How To Choose The Best Toys For Toddlers

Toddlers are little explorers who learn by doing. Play based learning gives my daughter Amaria a great opportunity to develop and practice new skills at her own pace by following her unique interests, natural curiosity and strength. The toys and all the playthings your child use can shape her development in a lot of important ways.

While it may seem like choosing toys for toddlers should be easy, as you walk into a toy store today, the only thing that’s easy is feeling overwhelmed. Toy stores got limitless collection of stuff for toddlers! How do you choose which are right for your child? How can you tell which are high quality and which will last? Which will engage your child’s interest for more than a few days or weeks?

Here are simple tips:

1. Select toys that spark your child’s imagination.
2. Choose toys that encourage exploration and problem-solving.
3. Give them the chance to play with “real” stuff or toys that look like the real thing.
4. Toss in some “getting ready to read” toys.
5. Seek out toys that encourage your child to be active.

When I choose and buy toys, I ask myself a lot of times if it is really for Ysha or I am buying it for me. Hahaha! It’s okay to use toy buying as a nostalgia trip. Just don’t expect the child to share your enthusiasm. But luckily, the letter and board games I get also excite Ysha so that’s really great! Magkasundo kami pati sa laro!

There is a huge array of toys that have been developed for the toddler market. As parents, have you thought of toys being not just about the product but the inner motivation of the brand owner? I mean, what are the makers’ values and purpose? Do they align with one’s parenting perspective?

I know a lot of moms like “personal” toys. We love it when toy makers “see” moms as a child’s first teacher and not just a source of profit. That being said, I really admire Ogalala on picking brands not because they are the most popular, but because they have a great heart.

Melissa and Doug is a real life couple with 6 kids, who for her, is her mentor for learn through play. The Learning Journey comes up with the most thought out products like Technogears action blocks from their daily interaction with kids at their own day care.
Crayola is a prime partner for schools and educators in the US for art-infused learning.

Ogalala believes parenting need not be too overwhelming. As the company speaks to at least 2,000 mothers annually, they have worked with experts to find ways to simplify parenting. That’s why Ogalala developed “Ogalala System in Play and Care” with the aim of helping PARENTS to understand PARENTING little by little.

Their mission is to SIMPLIFY PARENTING by raising a HAPPY and FULFILLED KIDS with TOOLS that SIMPLIFY PARENTING for DEVELOPMENTAL AGES of 0-8 years old. The Ogalala ”IT STARTS WITH O” program provides a list of 15 Essential STEAM Toys that are a helpful guide for parents who want to get the most of out of their money and be able to maximize the toys they have. They are 15 EASY TOOLS that grow with your child and help them in every milestone. Enabling you to start your little ones in learn through play journey early, easily and effectively.

Ogalala held a TODDLER EXPLORATION PLAYGROUP last June at the Ogalala Shangri-La Mall Store where Teacher Tanya Velasco showed moms that free play allows kids to develop key skills such as inquiry, expression, experimentation and teamwork.

Exploring gives toddlers a chance to work on important motor skills. Whether it’s kicking a ball or putting puzzle pieces together, they can persist until they get it right.
Doing so not only adds skills, it boosts their sense of confidence and competence. In other words, they begin to think “I can do it!”.

To see and know more about Ogalala products, you may check out http://www.oga-lala.com and follow them on Facebook and Instagram. You may also visit Ogalala branches at L4 East Wing, Shangri-La Plaza Mall, L2 Ayala Malls the 30th and at Level 3, Main Mall, SM Mall of Asia.

To develop creativity you put out just 3 toys and watch how your child plays with it. You’ll be surprised. You don’t need to teach them how to play, they already know. You just need to encourage an environment for creativity. — Teacher Tanya Velasco

Remember that play is the “work” of childhood. Good toys help kids learn new skills and practice relationships with others and their world. Don’t forget to get in there and play with your kids. It’s part of the fun of being a parent. Playing is one of the main ways children build their physical, social, emotional and intellectual skills. And we want to be part of helping them build those, don’t we?

Love,

Momma Nish