[FNLBeInformed] Why Babies Don't Need Toys

[Guest guest]

What does everybody think about how to raise a healthy baby?

Misty L. Trepke

http://www..com

 

Why babies don't need toys

http://www.montessorimagazine.com/magazinebody19.html

 

Educational psychologist Anita Hughes believes babies deserve

something better than plastic rattles.

 

Babies come into this magical world wanting to find out what it is

like and to share it with us. But we offer them a sea of plastic and

imitation. As soon as they reach out to touch we proffer a designer

plastic rattle with a handle so big that tiny hands cannot grasp it.

Are we giving a baby dignity when we unbox a plastic telephone on

wheels with a silly face?

 

Is this what a baby really wants or needs? I don't think so.

 

I agree with Maria Montessori's view that children are naturally

active and learn by doing, for is is through effort in action that

we gain satisfaction and pleasure, whether we are two months, two

years, thirty two years or eighty two years old. Children also need

to be trusted and treated with respect, another central ideal in

Montessori education.

 

However, I do not believe that our undertwos are given the trust and

dignity they deserve in Western society. In some cultures, children

are viewed as equal to adults and their efforts are patiently

appreciated. The North and South American Indians, the Kalahari

bushmen and the traditional Japanese, for example, patiently allow

their children time to attempt adult activities or make independent

explorations without verbal encouragement or restraint and without

being hurried up. Children are part of the 'whole' and are expected

to be so.

 

In our culture I feel that we deny this trust and dignity to our

youngsters by severely restricting their worlds. I acknowledge that

the western industrialised world is filled with dangers both at home

and outside but what if the environment that we offer to our babies

and toddlers? They are strapped into buggies or car seats, or placed

in shopping trolleys and, when free, they wander round homes

containing fitted furniture with childproofed cupboards and domestic

machines which they are told not to touch. Plastic is the stuff

their world is made of - plastic bottles and cups, spoons, bowls,

bibs, nappies, rattles, drums, activity centres, telephones and bath

toys.

 

From the developmental viewpoint a baby's first experiences are

sensory and largely come through feeding. It makes sense that once a

baby can reach out and grasp things he wants to find out what they

are really like by putting them in his mouth. It is at this point

that earrings, necklaces and spectacles are discovered and pulled

at, and we can no longer hold the baby and have a cup of tea at the

same time. By about four to six months a baby is giving very clear

indications that he wants to handle and mouth things and we need to

ask ourselves what we are giving him to satisfy his curiosity. A

seated, immobile baby is entirely at our mercy as to the kind of

playthings or environment we offer him. In spite of its different

colours or design, a plastic rattle feels, smells and tastes much

like any other plastic rattle from a baby's point of view. Yet all

around him is a panoply of objects just waiting to be discovered.

 

The Treasure Basket can offer just the right kind of magical

experiences to a young baby. This simple idea conceived by Elinor

Goldschmied over thirty years ago has given countless babies a rich

and stimulating start to their lives. The Treasure Basket is a

medium, low and rigid-sided round or oval basket, into which is

placed 60 to 100 natural and household objects of your choice. The

objects might range from a pine cone, shell or medium-sized pebble,

to a garlic press, bottle brush or leather purse. The greater the

variety of texture, taste, smell and weight of objects, the better.

As adults our visual sense is so dominant we forget that all the

senses are important and exciting to the baby. In addition, familiar

and ordinary things are all novel to a young child.

 

A Treasure Basket offers choice and variety and encourages

independent activity. A six to ten month old baby seated beside one

can demonstrate concentration and independent exploration lasting

thirty minutes or more, without any adult encouragement. In fact,

adults usually interfere with the baby's concentration and sensual

pleasure; when interrupted the baby's play changes from exploration

to social interaction. A baby needs the security of his mother's

approving presence to release any innate anxiety he is experiencing

about the new objects but he does not need a constant verbal

monologue. Also, because a Treasure Basket is so stimulating, it is

best offered to the baby for limited periods during the day and only

when he is fresh and alert.

