Toys Stories – Construction Toys and educational games for kids
Posted on: October 25, 2009
- In: toys
- 3 Comments
Construction toys and creative games encourage creativity, curiosity, manual abilities and meets the incredible thirst for knowledge of the human nature. In the past, due to the fragility of the materials used to make toys, we have few traces to identify a precise date for the invention of construction toys. One of the first appearance of constructions toys dates back to medieval times, around 1245, when a Franciscan monk, around 1245 , reported about an Arab game he had learned in the Holy Land, consisting of modular elements to form a sphere.
ENGINO NEW CONSTRUCTION TOYS
Other historical finds and ancient books, prove the Arab origins of constructions toys and modular board games, usually composed of elements of geometric form. In 1500 constructions where not only toys, but olso ornamental building miniatures in the royal courts, a game of ability for jesters and a nice hobby for the ladies. In fact, in the Middle Age, constructions toys and other games where not designed for children but for adults.
Construction toys follow the same history of tales, narrations created to entertain kings and nobles during ancient times and later become (1700-1800) stories for kids. Just like the Grimm Brothers’ tales in these period construction toys became for the first time an educational pastime for kids.
Many pedagogues and social scientists started writing essays on constructions and educational games for kids to promote healthy activities and stimulate the ability and the cleverness of the children. In this period toys became the most serious actions of children and between the end of ’800 and early ’900 the Liberty art movement also involved the construction games in many artworks.
The first construction toy ever realized in modern times were however limited to the skeleton and the lack of details had favored the critics’ accuses of lack of realism. But, according to German pedagogues, this lack of excessive realism allows to the child to explore all the potentiality of the game, just like the dolls, whose faces are so expressionless, but the child can make them laugh or cry second his sentiments.
At the beginning of ’900, in England, with the positivism and scientific revolution, is given top priority to scientific and technical aspects of educational games and realistic engineering constructions toys are the new clever games for kids. With the invention of the plastic, construction toys became lighter and easier to play and the educational toys market is enriched with new models, shapes and pieces more and more similar to a small scale wonderland.
Compared to the structured games or one piece toys a construction toy has, undoubtedly, different characteristics that can influence positively the intellectual and the emotional sphere of the child. If every form of play has the function of an educational experience for its players, the game of construction and reconstruction of any kind of object is still nowadays one of the most creative way of playing.
3 Responses to "Toys Stories – Construction Toys and educational games for kids"
November 18, 2010 at 11:08 pm
Hi,
This is Chatter Chimp.We are a team of Boston University students currently researching on the product development of an educational toy called Chatter Chimp. Your article relates with many of the things we have researched on keeping children engaged while learning though our final product idea does not engage the child in constructing and deconstructing pieces.
Your article is very interesting! For many of us, this brings back many memories being a child and how exciting it was playing with some of those construction toy games.
Our product idea, Chatter Chimp, is both an educational toy and phone which helps children ages 3 to 8 develop great communication skills. The phone is a monkey-shaped phone, whose tummy has an Android-based touch screen, where children can play educational toys there to further their communication skills. What’s more is children can make use of the phone to practice the communication skills they learn from the educational games.
give us some feedback!
Have a good day!
February 21, 2011 at 3:28 am
It’s great! I love educational toys for my nephews because it encourages kids to be creative. They are learning and at the same time having fun. I highly recommended kids educational toys to my friends and relatives.
August 3, 2010 at 4:23 pm
Wow! This is a history about the construction toys. Anyway, I am still amazed about the invention of these toys because its not just a toy for fun but it is considered as an educational toy. Even building blocks are considered educational toys and are still being developed to become modern as of these days.