Creating Joy with Toys - Surekha Jadhav
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| Surekha Jadhav - creating joy with toys |
People go crazy when it comes to choosing toys for kids. When someone goes to a shop to buy a gift, they are bombarded with shelf full of toys, books, DIY kits and what not. Too many choices confuse the buyer.
The buyer keeps thinking, does the child I am buying this gift for already have this toy? Will the child like it and play with it or throw it away after one use? Will the child understand how to play with this? Is this in my budget?
We tend to ignore more important questions such as is the toy durable? Is the toy safe for the age of the child? Does the child have room to keep the toy?
Most of the time the toys get re-gifted to someone else if the child already has it or doesn’t like it.
After reading this by now toy images must be circling around you like a halo and giving you a head ache.
Well……here are a few questions that we asked a super mom to two beautiful kids, who also
makes open-ended eco-friendly toys. One of our admins, Nivi asked her most important questions that frequently pop up in everyone’s minds. Her valuable inputs may help you choose wisely next time.
Meet Surekha Jadhav, a passionate homepreneur who innovates toys that are not only open-ended but also fun to play across different ages. Even us adults love to play with our kids using these attractive and beautifully designed creations.
Nivi: How much important are toys in a child's life?
Surekha: Toys are crucial part of a child's life. Having said that, it’s not necessary to have a lot of toys in a child's collection because I believe less is more!!! Lesser toys means more ways a child can think of playing with them.
Nivi: Which toys are necessary and which aren’t?
Surekha: We are living in a world where there are variety of toys are available in shops. Even through online platform it’s very easy to buy them. But there has to be some boundaries/limits on how many toys one should buy. I believe open-ended toys are a must for children. Reason being, these toys don't have a fixed solution and has infinite ways a child can play with them. These toys grow with a child.
Free play boosts a child's imagination and creativity. 10 years down the line, out of the box thinking and soft skills will matter most. Along with open-ended toys, toys having fixed solutions are too needed such as jigsaw puzzles, carrom, chess, ludo, snakes and ladders and other board games.
Surekha: There has be to a balance of everything. Like open-ended toys, pretend play toys, board games or jigsaw puzzles and most important outdoor play. Field trips are most essential to give practical exposure. Again here I would like to give more emphasis on things around the house and DIY toys or activities.
Nowadays subscription boxes are too available. If parents are not getting much time to plan an activity then they can use these subscription boxes else I won't recommend them.
Bottom line is let child learn in an organic way!!! The child that is hidden within the parent, should also play with their children. This creates a greater bond between parent-child.
Nivi: How do toys help in age wise development?
Surekha: I see most toys are categorized according to age criteria. It's necessary for toys which have choking hazard. But I believe children explore toys in different ways at different age. So if a child who is 3 years old is able to solve 20 pieces puzzle, then he should be exposed to more pieces puzzles. In this example it should not be considered that he is too small for the age group mentioned on the game/puzzle or toy.
Children show interest in specific toys at different ages. These interest vary from child to child, so our job as parents/educators is provide them opportunities to play with toys of their interest. So if you see I'm giving more emphasis on child's interest than his age. And when a child shows interest she/he learns numerous things from toys provided to him. So more than age wise development, interest wise development will happen quickly and successfully.
For example if different textured/shapes/sizes toys are given to a baby or a toddler then it will help to boost their fine motor skills, sensory skills, eye-hand coordination, tactile skills etc. which are important skills to be develop at that age. As the child grows more emphasis should be given on building skills, spatial awareness, logic building, problem solving and so on.
Nivi: How can everyday things be used as toys?
Surekha: I believe most of the learning happens from everyday things around house. Involving children in daily chores and giving them freedom to explore things around, gives them direct or we can say, practical experience. This is extremely important because child learns to solve the problem or learn at real time. It also boost their confidence. For example, a toddler should be allowed to transfer veggies from bag to fridge, or clean the veggies, cut them etc. Here the child gets the sense that whatever I'm doing is valued, used and she/he is a contributor in the daily task.
Nivi: Each parent goes through this dilemma. How does a parent decide which toy is necessary to bay and which isn’t?
Surekha: I think I covered few points which are relevant to this question in above answer. But yes I will like to add that, if parents have time they should create some DIY toys from recycled material for their children. If children are big then involve them too in this process. For example, shapes from foam or different textured clothes can be used for matching activities, recycled bottle can be used for dropping pom poms or balls.
So I personally refrain from buying toys which can be easily DIY from recycled material. But yes there are toys which can't be DIY, then we have to narrow down our search.
We have to think on points like, is my child interested, can I afford it, is it really necessary, can I find alternative and so on while buying a toy for a child. As I said earlier less is more!!! I always prefer toys which have limitless ways to play with over other toys.
Nivi: Coming up is a very crucial question Surekha. Since you also are into making toys, Do you think toys should be gender specific?
Surekha: A big NO for gender biased thoughts related to toys or other things in general. Toys are toys, they are not gender based. If a boy likes to play with kitchen set, then its fine and on other hand if girls like to play with gun, cars or robots that's fine too.
We have to get rid of the gender biased thought process so that our children will learn equality and it starts right from our house.
If a boy wants to help in cooking or wash vessels, then let him do. Who knows he can be good chef when he grows. And if a girl is interested in cars then she can be a good racer. When boys play with dolls or cook food then they understand that these things are not related only to girls.
Another point I will like to add here is, at times parents choose mostly pink toys for girls and blue toys for boys. We have to stop gender biased colour preferences as well.
Nivi: Is there something important you would like to add?
Surekha: I guess your questions have covered most the points. But yes, I will like to add that as a small step towards saving our mother earth, we should prefer natural toys over plastic ones. Touch and feel of a natural toy is very therapeutic.
Surekha: I will advise parents to give children exposure to toys according to their interest. And let children play / explore toys in their own way. Often we parents tend to tell our children how should they play with a toy or things around the house. Let them explore, who knows they might invent something different!!! Let's give them chance to think out of the box!!
Thanking Surekha Jadhav for her valuable inputs which have hopefully cleared many doubts and made our mind at ease.
For those who would like to browse through the eco-friendly beautiful creations that Surekha has to offer, for your children, do visit the following link.
https://www.facebook.com/My-Dream-Shop-169063133795862/
Profile
A brief intro about me, I am mom of 2 enthusiastic children, 13 years old daughter and 4 years old son. I have done degree in Computer science and I have left my career so that I can spend more quality time with my children. I am homeschooling them and we are enjoying our journey. I hold special interest in early childhood development and have experience of working with children of different age groups.
I always wished for couple of toys to buy for my children. But due to their unavailability or huge prices I was not able to buy them. This is the reason which gave birth to Endow handcrafted toys!! Most of the work is done by me, my daughter and my husband so that we can keep prices affordable for all. While designing I do a deep study of benefits, availability in market(many toys have cheeper versions available), uses, material required, man power required, safety of a child and price. Very much hard work goes behind making toys loaded with love but at the end of the day somewhere a smile on child's face makes it all worth!! 
Much much love 
️
Surekha
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