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What Makes a Great Toy?

Recently, I was visiting a neighbor, when their child approached and asked me a question that I had never considered. Leave it to children to formulate the very best questions.

The question boiled down to, "What is -- or makes -- a great toy?"

Sounds simple enough. But, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that there isn't anything simple about the question at all.

At the time, I answered by sharing examples of great toys with the child, but, still, that didn't really answer the underlying question.

After some thought, I now have an answer, several really, that at least begins to satisfy. I hope the answer to the child's question will also go some distance in satisfying you, the reader, as well. Perhaps you could let me know what you think by leaving a comment below once you have absorbed this article.

Your ideas may help me to do a better job with the answer to this question the next time I'm asked.

When speaking of a great toy, I admit that I have biases.

I have spent many years watching the effects of toys on youngsters. I have also had the privilege of working with some great teachers who have influenced my thinking regarding toys. And, finally, I have seen the unfortunate consequences of, for example, arrested development or violent imitative behaviors from children young and old partaking of playthings with negative themes. Some toys, in other words, won't make it to first base if you are asking me for toy recommendations. (First base would make the list though.)

So, let's begin.

First, in my view, a great toy doesn't just gather attention to itself. Lots of bad toys do that. No, a great toy contributes to the shaping of lifelong positive interests. Sometimes such toys lead to careers. Sometimes they just focus enthusiasm, and therefore provide a heightened positive purpose for life. However we wish to express this thought, a great toy must propel a child (or adult) to the future with positive momentum.

An example of a great toy that did these things for me when I was young were the old style Erector sets. Erector sets allowed me to build relatively simple merry-go-rounds or Empire State Buildings (See Photos). Many an engineer, architect or teacher has emerged from his or her experience with Erector sets.

Lego has the same kinds of positive aspects as Erector sets did for me, and, with Lego, we see people starting as babies building with Lego Duplo (photo below), then proceeding on to more and more complex structures throughout childhood. As adolescents, the Lego Technic series captures many a future auto designer's interest, and these same designers, with accompanying adult builders, also participate in local Lego shows or visit and participate in building Legoland panoramas (photo, bottom). Finally, for the Lego genius, there is always room at MIT's Artificial Intelligence Lab for other worlds to be designed.

In other words, I place Lego at center stage when it comes to providing positive momentum and enriching lives, from the crib to E = MC^2.

Tinker toys, Lincoln Logs and the like provide the same general kind of experiences as Erector sets and Lego that would qualify them in my world as great toys.

Along with Lego, model railroad building (and other model building) rank right up there when we speak of toys that I would recommend to persons wishing to expand the intellect, encourage coordination, support the imagination and, finally, suggest a better world to those working and playing with them. For toddlers, the Brio wooden railway system offers all of these same benefits in my view.

To add to my already daunting list of qualities I require in a great toy, I admire toys that encourage and increase attention span. Even a toy like Pick Up Sticks (photo, top) falls into this category. In addition, Pick Up Sticks allows a person to increase eye-hand coordination. Of course, all of the toys mentioned previously satisfy this criterion as well. On the other hand, a game of Jack in the Box is not going to be at the top of my list. Nor will squirt guns be anywhere around.

Toys that are not self contained get a bad mark from me. I am not talking about add-ons that improve the scope of a toy or game. I am talking about toys that need something outside of the toy itself to be functional. If a toy requires an electrical gizmo to work at all, that gizmo had better be in the box.

In addition, I prefer toys that create or stimulate questions rather than answers. I like the player to have to ask, "What would happen if I did this or that?" If no thinking is required of the player; if strategy is not a factor; if the player, when playing with the game or toy, already knows all the answers, already knows what will happen if he or she lands on the pink square, and has no power other than the throw of a die to win or lose, I am not going to spend my money.

A great game or toy can be played with in many ways, depending on the imagination of the player. The more of this a game or toy encourages, the higher that game or toy ranks in my opinion. A game or toy that has only one method of creating action is generally a game or toy that is a waste of time in my view, since there are so many games and toys out there that will give the player a sense that he or she is creating a world, a world the shape of which is malleable and subject to his or her ideas.

