Monday, 11 August 2008
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Toys: Must EVERTHING Make Noise?!
by Mama MonkeyThere is much talk that goes around about the harm of kids being glued to the television, video games or computers - and I am not one that is going to dispute that. But what about the smaller things (and smaller kids). It drives me absolutely BONKERS to go out and try to find a toy or book for my child that does not make noise. I have one of the pop-up toys where you have to push a button, turn a key or flip a switch to get the character to pop up. It is old. There are stickers falling off and the plastic is yellowing from age. But I keep it because I can not find one that does this without the addition of noise...music or voices.
Shape sorters have always been one of my kids favorite toys. These can help them learn not only shape recognition, but matching and problem solving - not to mention hand eye coordination. I am fortunate enough to have a few of these that are absolutely void of electronic noise, but my son recently received one that sings and says the number or shape name that matches the block when you put it in. It helps them learn the names for the shapes, you say. Yeah, maybe - but what happened to you sitting down with your child and telling them the shape name as you hand it to them to put in the hole? And don't even get me started on singing/talking books. Can LeapFrog help your kids learn to read? IDK - I'm sure it could help. But does not have nearly the array of benefits that you sitting down with the child and reading to them has.
Why must all the toys for children be battery operated? I really don't understand how we can put all these 'shiny' things in front of our kids and then complain because they seem to be showing symptoms of ADD or can't entertain themselves for 5 minutes without some sort of electrical device. We wonder where childrens' creativity and imagination are going. Are we not breeding this ourselves? What happened to kids making the truck noise instead of the truck doing it for them? Are we really so busy that we need to have a pen read a book to our children for us?
The way I figure, my house is noisy enough with 3 boys running around it all day long - I don't need that added noise of all their toys. I have found myself shopping more at rummage sales, where I can find the old fashioned noise free toys, than at department stores.
What is your opinion on the noisy toy issue? Are you apt to buy the 'next big thing' for your child, or stick to the classics?
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Comments (30)
Wooden toys were always a big thing in our house. There are no recalls of blocks of wood, and no assembly required! It's harder to find stuff like that, but it's totally worth the effort.
I find that Etsy has a lot of great stuff like that.
And just for fun, I LOVE this woman's work: http://www.tiffanyard.com/
Great post! I am so with you on this! I buy the toys and don't put the batteries in! ha... I have a strong dislike for toys that make noise. I much prefer to hear my son crawling on the floor making the car noises himself than playing with ones that already make noise! I think we live in a society that is much too stimulated all around, and although my kids do watch TV and have some electronic toys, we try to keep their play time electronics free. Some of my son's favorite toys are the classics - cars, little plastic farm animals and tractors, mr. potatoe head, blocks, etc.
AMEN!!!!!!!!!!!
I shop at thrift stores and are ALWAYS looking for the toys I used to play with as a kid. They have similar stuff at walmart now...but it all makes noise, looks cheap, and it WAY over colored. It seems like a waste to me.
I also have one of the "pop-up toys where you have to push a button, turn a key or flip a switch to get the character to pop up" and I got it at a thrift store for like 25 cents. How can you argue with that?
I perfer the "old fashioned" toys!
I think you have a business idea right there...
start a company that is based around parents teaching their children instead of toys teaching their children.
The No Noise Toys!
:)
i love them all, from the classic wooden toys and dolls to the noisy leapfrog table and abc learning toys. for noisy toys, i only like the ones with fun voices and music, and stay away from the ones that would drive me crazy. my daughter has some great puzzles and pretend food toys from melissa & doug - i like that company because their toys aren't as expensive as some other wooden toy brands. leapfrog makes some great stuff, and although i spend a good amount of time reading with her, she uses her electronic abc toys to practice independently... the girl is definitely in a "love to learn" stage, and the toys help!
I hate noisy toys!! I don't buy many things that make noise and when I do I try to find things that will be just fine without batteries.
I saw a study once about hearing problems and noise making toys. It was quite scary actually. They suggested that if you have loud toys by putting duct tape over the speaker parts. It muffles the sound but kids still able to hear it when they are playing with it. You shouldn't hear toys from the other room, imagine what that can do to little ear drums right next to it.
I prefer the old toys
My children love building with blocks, legos and Lincoln logs
I hate the noisy loud toys. No thank you
I would prefer that my children have only wooden toys, unfortuantely, this is not the case.
I'm so glad my little girl is content with a quiet baby doll to just carry around.
I'm not fond of those toys that make noise, I actually despise it. I've gotten several that family members have gotten her that I took the batteries out of, I'm sorry, no matter how entertaining it may be for her, I'm not going to listen to Elmo at 3 o'clock morning saying "COME PLAY WITH ME! TEHEHEHEH" I. don't. think. so.Luckily there is such a thing called "parent interaction". I'm all the toy she needs! :D
We have all kinds of toys, noisy and silent and my daughter loves them all. I like the toys that make noise when you do something to them, like rattles and squeaky ducks to squeeze, not electronic but still some gratifying sounds for the baby.
