Principles on how to choose Toys and Activities
What is our direction? What are our aims?
Our direction is to encourage the child to use his/ her mind
more, to engage less in sensory stimulation, and to develop
his/her social, interactive and imaginative, symbolic
functioning.
This means we want to avoid too much purely sensual
stimulation (e.g. tickling, chasing, swings, waterplay),
especially with a child who tends to get lost in it.
Principles for choosing a toy
Is it .../ Can we make it more.../
Does it have the potential to be more...
multi-functional or restricted
versatile or fixed/ right-wrong use
extendable or limited to this one toy
contained/ containable or too many bits/ uncontainable
solid/ safe or breakable/ hard/ unsafe
replaceable or precious/ expensive
interactive, social or solitary
co-operative or competitive
(playing together) or (I win/ you win)
playful or ‘teacher-ish’
fun or right-wrong use
growth-promoting or time-filler
mental, symbolic or sensory stimulation
creative or mechanical responses
imaginative or automatic
Questions to ask yourself:
Does this toy encourage playfulness?
Does it encourage child to think ‘What can I (the child) do with it?’
Can it easily be made interactive/ sociable?
Can the use of this toy easily be extended?
Can it’s use easily be shared in different modalities?
e.g. visual (talking about the puzzle child is doing), singing + actions
Does this toy provide child with a sense of containment?
- both from the toy’s perspective (= not too many bits, or containers
for ‘bits’) and
- from the child’s emotional point of view
i.e. does it allow playing with child’s ideas/ pre-occupations/ anxieties
e.g. mouths, holes, teeth, biting, aggression, anger, hate,
loss, aloneness
Does it lend itself to more mental rather than purely sensory uses?
Does it lend itself to early differentiation/ concept formation?
in-out, there-gone, mine-yours, this-that
Can it’s use easily be extended?
multi-functional or restricted
versatile or fixed/ right-wrong use
e.g. bricks, little people, containers, stacking beakers, marble run
not: mechanical, battery-operated, cause-effect plastic toys,
Our direction is to encourage the child to use his/ her mind more, to engage less in sensory stimulation, and to develop his/her social, interactive and imaginative, symbolic functioning.
symbolic - e.g. drawing
imagination - e.g. pretend
co-operative
picture books
Some suggested useful toys, playthings, picture books and much more can be found on our sister website Mindbuilders-Consulting.Org
Email: info@reachingautism.org
What is our direction? What are our aims?
Our direction is to encourage the child to use his/ her mind
more, to engage less in sensory stimulation, and to develop
his/her social, interactive and imaginative, symbolic
functioning.
This means we want to avoid too much purely sensual
stimulation (e.g. tickling, chasing, swings, waterplay),
especially with a child who tends to get lost in it.
Principles for choosing a toy
Is it .../ Can we make it more.../
Does it have the potential to be more...
multi-functional or restricted
versatile or fixed/ right-wrong use
extendable or limited to this one toy
contained/ containable or too many bits/ uncontainable
solid/ safe or breakable/ hard/ unsafe
replaceable or precious/ expensive
interactive, social or solitary
co-operative or competitive
(playing together) or (I win/ you win)
playful or ‘teacher-ish’
fun or right-wrong use
growth-promoting or time-filler
mental, symbolic or sensory stimulation
creative or mechanical responses
imaginative or automatic
Questions to ask yourself:
Does this toy encourage playfulness?
Does it encourage child to think ‘What can I (the child) do with it?’
Can it easily be made interactive/ sociable?
Can the use of this toy easily be extended?
Can it’s use easily be shared in different modalities?
e.g. visual (talking about the puzzle child is doing), singing + actions
Does this toy provide child with a sense of containment?
- both from the toy’s perspective (= not too many bits, or containers
for ‘bits’) and
- from the child’s emotional point of view
i.e. does it allow playing with child’s ideas/ pre-occupations/ anxieties
e.g. mouths, holes, teeth, biting, aggression, anger, hate,
loss, aloneness
Does it lend itself to more mental rather than purely sensory uses?
Does it lend itself to early differentiation/ concept formation?
in-out, there-gone, mine-yours, this-that
Can it’s use easily be extended?
multi-functional or restricted
versatile or fixed/ right-wrong use
e.g. bricks, little people, containers, stacking beakers, marble run
not: mechanical, battery-operated, cause-effect plastic toys,
Our direction is to encourage the child to use his/ her mind more, to engage less in sensory stimulation, and to develop his/her social, interactive and imaginative, symbolic functioning.
symbolic - e.g. drawing
imagination - e.g. pretend
co-operative
picture books
Some suggested useful toys, playthings, picture books and much more can be found on our sister website Mindbuilders-Consulting.Org
Email: info@reachingautism.org
