The next time your child wants to play hopscotch, you can get out a piece of chalk and draw the court on your driveway. Or, you can purchase the Hop and Count Hopscotch Rug for $29.99 (plus an additional $20 for over-size shipping costs).
Children learn a number of skills by playing hopscotch, including physical coordination, balance, body control and rhythm, leaping, spatial awareness, hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills, numeracy, and strategy.
Last but not least, playing with a friend involves taking turns, which aids social development; and learning how to be a good winner as well as loser encourages character development.
Whether your child plays the game on asphalt or a rug that costs $50 has no effect on the skills being learned. Of course, there may be practical reasons for having an indoor hopscotch rug, but that’s not how it’s marketed. The website description includes a section on “Extension Activities: More Ways to Play and Learn,” thus linking the hopscotch rug to a cornucopia of toys now being marketed as “educational.”
Educational toys are everywhere, from toy aisles of big-box retailers to museum gift shops. Nearly every toy now is marketed as aiding in teaching a particular skill, including games and apps for computers and tablets. But are toys and games labeled as educational superior?
“Every toy is educational,” said Christia S. Brown, professor of developmental psychology at the University of Kentucky. “Dolls are educational, Legos are educational; they all teach special skills. I think it’s a misnomer to label some toys as educational and some not. I don’t think there’s any evidence in research that educational toys are beneficial beyond other toys.”
Brown said toys that educate — a globe, for instance — can be fun, and there’s nothing wrong with purchasing an educational toy if it’s fun. The two dangers she sees are parents forcing kids to play certain games to learn a skill (which takes the fun out of play) and the use of educational computer games and apps.
“There’s more and more research that these (electronic) games are not beneficial and may be actually limiting kids. Sometimes the apps are so rigid, they may only give a couple of response options, so kids aren’t able to think for themselves. The result is that they curb creativity,” Brown said.
She cited the example of a science-based computer game. Since science is about asking questions and creatively finding answers, these games aren’t allowing kids to learn skills that they’ll need to practice science in the real world.
“Educational toys are a bit of a panacea for folks who are anxious about whether their kids are playing the right thing,” said Chris Cassell, a first-grade teacher at Crossroads Academy in Lyme. “In fact, any kind of play can be really helpful for children. Games and education have long gone hand in hand, and it’s only a worksheet mentality that has people questioning the educational value of play.”
Cassell uses many games in his classroom, including math games, which he says are a great way to introduce math concepts. The games teach numeracy skills, and subitizing, which is the ability to see a small number of objects and know how many there are without counting.
Connect 4 and Shoots and Ladders — games that have been around a lot longer than the “educational toy” craze — are also popular with his students,
Children are always learning when they play, regardless of the toy or game. In fact, playing is the primary way children learn skills related to social interaction and collaboration.
For years, Cassell set up a “mud kitchen” for his students at his previous school. It was really just a place outside with a hose, dirt and kitchen items.
“They loved the mud kitchen, and would play for hours, learning about weight, measuring, comparing wet and dry dirt, and ratios. It grew out a very natural exploration; children are natural inquirers,” Cassell said.
“I recently saw that Fisher Price sells a mud kitchen. They’re selling back to us the things that kids would do normally,” Cassell said.