Yes, but the right gift is the motto today. It is important that your child is encouraged early. That is already clear. Educational toys are already available for the youngest children and educational games are available for all ages. Be it computer games, board games or games of skill, the market has become large. Nevertheless, do yourself a favor: Don’t just buy your child educational games or learning toys anymore. After all, it should not be overloaded with it, but also still develop joy. As always, it’s the mix that counts. “Normal” toys are just as important as educational toys.
It is clear that after the persistently bad “Pisa” results of the last few years, there is a tendency to promote children to the maximum in order to educate them in the best possible way. But as said, a lot does not always bring a lot. Your child should have the choice to play something that may be completely pointless in your eyes. Believe us, take this parent advice, your child learns by himself and still doing it. You can’t see it, but it’s true. Even the often hated action figures are quite useful for your child. Does it learn so to explore different character and also to train his own imagination. Let him have this joy.
What is also strongly noticed, games, which used to be simply called games, are now suddenly learning games. After all, it is! Think of Mensch ärgere Dich nicht or Mikado. All educational, no doubt. Nevertheless, they used to be correctly declared as “normal” games. So learning games are definitely right and important. But it is not necessarily always learning. The fun must be in the foreground, who does not want to put his child prematurely under pressure. So let your child play, he actually learns one way or another. It is proven: Play is the best way to learn. No matter what age. And they should always have the opportunity to decide what they want to play or what they want to learn. One must not forget that learning games and learning toys are also great businesses. This means that not everything that is classified as educational is necessarily so.
Therefore, if you want to give educational games as a gift, you should ask which one is really suitable. There is an educational game award given every year. These so awarded games have been tested for their educational value. But just think for yourself. You know your child best, see what he enjoys, know where he has strong deficits. Based on this knowledge, you get your child the appropriate toy and make sure that it is not too demanding, so as not to put him under pressure, as I said. It is quite clear that it is precisely through educational games that gaps in knowledge can really be closed. With joy in the play your child will let close these gaps also gladly. Provided, it may play also still “normally”. So don’t underestimate your child, but be sure that he or she thinks along with you, that he or she cooperates, even without you having to explicitly point it out. So continue to give pleasure, gladly paired with knowledge. In consultation with your child, you can’t go wrong anyway. You are a team.