Excess toys are not beneficial for children's development. Too many toys overstimulate them, it does not value what they have, does not allow them to concentrate and reduces the chances of their imagination flying. This is corroborated by science through new research that reveals how young children respond to their toys.
Seeing how the children behaved when playing with less or more toys, they could see that giving children less toys allows them to be more creative.
The abundance of toys has a reduced quality in the game of young children.Researchers at the University of Toledo, in Ohio, tested the hypothesis that an environment with fewer toys will lead to a higher quality of play for young children. To do this, they observed the way of playing 36 children between 18 and 30 months. First they were given 4 toys and then 16 toys, leaving supervised free play periods of up to 30 minutes.
Children who had been provided with less toys participated in longer periods of play with a single toy, allowing A better approach to explore and play more creatively. In addition, they showed a greater variety in the way they used toys, and switched between them less frequently.
On average, children interacted with 8.6 of the available toys when they had 16 to choose from, and 3.1 of the available toys when they had to choose between 4.
That is to say, by reducing the options, we benefit children by preventing them from jumping from one toy to another without giving themselves time to explore all the possibilities it offers and allowing them to play creatively.
