The child does not play with toys. Why don't children play with toys? And who will clean up?

10.07.2024 Pregnancy

Are you familiar with the situation when a child throws toys around and does not play with them? Most often, parents begin to worry about this, because they are convinced that all children love to play with toys. What to do if the child does not show interest in the proposed games? Let's figure it out.

The child does not want to play with toys

Firstly, it is necessary to find out the reasons why the child is not interested and cannot participate in the game process. There can be many reasons for this behavior. Let's look at the options:

  1. Have you often encountered a situation when you give a child a toy, and he immediately puts it aside? The reason for this behavior is simple: the child does not yet know how to play on his own. It may not be enough for a child to just receive a toy. At an early age, the child does not actively play; he can simply hold the toy, examine it, roll it on the floor, and that’s where the game ends. Next time the child’s interest in such a toy will be much less. This is where the scattering of toys occurs, because... the child does not understand what else can be done with them. Therefore, parents need to show various actions with toys, thereby helping the child develop imagination.
  2. Your child has a lot of different toys, but he throws them around and doesn’t play. Due to the large selection, most often the child loses interest in toys. As a result, the child plays with them a little and throws them aside, and the parents run in a panic to get new ones. Don't assume that the wide selection will keep your child busy. Therefore, to prevent such a situation from arising, it is best to buy your child a small number of basic toys, to which you will sometimes buy new ones.
  3. The modern market is filled with many interactive toys, which makes life much easier for parents, but not for the child. These toys can tell stories, sing and dance at the press of a button. As a result, the child does not need to use much effort, just press the button and see what happens. In this situation, the baby’s imagination stops developing. The baby doesn’t want to bring the toy to life or imagine playing out some situation with it.

Therefore, every child should have mandatory toys, such as: dolls, cars, construction sets, pyramids, figurines, etc. You can find a wide range of different toys on the website of the Gulliver Toys online store. Only beautiful, high-quality and branded toys for your children. Delivery is carried out throughout Russia.

The child must develop his imagination and you must help him with this. Remember your childhood, play with your child, come up with some fairy tale or life situation together and assign roles.


What toys should you buy for your child?

Be sure to buy toys for your child according to his age. Often, parents, having collected toys, so to speak, “for growth,” are faced with the problem that the child does not play with them, because. still doesn’t understand what to do with them. Take into account the interests of the child; he should like the toy.

From 0 to 3 years

At this age, the child is still learning about the world. Any movement with a toy is already a game. Therefore, the baby needs toys that would develop hand motor skills, as well as his perception of color, shape and texture. For example, cubes, pyramids, rattles, soft toys, and large construction sets are suitable.

From 3 to 5 years

This is the period when a child’s imagination and thinking are formed. Speech is also actively developing. Therefore, as toys, it is better to choose dolls, soft toys, dishes, and construction sets. Play with your child; role-playing games will be very useful at this age.

From 5 to 7 years

At this age, role-playing games and games close to adult life should also prevail. For example, mother-daughter games, hospital and store games, kitchen and house games, etc. Construction sets and mosaics are also suitable for games. Don't forget about board and sports games.

The situation when a child does not play with toys is usually perceived by parents as something non-standard. It can be difficult for them to understand the reasons for this behavior, because it is believed that all children love toys and play with them with pleasure. What if a child scatters toys offered by parents and does not show any interest in them? First of all, it is necessary to understand why the baby behaves this way and what may interfere with the normal formation and development of the game process.

There may be several reasons why a child does not play with toys. But more often than not, a child throws toys without even playing with them, for reasons that are completely justified, although not obvious to parents.

The child has not yet learned to play independently. Many parents believe that it is enough to give the baby toys, and he will immediately start playing with them himself. But with their first toys, most children only perform some monotonous actions. For example, a child can roll a car on the floor for a long time, and then he gets tired of it. If you offer your child the same car another time, he will no longer be interested in it. As a result, the child throws toys around because he does not know what to do with them. Therefore, it is important for parents to develop the child’s imagination by showing him as many different actions as possible with toys: the same car can not just be rolled, it can be rolled down a slide, other toys can be transported in it, and so on.

There are too many toys. A child throws toys simply because he is tired of them. If a baby has a lot of different toys, his attention is scattered, and he may not be interested in any of them. Parents should not overwhelm their child with a bunch of toys, hoping that their variety will keep him occupied. The child throws away the toys without playing with them for even half an hour; as a result, they remain unclaimed, and the parents buy the child new toys, which will also interest him for a very short time. It is useless to teach a child to play independently with the help of a large number of toys. It is better to let the child have a standard play set, replenished from time to time with new toys.

