Selecting Appropriate Toys for Young Children in the Digital Era

Healey, Aleeya; Mendelsohn, Alan L.

doi:10.1542/peds.2018-3348

Cited by 60 publications

(56 citation statements)

References 50 publications

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“…In contrast, the use of battery-powered electronic toys received the second-highest rating for perceived learning value. The advertising and packaging of electronic toys often tout their educational bene ts, yet such claims are not based on scienti c evidence (70)(71)(72). In fact, the use of electronic toys may adversely affect cognitive and language development by limiting opportunities for interpersonal interactions.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing the play and learning environments of children under two years in peri-urban Lima, Peru: A formative research study

Rothstein

Buckland

Gagnier

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Background During the first two years of life, children’s access to learning materials and opportunities for play, as mediated by the caregiver, are critical components of a developmentally supportive environment. While home-based interventions have potential for improving early child development (ECD) in low-resource settings, the design of locally acceptable strategies requires an understanding of the household context. In this exploratory study, we aimed to characterize the home learning environments of children 6–23 months of age in peri-urban Lima, Peru, with an emphasis on play and communication.Methods Drawing on the developmental niche framework, we used quantitative and qualitative methods to understand children’s physical and social settings, childcare practices, and caregiver perspectives. We conducted interviews, unstructured observations, and spot-checks with 30 randomly selected caregiver-child dyads, as well as key informant interviews with 12 daycare instructors. We analyzed data for key trends and themes using Stata and Atlas.ti, and employed an adapted version of the Indicator of Parent-Child Interaction to evaluate the video-recorded observations.Results Children’s social settings were characterized by multi-generational homes and the presence of siblings and cousins as play partners. Access to books and complex hand-eye coordination toys (e.g. puzzles, building blocks) in the home was limited. Caregivers generally demonstrated low or inconsistent levels of interaction with their children; they rarely communicated using descriptive language or introduced novel, stimulating activities while playing. While it was not common for caregiver to read or tell stories to children, singing to children was widely practiced and enjoyed. On average, caregivers ascribed a high learning value to electronic toys and “educational” TV programs, and perceived playing with everyday objects in the home as less beneficial.Conclusions The features of the home learning environment highlighted here indicate several opportunities for intervention development to improve ECD in peri-urban Peru. These include encouraging caregivers to communicate with children using full sentences in the context of their daily commitments and activities and enhancing the use of everyday objects as toys. In addition, there is great potential for a home-based intervention to leverage song and music to encourage positive caregiver-child interactions in this setting.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing the play and learning environments of children under two years in peri-urban Lima, Peru: A formative research study

Rothstein

Buckland

Gagnier

et al. 2020

Preprint

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show abstract

“…However, in Chinese culture, the years before first grade are considered an “age of innocence,” when academic progress is not a concern for youngsters (Stevenson and Stigler, 1992). This is in stark contrast to the United States, where parents spend hundreds of millions of dollars yearly on products that purportedly help very young children learn basic words and concepts (Healey et al, 2019). Given these robust cross-cultural differences in attitudes, how might a bicultural Chinese-American parent living in the United States interact with his or her young child regarding concepts such as number?…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 89%

How Bilingual Parents Talk to Children About Number in Mandarin and English

Chang

Sandhofer

2019

Front. Psychol.

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Number-related language input has been shown to influence children’s number word acquisition and mathematical ability. Significant differences exist between how Mandarin Chinese speaking parents and monolingual English-speaking parents use numeric language in speech to children. In particular, Mandarin Chinese speaking parents use cardinal number much more frequently in speech to children than do English speaking parents. However, because previous studies have been conducted cross-nationally, research has been unable to disentangle the influences of language from parental influence. The current study examined numeric language input to preschool children with bilingual Mandarin-English American parents. Results show that when parents speak to their children in Mandarin Chinese, children hear more instances and examples of the cardinal number principle than when parents speak to their children in English. This suggests that differences between how the Mandarin Chinese and English languages are structured leads to disparities in how frequently children hear cardinal number in everyday speech.

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“…Situados en el contexto donde se desarrolla el estudio, en la zona metropolitana de Barcelona, cabe señalar que, aunque se manifiesta un reconocimiento por la infancia, no se garantizan las condiciones necesarias para favorecer el juego libre de los niños. En los hogares a menudo no hay suficiente espacio para el juego, los núcleos familiares suelen ser reducidos, los niños tienen pocos compañeros de juego y coexisten una gran cantidad de dispositivos tecnológicos (Healey y Mendelsohn, 2019). Escasean las oportunidades de relación de forma natural; la calle, principalmente en las zonas urbanas, no lo favorece, y la escuela tiende a menudo a priorizar las actividades que parecen incentivar el éxito académico (Paya, 2018).…”

Section: Introductionunclassified

Percepción de los maestros sobre el derecho al juego libre en educación infantil y educación primaria. Estudio desarrollado en Barcelona (España)

Mañós

Balagué

Virgili

et al. 2019

Bordón

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INTRODUCCIÓN. El juego libre infantil se valora, desde un marco constructivista y ecológico, como un derecho y una necesidad en el desarrollo integral del niño. El estudio pretende conocer la percepción de los maestros e identificar el cumplimiento de este derecho en la escuela. MÉTODO. Es un estudio descriptivo en el que se aplica una metodología mixta. En la investigación se diseña un cuestionario ad hoc a partir del análisis cualitativo de los resultados obtenidos en diferentes Focus Groups (FG). Posteriormente se realiza la validación del mismo, y finalmente se administra a maestros de educación infantil y primaria de Barcelona. RESULTADOS. El proceso de análisis de los resultados finales pone de manifiesto cuáles son las creencias de los maestros sobre la incorporación del juego libre en la intervención educativa y las influencias que ejerce el contexto educativo y social en su implementación. Las dificultades que se dan en la escuela para favorecer la incorporación del juego libre se evidencian en algunos de los datos que atañen a las propias creencias de los maestros, a la rigidez de los horarios escolares, a la presión curricular y a la dirección y/o titularidad. DISCUSIÓN. Se concluye el informe subrayando que si se pretende mejorar la calidad de las experiencias educativas, es preciso reivindicar, a través de la formación de los maestros, el valor del juego en la escuela.

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Selecting Appropriate Toys for Young Children in the Digital Era

Cited by 60 publications

References 50 publications

Assessing the play and learning environments of children under two years in peri-urban Lima, Peru: A formative research study

Assessing the play and learning environments of children under two years in peri-urban Lima, Peru: A formative research study

How Bilingual Parents Talk to Children About Number in Mandarin and English

Percepción de los maestros sobre el derecho al juego libre en educación infantil y educación primaria. Estudio desarrollado en Barcelona (España)

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