Toys are the tools of games, games can’t be separated from toys. And playing games is the baby’s nature, the toy is the material premise of the game, toys are indispensable for babies to play. The world’s “father of preschool education” Froebel put the baby’s toys as “gifts”, and designed a series of toys specifically for the development needs of the baby. According to Montessori, a famous Italian educator, “Children’s essence is work (activity). Work is play. Toys are materials for children’s work. With toys, children’s work will not fail; with toys, children’s interest in work will be aroused, they will concentrate on operation and learning, and toys will help their self-construction and nerve development. The supply and application of toys are directly related to the effect of children’s learning.” Mr. Lu Xun once said, “Games are children’s angels. We should pay attention to children’s growth, games and toys.
In fact, throughout the history of preschool education at home and abroad, we can see that all those who emphasize preschool education attach great importance to the educational value of toys. Contemporary preschool education research and practice also fully prove that toys play an irreplaceable role in promoting the development of babies’ cognitive ability.
Promoting the Improvement of Perception Ability
Perception is the main way for babies to understand the outside world and increase their knowledge. In the middle of the child’s life, because the speech ability is still relatively low, the information obtained by the baby is mainly image information obtained through perception, while the toy stimulates the baby to contact with various senses with its vivid and exaggerated image and bright colors. In the process of contact with toys, babies contact toys of different materials through eyes, ears, mouth and hands, which strengthens sensory perception and observation, and promotes the improvement of perception.
Parents should create a toy-rich environment for their babies at home. The preparation of toys should take into account the color, size and shape of toys. Toys with different colors and obvious contrast should be prepared for babies. The size of the toys should take into account the height of babies. In addition, in the process of a baby’s contact with toys, parents should strengthen the guidance of the baby’s perception, so that the baby can “jump” to pick apples. Parents can guide their babies to touch plush cloth, silk and plastic toys and let them talk about their feelings; let him see toys of different colors and let him choose toys of his favorite colors to play with; let him compare the color of the toys, so that the baby has a preliminary awareness of the color; let him lift the toys, compare the weight of the toys.