Toys do not allow a child to develop his imagination. The modern market for children's goods is flooded with various interactive toys. They talk, sing, dance, and the child only needs to press the buttons. But such toys do not help at all in the development of a child’s play activity, since they reduce the entire gaming process to primitive actions - press a button, and then you can only watch what the toy will do. The child’s imagination does not work in this case, because he is not given the opportunity to make the toy “alive”, to give it a voice and character, because it talks like that. Therefore, a child must have traditional toys - dolls, cars, soldiers, construction sets. They will allow him to create his own play space. But, as already mentioned, parents should help him in this by offering different variations of games with the same toys.

What toys should I buy for my child?

Another reason why a child does not play with toys may be that they are simply not suitable for his age. There are situations when a child throws toys around instead of playing with them, because they do not correspond to his level of development, he simply does not know what to do with them and does not yet know how to use the opportunities that they provide. Parents should know what toy to buy for a child at 1, 2 or 3 years old, so that it fulfills its main functions - it is interesting and understandable, and also has a positive effect on development.

Toys for young children (from birth to 2.5–3 years). During this period, the child explores new objects, so practically any manipulation with toys is a game for him. Toys for a child of this age should help his sensory development, that is, allow him to master different shapes, colors and materials. Rattles, cubes, pyramids, and construction sets with large multi-colored parts are best suited for this. It is better to choose the colors of toys for a child under 3 years old from the main palette: green, red, blue and yellow.

Toys for children of middle preschool age (from 3 to 5 years). At this time, the child is actively developing speech, thinking and imagination, so he needs toys that are suitable for role-playing games. A child must have soft toys and dolls, finger toys and wrist toys, as well as sets that imitate various household items from the “adult” world: toy furniture and dishes, construction sets. out of 5 (10 votes)

And he whines: “I’m bored!” . Not only mothers in sandboxes who are tired of figuring out how else to play with their children complain about this.

Teachers and psychologists also note: despite the abundance of sophisticated toys, it is becoming increasingly difficult for children to play. It is difficult for them to come up with a plot and use their imagination. They have almost no interest in the game process. , Partly, the unimaginable abundance of toys is to blame for this. But the main reason is parents. What are we doing wrong, and how are we discouraging the child from playing independently?

We choose toys not for the child, but for ourselves

This especially affects parents who experienced a lack of toys in childhood, and now subconsciously try to give the child everything possible. Then toys are bought based on one’s own tastes: bright, with many functions, and not according to the child’s wishes. Not knowing how to play with a child, we compensate for this with an excess of toys. And this excess entails boredom and apathy. If toys do everything themselves - drive, talk, shoot - the child has no reason to use his imagination.

A radio-controlled helicopter will entertain dad. But when it comes to playing with a child, an ordinary car is better than a radio-controlled shining miracle, and one doll with a bunch of clothes is better than a dozen toy fashionistas.

To avoid satiety, remove two-thirds of children's toys from his eyes and let him play with the rest. Periodically replace sets or individual toys as soon as you notice that interest in them has waned.

We take away the initiative from the child

Trying to fill children's leisure time as much as possible, we deprive the child of the opportunity to plan the day and games on his own. Our games with children are entirely educational. But too many developmental activities atrophy the ability to come up with something to do.

Give your child the opportunity to decide for himself what is interesting to him, give him room to maneuver. Stop filling your time together tightly and constantly thinking about how to play with your child. Sometimes it's good to just sit back and watch the clouds and birds. This will free up space in the child’s head for fantasy and imagination.

We showed the child what a TV is

When there are cartoons, games with the child fade into the background. A TV or tablet with cartoons is convenient for parents and destructive for the child. By absorbing ready-made pictures, even if they are high-quality and instructive, the child is deprived of the incentive to invent and invent. He is creatively passive.

Dose TV time. It doesn’t matter what gadget the child uses, the time for “ready pictures” should not exceed 40 minutes a day at the age of 2-5 years and no more than 1 hour a day if he is over 5 years old. TV is contraindicated for children under 2 years old!

We develop and teach instead of just playing

In recent years, young parents have simply become fixated on the early development of their children. But for some reason the overall intellectual level is declining against this background. You shouldn’t “jump over a step” in a child’s development. No advanced classes will give a child under 5 years of age as much as playing with a child will. Ordinary, aimless, from an adult’s point of view, games.

Do you want to know how to play with your child so that it truly develops him? Provide your child with a safe space - a yard or a room, give him a sufficient number of simple toys and allow him to freely do what he wants. Even if it’s just pouring sand from one pile to another. He explores the world and the properties of objects, and for now he does not need an accompanying person. Do not interfere; when he needs it, he will come to you with questions himself.

