You must have felt like this: you bought a lot of toys for your toddler or preschooler, only to find that they are playing with a ball or riding a kids motorbike when they are not playing with their phones. Why does this happen? Why do children stop playing with their luxury toys after a brief period of exploration?
The answer lies in the growth-driven psychology of children. Learning is the basic instinct of young children which helps them to try to fit into their environment and social circle. And possession of fewer toys makes this instinct more practical for them leading to their happiness.
In this article, we shall discuss all the ways fewer, but carefully selected, toys help with the cognitive and muscle growth of children giving them immense pleasure.
Minimize Distraction
Try playing with Frisbee in front of your child when he is practicing throwing the ball on the wall and catching it back. At best, he will ignore your play but will show less precision in his catching or throwing skills. At worst, he will leave his activity to join yours.
The same impact happens when the toy is only lying around ready to be played. It creates distraction and stops your kid from earning full gratification of achieving a high level of precision in his sport.
Help Focus
Less distraction equals more focus, but keeping fewer toys helps focus in other ways as well. Your youngster will learn to keep himself engaged in one activity for longer durations. This tendency to get bored easily declines in such situations and increases focus.
As they increase the time spent on one activity instead of hopping from one to another activity, they reach the peak level of engagement for their chosen activity. In turn, their brain connects patience and duration with pleasure and satisfaction and they increase their ability to stay put and complete a task to reach its results.
Foster Creativity
Again, kids are natural learners. So, they try to experiment with new patterns and sequences to learn new things. You will see that your kids will not like to repeat the same activity with their toys for the third or fourth time. In fact, they want to be independent thinkers and try to overwrite the instructions from their peers and leaders while playing games.
Children look for new ways to understand the principles of mass, speed, tension, and attraction using novel activities. To think of these activities, children have to think out of the box and use their creative muscles. Every such brainstorming session builds their creativity developing them for the 21st century challenges.
Related Reading: Are You Having Trouble Finding the Toy for Your Kid
Boost Learning
When your child has fewer toys, he gets more time to spend on each toy. This way, he uses this toy more and experiences its different aspects in detail and in frequency. This exposure to detail means that his sensory-motor learning is boosted and the frequency of exposure ensures that he retains these concepts for a long time.
For toys that grow with children’s age, such as motorcycles for kids and other outdoor games, it means that longer exposure will steepen their learning curve so they quickly learn to tackle bigger toys as well. So, it will be easy for them to overcome their fear when they reach the age of graduating from motorcycle for kids to more sophisticated automobiles.
Foster Love for Learning
Increased focus and creativity that accompanies fewer toys not only helps kids learn the skills attached to these toys but also builds passion for learning in them. Toys allow kids to learn without restraints and instructions. That way, children depend on their intrinsic motivation to interact with the toys.
Extra toys distract them from exploring this motivation preventing them from reaching the ultimate euphoria which results from achieving a perceived goal. This euphoric phase is crucial for humans to build and maintain a growth mindset.
In short, when your kid has fewer toys, he is more likely to achieve the peak of happiness and his brain is more likely to retain the memory of this happiness. In the future, your child will connect learning with happiness and will maintain and positive attitude towards life-long learning.
Give I’m-The-Boss Feeling
As parents, it’s our job to give our children a safe and nurturing environment. Oftentimes, parents redefine this job and believe that getting lots of toys is the right nurturing strategy.
An excess of toys gives the children sensory overload prompting them to retreat and minimize their interaction with these toys even further.
This excess doesn’t cause a problem in those homes and rooms where children have a sensory corner with minimal or no toys and a few sensory equipment. In case your child’s room lacks such a corner or they aren’t accustomed to taking sensory breaks, they may panic because of this excess.
On the contrary, when children have fewer toys, they find it easy to choose one toy among them and to put it out of sight when needed. Now, it’s not their impulses that control them rather their choices are in control.
Impart Love for Nature
One way for us to teach love for nature to our kids is by acting out this love and modeling it in front of them. We can exert the rule of minimalist living to show them how to not destroy our planet. Extend this rule over their possessions as well and only get that stuff that is needed, not wanted.
Take Away
Fewer toys foster happiness within children in families. Not only they are easier to maintain but they also encourage players to interact with them more as well as include adults in playing. Naturally, kids love simpler and outdoor toys, like motorcycles for kids, more than lots of plastic toys and pretend play sets.
FAQs
Why do children often stop playing with their extravagant toy sets after a short period?
Children stop playing with extravagant toy sets because their basic instinct to learn drives them to prefer activities that help them fit into their environment and social circle. Fewer toys make this instinct more practical, leading to their happiness.
How do fewer toys benefit a child's cognitive and muscle growth?
Fewer toys minimize distractions, allowing children to focus more on the toys they do have. This focus enhances their cognitive and muscle growth by fostering creativity, boosting learning, and increasing their ability to stay engaged in one activity for longer durations, thus developing skills crucial for tackling 21st-century challenges.
What impact does having fewer toys have on a child's relationship with nature and learning?
Having fewer toys fosters a love for nature and learning by encouraging children to explore their surroundings and use their creativity. It helps them connect learning with happiness, promoting a positive attitude towards lifelong learning and a minimalist lifestyle that respects natural resources.
