Play is essential for healthy development in children. Research shows that 75-80% of brain development occurs by the age of 5. And toys are the tools for play. Through toys, the preschool child learns about their world, themselves and others.

What types of things does a child learn when he/she plays with various toys and games?

When preschool children look at books and listen to stories, they learn:

• That books are important and enjoyable

• That print is words

• To exercise their imaginations

• That pictures tells something just like words

• To recognize certain words when they see them in print

• To use more complex language patterns in their speech

• To follow the development of thoughts and ideas in the story plot

When preschool children play with letter games they learn:

• To recognize and name upper and lower case letters

• To associate letters with sounds they represent

• That letters are parts of words, and that letters make up all thos words that people read to them from books

• To recognize their name and some other words, all on their own

When preschool children play with blocks, cars and trucks they learn:

• Concepts of shape, size, length, and location

• To create and repeat patterns

• To exercise imagination

• To express ideas

• To cooperate with others

• To solve problems

When preschool children string beads they learn:

• Eye-hand coordination

• Concepts of color, shape and location

• Number concepts like more, less, longer and shorter

• To create and reproduce patterns

When preschool children play with pegboards they learn:

• One-to-one correspondence, one peg for one hole

• To make and repeat patterns

• Possible left to right progression, a reading skill

• Concepts of addition, as they add one peg at a time

• Symmetry, shapes, order and design

• Eye-hand coordination

• Colors

Parents need to understand the play needs of their child and provide an environment with appropriate toys and games to meet those needs.