 

As the baby moves into the second year of life, two significant

changes occur; one is mobility, and the other is the subtle change

from wanting to discover what objects are like (that is, mouthing

and holding) to wanting to discover what objects will will do. At

this stage many objects have no functional meaning to children, and

are not yet played with symbolically. Children simply enjoy seeing

whether objects will slide, bang, bounce or squeeze in. They watch

adults around constantly putting things into things and want to do

the same kinds of activity. We all know of keys disappearing into

rubbish bins, toast being placed in the video recorder and bricks

being put in the washing machine. However, if we provide enough of

the right kind of materials, a small child will become fully

absorbed and occupied without resorting to inappropriate

experimentation.

 

Perhaps the most important start is to provide plenty of containers;

tins, tubes, yoghurt pots, flower pots, strawberry baskets, boxes,

purses and wide-necked plastic bottles. A range of playthings might

include fine chains, curtain rings and bracelets, pine cones, hair

rollers, dolly pegs, brushes, balls of all types, corks, shells,

keys, etc. The possibilities are endless.

 

Many commercial toys for children under three may look exciting and

colourful and be described as educational, but are either too

limiting of too difficult for young children. A kitchen roll rod and

twenty cheap bracelets can be far more satisfying than a

plastic 'rings on a peg' toy, where the chunky, graded rings will

only go in a single order. Posting boxes are intended to meet the

curiosity of a small child but they are often so difficult that a

child can only succeed when he is past the posting stage. A mother

recently told me she was worried because her 12 month old son who

was not " doing the house-shaped posting box properly " . It was

supposed to be an educational toy, so how could she teach him? In

fact her son had been extremely intelligent in the way he explored

the situation and solved the problem for himself. The house posting

box had complex shaped holes in the roof (far too difficult for a 12

month old) but the roof lifted off and the baby gave himself endless

pleasure filling and emptying the roofless house with the various

shaped bricks. His mother, concerned for " correctness " , then

Sellotaped the roof onto the house. He was not to be defeated and

spent over half an hour in deep concentration pulling this strange

sticky stuff off. His face lit up - not only had he discovered

something of the nature of Sellotape, but he had once again got the

roof of his house off, and was busily placing shapes in and out once

again. Such is the wonderful perseverance of the under twos.

 

In summary then, we need to trust our children to guide us into

providing them with what they need to develop their skills. Instead

of providing undignified plastic toys which have no place in our

adult world, we can offer our babies a basket of treasure which will

stimulate their physical and spiritual development. Watching the

complete pleasure and concentration of an infant engrossed in

playing with these materials convinces even the most sceptical

advocates of modern baby toys that real objects have an essential

place in our children's lives.

 

Every Treasure Basket has its own unique collection of objects but

the purpose is the same - to offer experiences which use all five

senses.

 

Touch - texture, shape, weight and temperament

 

Smell - variety of scents

 

Taste - through mouthing and chewing

 

Sound - ringing, tinkling, banging, scrunching and rattling

 

Sight - colour, form, length, shininess, size

 

 

Suggested items

 

Fir cones, pumice stone, loofah, shells, dried gourds, a lemon,

large pebbles, avocado pear stones, a natural sponge, large walnuts.

Woollen balls, large corks, small glass bottle, wooden nail brush,

small raffia mat, toothbrush, bone shoe horn, shaving brush,

housepaint brush, clothes peg, large curtain rings, small turned

bowl, large beads on a string, wooden egg cup. Bunch of keys, lids,

small egg whisk, metal beaker, lengths of chain, brass curtain

rings, tea strainer, A purse, velvet powder puff, a bead embroidered

purse, small teddy, bean bag, coloured ribbons, bag of herbs,

leather specs case, leather key holder, small flannel. Various

rubber balls, tennis ball, puppy 'bone', fur fabric, rubber tube,

bath plug with chain, hair rollers and spoons.

 

For heuristic play for older babies add a wide range of containers -

tins, yoghurt pots, ice cream tubs, baskets, wooden boxes, slide

boxes, egg boxes, flower pots, handbags, wide-necked bottles, plus a

wide variety of balls of different weight and feel and objects which

roll like cardboard tubes, cotton reels, electric cable spools, men

in a wooden boat or car, plastic or metal bracelets.

 

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must appear on each copy Copyright 2003 by Montessori International

magazine, www.montessorimagazine.com