I also enjoy a toy that is both attractive and well made. Many toys start out this way, and then company management decides for whatever reason to undercut quality, hoping that no one will notice. If the toy starts out with a certain acceptable standard and then improves, my wallet and spirit are open to it. If the toy goes in the other direction, my spending stops.

What I hope goes without saying, but I will say anyway, a toy must be fun. However, "fun" being the subjective word it is, can be dangerous to use as a litmus test for a toy. Some so-called toys encourage "fun" by making it possible for the young to destroy various and sundry living beings. I suppose there are all kinds in this world, but my limited toy budget is not going to be spent encouraging anyone to separate body parts from their original owners. The next to the last word in the expression, "ALL IN GOOD FUN" is important to me. And, GOOD, even to those who aren't very, is understood in their heart of hearts.

In addition to all of the above, I like to see a toy that is a good value for the money. We may not be able to define what we mean by the phrase, "good value" immediately. On the other hand, people, whether they have a PhD or not, know what good value is when they see it.

Somehow good value is different for each person for whom we are purchasing a toy. That is, with each person, we have a set of natural positive talents, preferences, inclinations and a thousand other words that only begin to describe who the person is. So, for each person, "good value" must be defined a little differently. I don't mean to imply that good value is hard to determine. It isn't. It isn't because your heart usually tells you when you are looking at a good value for a particular person.

A Note: A toy or game that breaks the family bank is never a good value. The spirit of fun stops with the maxed credit card. Some of the finest toys ever conceived were made FOR FREE by loving parents at home, so-called folk toys we described in a previous article series. Lego, Erector Sets, and Lincoln Logs had their conceptual beginnings in sets of FREE wooden blocks that children could then stack in creative ways. Parents took piles of wood scraps, spent the time to shape and polish them, and, voila, a toy for a lifetime of imaginative building. So, when considering good value, the toy has to be a good value with respect to the financial situation of the home at the time of purchase. There is no substitute for a toy given with lots of tension-free love, and no way to make up for a toy given without that wonderful ingredient. Money and love almost never go together for me in the same sentence.

Further, a great toy is a safe toy.

Chemistry sets for children under six (or twenty-six), with adequate supplies of nitrates and glycerin, are not on my list. Nor are celebratory toys that can create Big Bang reenactment opportunities.

Toys need to be age appropriate in that, for example, Lego Duplo takes into account young children's propensity to introduce almost everything to the mouth. A parent does not have to worry about that with Lego Duplo, and, at the same time, the child gets all of the benefits a great toy provides.

Finally, there is what I call the JOY FACTOR.

When we look at a toy, does the heart warm? Do we have positive memories associated with the images that the toy creates? Do we know from experience that such a toy is found in settings that reach to places we want to go and stay?

Or are the toys something else? Do they create something else, something that is the subject of an occasional nightmare?

Looking over my list of qualities for a great toy, I can see that the answer to the child's question wasn't so hard to formulate after all.

At bottom, does the toy create a feeling of positive, life supporting fun. If you can answer yes to this question, buy it.

Ron - Toy Tech

Thursday, 10:33 pm | February 4th, 2010

Comments

Beth on Friday, 9:10 am | February 5th, 2010

As usual your articles are both depthful and capture an essence that I haven't found anywhere else on the web.

The articles are not only instructive, but charming in a way that prods the memory when attempting to recall facts contained therein.

Thank you.

andry sianipar on Tuesday, 12:22 am | February 9th, 2010

Hello-
Greetings from the island of Bali-
this is my first visit...
and i really love your articles..
i think i can get more lessons here..
thanks for sharing..
dont forget to visit me back...
see you...

william on Thursday, 1:20 pm | February 11th, 2010

I love legos but I think these articles are good and P.S. I LOVE LEGOS

David @ Kids Jobs on Saturday, 8:29 pm | February 13th, 2010

It's safe, I think. A great toy should pass the drop test and a lot more. Be it wood, metal, plastic, or fabric, the basic material should be durable and well-finished. Avoid toys with sharp edges and long cords. Abide by any age-specific safety warnings, such as small parts which may present choking hazards for children under three years old.

David on Thursday, 2:13 am | February 18th, 2010

Your blog is pretty good and impressed me a lot. This article along with the images is quite in-depth and gives a good overview of the topic.