made with your own hands is the best for a child and the most expensive gift for his (her) friend.
There are also toys that you don’t need to buy. It’s enough to walk around the park and pick up acorns, sticks, cones, pebbles, check your mother’s supplies of pieces of fabric and ribbons, collect all sorts of trifles and make a toy from all this scrap material. There is a huge field for imagination here.
There are very few works on toys in the scientific literature. And those that affect the pedagogical and psychological aspects of toys are even smaller. But, as we have already seen, lately the market has been filled with “harmful”, dangerous, ugly toys. A lot of vulgar, useless, boring and immoral toys appeared on it. Their influence on children is clearly negative. Parents are increasingly asking the question: what should they buy for their child? Why do children themselves prefer toys that we think are terrible?
Psychologists and teachers are once again beginning to revise modern toys and “clean up” the polluted “toy market.”
By observing a child's play in order to identify children's attitude towards toys, one can simultaneously become familiar with the child's assessment of a particular toy. It would be especially important to obtain data to clarify such a difficult psychological question about the real influence of a toy: according to the ideas of children in comparison with the opinions of adults. This may be the key to a scientific toy selection program. There is no doubt that this program is needed. After all, a child spends most of his life playing.
Cleaning up a child's room is not an easy task! Especially if the child is still small and does not like to help his mother with cleaning issues. How and where to put toys so that they are always in their place? How to teach your child to clean up his room on his own? We've looked at a number of ideas to help resolve these issues!
Many kids like to hide their toys under the bed, which ends up being a whole dump of cars, robots, cats and other items. You shouldn’t scold your child for this or somehow resist it; you can make storage under the bed convenient and fun. To do this you will need drawers on wheels. They come included with many cribs or are sold separately in furniture stores.
Perhaps these are the most affordable and easy-to-use storage systems. You can put the most common toys in textile baskets, from small construction sets to large soft toys. It is convenient for the child to do this himself without the help of his mother, and if desired, he can move the baskets around the room.
This option is great for those with multiple children. of different ages. It is convenient to place the toys of a younger child on the lower level, and the older ones on the higher levels. This way, parents will protect themselves and their children, because many toys for older people are not at all suitable for the little ones to play with.
If there is not a lot of space in the room, then you can organize the storage of toys right at the front door. To do this, you can use a soft textile or polyethylene organizer with pockets. Or hang small bags or baskets on hooks and put toys there.
Pull-out plastic containers can often be found in hardware stores. They are convenient for storing tools and all sorts of things, including children's toys. The baby can easily put toys in them, the main thing is that the containers do not have unpleasant odor plastic, if there is one, then such containers cannot be purchased.
Flexible and bright baskets for storing toys are not difficult to find in specialized children's stores. Children will be happy to put their toys in such organizers.
It’s convenient when the nursery has mobile storage systems that are convenient to move around the room. This saves a lot of time and makes cleaning more enjoyable and productive. Therefore, you should pay attention to wooden boxes equipped with wheels.
Any mother can make textile pockets; it’s not very difficult, and you don’t need to be a seamstress or designer. But the baby will always be pleased to put his favorite toys in the “houses” that his mother made with her own hands.
Metal baskets – classic version, which will be comfortable for both baby and mother. They are very light and transparent, they are not difficult to pick up and you can always see what is in such a basket.
Magnetic holders will come in handy in a boy’s nursery; there will always be several dozen cars and robots that are in disarray. You can quickly collect them in one place with the help of small magnetic helpers.
Storing children's toys is an eternal and inexhaustible topic. That's why we found more
