Your kid loves to play. There’s no doubt about that. And because you recognize the importance of play in his life, how this is essential for him to develop and grow up mentally and physically healthy, you do everything in your power to give him toys that will stimulate his mind and exercise his body.

But it’s never enough to just bombard him with the toys that have “educational toys” mark on them. Aside from examining whether these toys are really educational or not, you should also know the different kinds of play so that you will be able to enhance a multitude of your kid’s skills. 

One type of play is called the active play. This type of play consists of toys that call for physical movement, muscle coordination and motor skills. Examples of such toys include push and pull toys, ride on toys, outdoor and kid sports equipment like basketball and a ring, soccer ball, tennis rackets and the like. This kind of play is essential to develop your kid’s muscle strength as well as his gross motor skills.

Another type of play is the manipulative play in which kids make use of their hands to build, construct and create while stimulating areas in their brain that are related to problem solving skills and logical thinking. Toys under the category of construction toys, puzzles, pattern-making toys, lacing and stringing toys fall under this type of play. One good example of this kind of toy are wooden train sets.  

Wooden trains are great manipulative toys because with its constructible pieces and endless opportunities for a variety of things your kid can create, his cognitive skills are maximized.

Aside from these, wooden toy train set hone your kid’s fine motor skills which refer to the use of the smaller muscles like those in the hands and fingers which is also an essential physical skill.

The third type of play is the make-believe play. Any toy that can be used for pretend plays fall under this category. These toys include dolls, stuffed toys, puppets, role play materials, play scenes, transportation toys and projectile toys. Sometimes kids use other toys like building blocks and wooden trains which also make good props for imaginative plays.

The creative play which encourages the use of one’s creativity and imagination is the fourth kind of play. Building toys like building blocks and wooden trains, musical instruments like toy guitar or toy piano, art and craft materials such as molding clay, and audio-visual equipment are just few of the examples of toys that you can give your kid so that he can engage in a fun-filled creative play.

Lastly, the learning play involves game toys, educational DVDs, flash cards and books. Although all the toys from the four previous categories can also be considered as learning toys because your kid will learn a various array of skills from them, this type of toys have such name because they concentrate on directly teaching your kid (kind of like in the classroom) more often about ABC, counting and the like.