Nov 17

Written by: kdkahn
11/17/2009 8:18 AM 

Eco-friendly.  Sustainable.  Green.  Natural.

All words that have special meaning when it comes to the toys we let our kids play with.  Most of us want our children to grow up with a healthy respect and affection for the world in which we live.

In toy terms, "natural" has another meaning:  Does the toy fit with the child's "natural" style of play?

My three criteria are:

• Can the child play with it without a lot of direction or instruction?  (In other words, do they decide how to play, how to experiment?) 
• Is the toy appropriate for where the child is developmentally, so that they can learn by playing with it (as opposed to it being too easy -- and possibly boring -- or too complex -- and possibly frustrating)?
• And, finally, is the toy made from all or mostly  natural materials?

Any toy that scores 2 out of 3 or 3 out of 3 is worth considering.  The ultimate test of course is to watch how your child plays with a given toy.  That, of course, is the natural thing to do!