We don't give ideas

When a child complains of boredom, there is no need to sit down with him and entertain him. Just give him an idea. Give old toys a new look, suggest the plot of the game. With your child, you just distribute the roles. Give a push and return to your business, he will continue on his own, perhaps taking the game in a completely different direction. But don’t pull him down - now this is his world, and his decisions.

Playing with a child is a painful duty for us.

Adults are not required to enthusiastically roll cars and make Easter cakes. But the despondency into which we fall from the request “Play with me” is passed on to children and deprives them of the pleasure of playing. It is not necessary to play with a child in the full sense of the word. Often, simply the presence of his parents, an approving look, or a comment is enough for him.

If you don’t like playing, start doing something together. Draw or sculpt from salt dough or self-hardening plastic. Read fairy tales and stories so that you can later use their plot in games with your child. The main thing is that it brings pleasure to you too.

Very often you can hear from mothers: “My child doesn’t want to play with anything, although there are a lot of toys. So many different toys lie idle, he can only scatter them, and then he just wanders around the apartment after me: he likes to wash the floors with me and tinker in the kitchen. You can only occupy yourself with cartoons for a while.”

Normally, at the turn of 1 and 2 years of life, the child actively manipulates toys, and the adult not only names the object, but also draws the baby’s attention to its intended purpose, which the child can display in his game (the car drives and hums). By the end of the second - beginning of the third year of life, a plot-display game is formed, in which children begin to actively reflect the impressions received in everyday life (cradling a doll). From 3 to 7 years old, the main place is occupied by one’s own role-playing game.

Play is the leading activity of preschoolers; all subsequent development, education and upbringing of the child is built on its basis, which is why it is so important to understand the “toy issue” in a timely manner.

The more toys, the worse the game.

Almost every person, coming to visit a house where there is a child, considers it his duty to bring a toy as a gift. They are stored next to those that mom and dad dreamed about in childhood and simply could not help but buy for their baby. And nearby there are also “developers”, which were acquired in pursuit of early learning and development.

It turns out that almost any modern child has more toys than are useful for him to have. There are too many of them, therefore they are not of any value. Such a number of toys will only “work” in a properly organized “game world”.

Where do the toys live?

If there are really a lot of toys, it is better to divide them, for example, into three parts. Place two of them in an inaccessible place, and under no circumstances simply dump the remaining ones in a box. It is desirable that the toys be located at eye level and sorted (constructors, cars, animals, etc.). Psychologists have noticed that a child plays better as long as he can disrupt this storage system, take it out, open it, and destroy order. If a child sits in a pile of toys from the beginning of the game, most likely he will simply scatter them.

And who will clean up?

Of course, many parents find it easier and faster to remove toys themselves. But it should be remembered that the habit of participating in cleaning is easier to develop before the age of three. Don't leave your child alone to tidy up toys. Cleaning is best done with the participation of mom and in games (toys in houses, who is faster, etc.). In this case, there should be as many toys freely available as the child can remove with the help of an adult.

“Wrong” and “right” toys.

First of all, it is better to leave multifunctional toys that are suitable for both object and role-playing games (balls, large construction sets, ordinary dolls, cutlery, cars, etc.) freely available. Often toys are not used for their intended purpose, they can be dropped or bitten, so the material of the toy should be non-toxic, well-painted, and shock-resistant.

Pay attention to the color, it should be natural. However, the toy should not be exactly like the model (for example, an overly detailed toy iron), but should leave room for the development of imagination. Therefore, toys that start spinning, blinking, singing, or actively moving at the touch of a button are not the best choice. They reduce the game to primitive button pressing, where the effort expended and the effect obtained do not correspond to each other.

The most important.

An adult's help is not only about choosing the right toy. It's important to bring it into play. Psychologist L.S. Vygotsky spoke of the “zone of proximal development.” This law says that at every age there is an activity that:

1 The child can do it himself;

2 Can with the help of an adult;

3 Can't do it at all.

This range of things that a child can do independently develops only due to what he did together with an adult. Those. when the activity is performed together, the child develops faster and more safely.

In order for a child to play BY HIMSELF, an adult must first play WITH him.

Often the child chooses his favorite “mom’s toys” - a telephone, pots in the kitchen. To teach your child to play independently with toys, you can do the following:

— Choose a toy and play with your child with this particular toy for several minutes every day for two weeks. Those. the toy is filled with the “presence of an adult” and methods of use are learned;

- Play on an equal footing, don’t try to introduce a lot of rules, it’s better to have fun with your child.

