Looking deeper into the toy box: Understanding caregiver toy selection decisions

Evaluation of the Movement and Play Opportunities and Constraints Associated With Containers for Infants

PURPOSE

Containers (eg, strollers, bouncers) are an important part of infants' environment but may negatively impact infant development and health. This study evaluated movement and play opportunities, constraints, and manufacturers' developmental claims for infant containers.

METHODS

Containers were identified through Amazon.com. A content analysis of identified products was conducted to identify movement and visual-manual play opportunities, constraints, and developmental claims.

RESULTS

Content was analyzed for 460 containers. Containers varied in their movement and play opportunities; however, most did not incorporate toys and restricted trunk movement, self-directed locomotion, and independent head and trunk control. Containers, especially those with built-in toys, often had claims related to gross motor, sensory, and fine motor development.

CONCLUSION

These findings demonstrate the variability of movement and play opportunities observed across and within categories of infant containers. General recommendations about container use may be less effective than more specific education to parents about selecting and implementing containers.

Malleability of spatial skills: bridging developmental psychology and toy design for joyful STEAM development

Previous research has established that advances in spatial cognition predict STEAM success, and construction toys provide ample opportunities to foster spatial cognition. Despite various construction toy designs in the market, mostly brick-shaped building blocks are used in spatial cognition research. This group of toys is known to enhance mental rotation; however, mental rotation is not the only way to comprehend the environment three-dimensionally. More specifically, mental folding and perspective taking training have not received enough attention as they can also be enhanced with the construction toys, which are framed based on the 2×2 classification of spatial skills (intrinsic-static, intrinsic-dynamic, extrinsic-static, extrinsic-dynamic). To address these gaps, we compile evidence from both developmental psychology and toy design fields to show the central role played by mental folding and perspective taking skills as well as the importance of the variety in toy designs. The review was conducted systematically by searching peer reviewed design and psychology journals and conference proceedings. We suggest that, over and above their physical properties, construction toys offer affordances to elicit spatial language, gesture, and narrative among child-caregiver dyads. These interactions are essential for the development of spatial skills in both children and their caregivers. As developmental psychology and toy design fields are two domains that can contribute to the purpose of developing construction toys to boost spatial skills, we put forward six recommendations to bridge the current gaps between these fields. Consequently, new toy designs and empirical evidence regarding malleability of different spatial skills can contribute to the informal STEAM development.

Relationship Between Speech Delay and Smart Media in Children: A Systematic Review

The increasing prevalence of smart media usage among children has raised concerns about its potential impact on various aspects of child development. One such area of worry is speech delay, as early language acquisition is critical for cognitive, social, and educational development. The purpose of this systematic review was to investigate and synthesize available research data in order to determine the association between speech delay and the usage of smart media in children. To perform this systematic review, a thorough literature search was conducted using relevant keywords in electronic databases, such as PubMed, Scopus, PsycINFO, Google Scholar, Web of Science, and Embase. We included studies published during the last 10 years investigating the impact of smart media on children's speech delay using various research designs. The findings showed that extended exposure to electronic media for children was negatively associated with expressive vocabulary and language skills in children, in addition to decreased language scores and speech delays. Educational apps and shared media engagement with parents correlated with stronger language skills. The introduction of smart devices at a later stage of development (24 months of age and older) was associated with positive language development, whereas early introduction was associated with speech delay. However, six-month abstinence from devices led to speech improvement in the affected children. These findings highlight the need to balance interactive screen time and other forms of interaction to enhance speech development.

Mommy, Can I Play Outside? How Urban Design Influences Parental Attitudes on Play

Although play results in physical, social, and cognitive benefits, there is a consensus that children's opportunities to play have been reduced, particularly for those who live in urban environments. What are the barriers to play, and how can we mitigate them? This review examines a critical factor in play opportunities: parents as the decision-makers with regard to children's play. Using perspectives from psychology, urban design, and cognitive science, we analyze the relationships between the design of built environments, parental attitudes and beliefs, and parental decisions on allowing children to play. For example, can a new implementation of children-centered urban design change parents' skeptical attitude toward play? By drawing from global studies, we chart (1) the three key beliefs of parents regarding play and built environments: play should benefit learning, be safe, and match the child's competence and (2) the design principles that can foster these beliefs: learning, social, and progressive challenge designs. By making the link between parents, urban design, and play explicit, this paper aims to inform parents, educators, policymakers, urban planners, and architects on the evidence-based measures for creating and increasing opportunities to play.

Surveying Parents of Preschool Children about Digital and Analogue Play and Parent-Child Interaction

The addition of digital toys to the child's toy box has resulted in the development of the new 'digital play', which differs from analogue play. Research shows that digital toys are available from infancy onwards and are significantly changing the way children engage in play and communicate with parents during play. How this influences the child's development must be established. The choice of toys and the manner in which they are used depend greatly on the parents. In the present study, parents' opinions and experiences of their child's digital and analogue play were explored in order to gain insight into the parents' perceptions of the impact of different types of play on their child's development. We were particularly interested in the differences in a child's engagement with a toy and the child-parent interaction and communication. In this descriptive study, we administered a questionnaire in order to collect data from 306 parents of children of an average age of 3.6 years. The results show that parents perceived traditional toys as the most stimulating toys for a toddler's sensory, motor, cognitive, and socio-emotional development. During analogue play, significantly more parent-child interaction, as well as more language input from parents and toddlers, occurred. Parents also used different intervention and mediation strategies with different types of toys.

Association Between Toy Type and Parent Language Input Provided to Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder and Age-Matched Children With Typical Development

This comparative effectiveness research study evaluates the association between toy type and parent language input during play with children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and those with typical development.

Electronic Toys Decrease the Quantity and Lexical Diversity of Spoken Language Produced by Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder and Age-Matched Children With Typical Development

Many young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have language delays. Play-based interactions present a rich, naturalistic context for supporting language and communication development, but electronic toys may compromise the quality of play interactions. This study examined how electronic toys impact the quantity and lexical diversity of spoken language produced by children with ASD and age-matched children with typical development (TD), compared to traditional toys without electronic features. Twenty-eight parent-child dyads (14 per group) played with both electronic and traditional toy sets in a counter-balanced order. We transcribed child speech during both play sessions and derived the number of utterances and number of different word (NDW) roots per minute that children produced. Children with ASD and children with TD talked significantly less and produced significantly fewer unique words during electronic toy play than traditional toy play. In this way, children appear to take a “backseat” to electronic toys, decreasing their communicative contributions to play-based social interactions with their parents. These findings highlight the importance of understanding how toy type can affect parent-child play interactions and the subsequent learning opportunities that may be created. Play-based interventions for children with ASD may be most effective when they incorporate traditional toys, rather than electronic toys.