There's an unwritten rule in my family "thou shalt not give gifts that require batteries or make noise unless they stay at your house". (There are 6 kids under 5 in our family right now, so it totally makes sense)
I've always said that my kids will have no toys that beep, squeak, rattle, talk, etc... I'm not a big fan of most kids, let alone annoying, noisy toys. My mom always says that that is the only type of toy she's gonna by me, just for the pure fun of torture.
We do not allow noisy toys in our house. My daughter has several books...none of which make a sound. The only 'noise' that comes from her toys are the inherent noise of wooden blocks being banged together or something like that. Nothing electronic. And, if she receives anything electronic as a gift, we will say thank you and it will promptly be returned or donated. The noisy toys stay at grandmas house.
We lived in Germany for awhile, the toys she currently has were purchased there. You can still find wooden blocks and wonderful NON noisy toys in Europe. I will pay the extra money to buy HABA and Sevi online to get these durable non noisy toys.
@ToxicWishes@xanga - We have a similar rule in our family...except that it also includes a retaliation factor. You give my kids a noisy, obnoxious toy and guess what your kid is going to get next year!?!?! (Half serious...half a joke that goes around. But my childless sisters really have it coming when they do have kids!!!)
@XbabyK@xanga - It is definitely more the electronic noises that bother me. I don't mind a rattle or squek here and there either. A rattle has been the first toy all of my boys have played with (and subsequently smacked themselves in the head with
)
I like the noisy ones- it tells me he's doing what he's supposed to, not getting into trouble!
My kids got lincoln logs for christmas (we got them at walmart). Classic toys are actually making a comeback. We have a toy store in Anchortown that is dedicated to the classics. My kids have a few noisy toys, but for the most part, they are nice and calm toys that you can put your imagination with.
Besides, all my friends that are moms themselves know that if they buy my kid a noisy toy for their birthday, their kid is getting something even worse at their next birhtday! :)
Toys that make noise need to come with rate limiters.
I'm a woodworker, so obviously I'm biased against plastic junk toys that try to preempt a child's imagination and supply all the noises and motions that the kid is supposed to provide. We got a Leap Pad when our daughter was born, and we never even opened it. I think we ended up giving it to Goodwill, still in the box. What we do have are wooden blocks, big lego blocks, stuffed animals, Little People, and about 200 books, and our daughter runs over to us with two or three in hand at least twice a day.
I have to wonder what toys today's kids will look back on with fondness twenty years from now. I have a hard time believing the majority will be recalling robotic dogs or talking books.
All of D's toys so far are either stuffed animals, or wooden toys. I love them. They're beautiful, and he loves them, too.
You could take the batteries out of toys that you would like other than the music?
I've found most of D's wooden toys at the MIchael Olaf cataloge, and also Haba.de (I haven't used the website, but most of the wooden toys I've bought here came from there-- there's a link towards the bottom of the page to make it all into English).
I'm trying to be conscious of the things I buy for D, choosing toys that require him to DO something rather than be a passive observer. I saw a book once titled "Einstein didn't Have Flashcards." We get so obsessed with Baby Einstein and all these "educational" toys that I think we forget that we can do it so much better ourselves.
my family calls them "noisy toys" (i have 6 and 7 year old siblings) and they are annoying. when the batteries die, we say it "broke" and dont "fix" it. they lose interest, and forget about it. :) i don't know about the leapFrog thing, but i do know my brother is starting 2nd grade this fall and he's really smart :) he read the whole devotional the other night. my sister is 6, going into first grade, and boy...is SHE smart...i'm not sure if she's starting to read yet...but she will be starting soon :)
I stick to the classics. My son isn't too crazy about the noisy toys anyway. He adores his blocks (wood, cloth, or plastic), rattles, stuffed animals, and books. The only noisy toys he likes are the ones that play music. I have recently discovered the joys of Haba wooden toys. They are beautiful, durable, and don't make crazy annoying noise.
I've already laid down the law to my side of the family (it hasn't come up yet with his side)...that they are not allowed to give our future kiddoes any electronic noisy toys.
I don't mind the little wooden workbench where they pound the little pegs with a little hammer, or the jingle of little rattles, etc. I just despise the talking, singing, beeping, etc. of the yucky plastic battery-operated toys!!
We have a gazillion noisy toys but for the longest time, we didn't even put batteries in toys that we didn't like the noise. So the shape sorter, for instance would be devoid of sound and just as fun as if it had batteries. That worked great until Patrick figured out what a battery compartment looks like!
The boys actually still don't know that their play kitchen uses 14 (!!!) batteries. We put one in the light above the sink and have never put in the other. I think they have realized that some of the buttons ought to make noises but they play with them anyway and make their own noises. Plastic pizza is just as yummy and nutritious when the oven doesn't make a beep to tell you that it's "done".
Kates said it exactly: no batteries = no noise. I've thought the LeapFrog things were over-priced and useless for years. Why learn to read when the pen will do it for you? But I'd be worried about buying older toys...that aged plastic could break off easily or that the paint might contain chemicals that we now know to be harmful.