— The chosen game must correspond to the age and skills of the child, because if he fails to master the game, he loses interest in it. Remember that educational games work when there is an adult interested in development nearby who will show you how to play and help at the right time.

Don't refuse.

Quite often, when talking with parents, it turns out that the busiest mothers and fathers who offer the baby to play on his own, the children just don’t like and don’t know how to play with toys. Remember that things will never end, there will always be a pile of dishes, and the floors will be dirty, and childhood only happens once, do not deny your children the joy of being with you.

Rules for playing with a baby

Mothers often ask questions such as: “Why doesn’t my baby play with his own toys?”, “Why does he have no interest in playing?” But they never think that the reason lies in themselves - adults.

Indeed, young children under one or two years old quickly lose interest in everything. They can play with the toy for a while and then put it away. There is a mountain of toys on the floor - but your child is not interested in them. We bought a new construction set - the child played with it and threw it away.

Why is this happening? Why doesn't the child play with his toys?

The reason lies in the fact that young children do not know how to play. They need to be taught this. “How to teach a child to play?” - you ask.

The fact is that children in the game copy the actions of adults, that is, their mother. Therefore, a child’s interest in toys appears when the mother plays with the baby and plays correctly. The mother should imagine herself as a small child and play enthusiastically with him. The emotional component is very important. You need to say what you feel: “Look how tall the tower is!”, “Look how bright the car is!”, “You have a very beautiful house!”

At first, the child will not play much on his own. Basically it will watch your actions and possibly break what you have built. This should be treated normally - the baby participates in the game in the way that he can. Be sure to include an emotional exclamation: “Bang-bang! The tower is broken! Hooray!".

In addition to the above, there are a number of rules that, if followed, will help you easily teach your child to play with toys independently:

  1. It is necessary to end the game before the child loses interest in the game.
  2. After finishing the game, do not let it lie under your baby’s feet. For example, put the box with the designer on a shelf. The child will look at this box and will look forward to the game. When you take out the construction set, he will be happy to play with it. It is very important that toys do not lie on the floor, so that each toy has its own place.
  3. You need to put things in order together with your baby immediately after playing. This will keep the room clean and teach your child order.

Show interest in reading

Now let’s figure out how to show your child’s interest in books, how to create anticipation for reading.

The child is still small, he cannot read. We still look at the colorful images on the book, voice what we see and read out loud. If, while reading, you remembered some incident from life, also voice it, coloring it emotionally: “Do you remember yesterday, on the street, we saw a bird?”

Reading a book also needs to be finished before the child switches to another game, before he gets tired. It is very important to teach your child to sit calmly and focused for at least a minute when you read to him.

Children can listen with interest to the same fairy tale at least 100 times. While they are little, they love familiar, familiar stories. Don’t strive for variety; read your child’s favorite books many times.

And we make sure to finish reading before the baby loses interest in it.

What toys should I buy for children?

Do not rush to buy new toys if all the rooms in the house are already littered with them.

Instead, prepare a box, put some of the toys there and hide it from the child.

When your child has had enough of playing with the toys he has on hand, take out a box of folded toys. The child will miss the toys and will play with them with pleasure! Then put in this box those toys that the child no longer arouses interest in. You will get them after a while. And so in a circle...

But still, what toys should you pay attention to when buying?

Advice: don’t rush to buy the most expensive and complex toys. Just imagine, if you buy a car with a remote control, it has limited capabilities and there is absolutely no room for the child’s imagination. It may not travel on all surfaces, it is programmed. What if it's an ordinary car? A simple car can go anywhere and any way. The child will fantasize on his own if you help him.

Another example is an ordinary and expensive doll. The expensive doll is also programmed and can only speak 5 phrases. And if a child voices a simple doll himself, he can come up with anything!

Learning by playing

It is important to teach a small child during play, at ease. To do this, you need to focus on what you teach: color, shape, smell, taste, etc.

For example, if you are building a house out of blocks, emphasize: “yellow block”, “blue block”, “give me a red block”, “yes, this is a blue block, but give me a green block”.

When teaching through games, one should not forget about emotions. How you present information is important.

On the playground, in the kindergarten, it is not uncommon to see children who do not know how to play. To prevent this from happening to your child, play together! Take a ball for both yourself and your child. Show the movements and comment: “the ball can fly!”, “look, it rolled!”, “the ball is jumping!”. So, while having fun, the child will learn to play independently and will not be bored in kindergarten and while walking on the street.

Knowing these little tricks and tips, you will know how to play with your child correctly, and you will be able to raise an independent and smart child! Good luck!