The Research-Backed Holiday Gift Guide

The best toys for your child's development, according to research

Dec 07, 2022

As many of us parents are entering into the holiday season, we may be wondering how to choose toys for our own children and other children in our lives. Throughout the month of December, we are bombarded with toy advertisements at every turn and every influencer on social media and parenting blogger seems to have a “gift guide” with hundreds of potential gifts for children. It can be so overwhelming and hard for parents to dig through all of this information and choose a reasonable number of gifts that won’t crowd our house with useless junk and actually fits into our holiday budget.

To help you to accomplish this goal, this newsletter is a different type of “gift guide”— one that helps you to understand the research behind toy quality and determine which toys might actually be beneficial for child development. So check it out and happy shopping!

Important Note: Because Parenting Translator is a non-profit organization, I have the privilege of only recommending toys that I truly believe are beneficial based on my understanding of the research and my professional and personal experience. None of these toys have been sponsored in any way or gifted to me.

What Are the “Best” Toys for Children’s Development?

Fortunately for us parents, we have some data to help us to determine which toys are actually “high-quality” toys. The TIMPANI study (Toys that Inspire Mindful Play And Nurture Imagination) was a ten-year study that sought to identify “high-quality” toys. A “high-quality” toy is one that maintains children’s attention and allows children to develop skills of problem-solving, creativity, social skills, and language.

This study examined the play of 60 children aged 3 to 4 years in typical preschool classrooms. The researchers then coded the quality of children’s play with different types of toys. From these observations, the researchers were able to determine which toys were the most high-quality and identified three key factors that these toys shared that made them more likely to promote high-quality play.

Three Toy Characteristics that Promote High-Quality Play:

Simple: The more simple a toy is, the more children have to use their imagination and problem-solving abilities to determine how to play with the toy. For example, using a simple wooden block as a pretend phone requires more creativity and problem-solving skills than a toy phone with many different electronic features.
Open-ended: An open-ended toy is a toy that can be used in many different ways and does not suggest to children exactly how to use it. Examples of open-ended toys include stacking toys, blocks, play doh or clay, boxes, and figurines. These types of toys inspire children to be more creative and flexible and play in new and different ways. They also tend to hold children’s attention for longer time periods.
Non-realistic: A non-realistic toy in this study refers to toys that do not look like the items they are meant to represent. These types of toys inspire more creativity and problem-solving in children. They also often require children to have conversations with others about what the object is and how to use it. For example, Legos or Duplos do not look like building materials in real life so children have to imagine new creations rather than replicate what they see in the real world.

Which Specific Toys Should I Buy Based on this Research?

Knowing which toy characteristics are supported by research can help parents to identify high-quality toys. However, it is even more helpful to know exactly which toys you should buy based on research.

Specific Types of Toys:

Blocks or Building Toys: Research has found that playing with blocks or building toys are associated with improved mathematical learning, enhanced spatial skills, improved spatial language, greater cognitive flexibility (translation: the ability to think about multiple things or change the focus of your thinking), and more creativity in play. Some recommendations for block play: the Melissa & Doug Standard Unit blocks (for all ages), Magnatiles (for all ages), Mega Bloks (for children 1 to 2 years old), Lego Duplos (for children 2 to 4 years old), and Legos (for children 5 years and older). Ideally, these toys should be open-ended (that is, not designed to make a particular product) and have enough pieces to build many different structures.

Miniatures: Miniatures can include small people, action figures, figurines, animals, or vehicles. Research finds that these types of toys are linked to high-quality play in young children. This may be because these types of toys encourage children to engage in pretend play and pretend play is associated with improved executive function, cognitive development, and social-emotional development. Some recommendations for miniatures include: Little People play sets, figurines from your child’s favorite show or movie (such as this Paw Patrol set), Hot Wheel cars, Brio trains, or any set of animals (like this one).

Puzzles: Research finds that playing with puzzles is related to the development of spatial skills, which is important since spatial skills are related to later math performance and increased likelihood of pursuing STEM careers. Some recommendations for puzzles include: shape sorters for toddlers (like this one), peg puzzles for preschoolers (like this one), paint-by-sticker puzzles for school-age children (like this one), floor puzzles for older preschool and school-age children (like this one), and 3D puzzles for older children (like this one).
Dress Up Clothes or Accessories: Dress-up clothes or any accessories related to favorite superheroes or characters from favorite TV shows or movies help to encourage children to engage in dramatic play (translation: any play during which children take on roles and pretend to be something or someone that they are not). Dramatic play is related to increased creativity, perspective-taking, and self-regulation abilities. Some recommendations include: lightweight scarves like these (which can be used creatively to make capes, dresses, or any other clothing items), eye masks (like these), hats like these (which allow for easy role changes for even very young children), and wands like these (to encourage fantasy play). It is important to remember that both boys and girls may benefit from dramatic play so dress up clothes should not be considered “girl toys” but provided to children of both genders.
Audiobook players: Research finds that audiobooks may help to improve reading fluency, reading skills, and interest in reading. Children also report that listening to audiobooks makes them more interested in reading and writing. Audiobook players such as the Yoto Player and Toniebox allow children to listen to audiobooks in a fun and kid-friendly way (and that doesn’t involve you handing over your phone to your child). I would recommend the Toniebox for toddlers and younger preschoolers and the Yoto Player for older preschoolers and school-age children.
Books: You can never have too many books. Research finds that when parents are given more books, they read more often to their children and their children show improved literacy skills and enhanced language skills. For reviews of children’s books, check out Common Sense Media, which is a non-profit organization that provides independent reviews of books, movies, and TV shows for children. The Children’s Book Review is also a great resource to find book reviews, recommendations, and lists. Finally, this Reading Rockets guide can help you to choose books that are best for your child’s developmental stage.

Board Games: Research finds that board games may increase motivation, knowledge, and social skills. In particular, research finds that cooperative board games are associated with more positive social interactions, as well as reduced aggressive behavior toward other children. Cooperative games involve all players working toward a common goal rather than competing against one another. Examples of cooperative board games include Hoot Owl Hoot and Outfoxed. Another great option for board games is chess, since research finds that playing chess may improve math skills. For example, Story Time Chess is an engaging way to teach chess to young children. A final option would be any board game involving numbers. Research finds that playing a numerical board game (with numbered squares), like Chutes and Ladders, may improve children’s math skills.
Experiences Rather than Toys for Older Children: Research finds that children from age 12 to 18 years experience more happiness from experiential gifts (gifts that are experiences) versus material gifts (interestingly, the opposite is found in children aged 3 to 12 years who tend to experience more happiness from material gifts than experiential gifts). Examples of experiential gifts include a vacation, a membership to a museum, a subscription to a magazine or a monthly craft or book box, a special activity such as ice skating or rock climbing, tickets to a concert or show, art or music classes, and a gift card to a favorite restaurant.

What If I Can’t Afford All of These High-Quality Toys?

Seeing endless advertisements, social media posts, and even gift guides like this can make parents feel like they are not giving their child enough for the holidays. However, research suggests that less is more when it comes to toys. Research finds that children tend to show better quality play with fewer toys available. Specifically, researchers find that toddlers show higher quality play and longer durations of play when there are 4 toys present versus 16 toys present. This research suggests that with fewer toys, toddlers show better attention and more creativity. An older study also found that children play longer when only 3 toys are available versus 12 or 21 toys.

Finally, it isn’t really about the toys but the quality of the interaction you have with your child while playing with them.Toys are most beneficial to children when they are more likely to be used in a social interaction with caregivers. In other words, the most important purpose of toys is that they bring you and your child together in an interaction. You could have an amazing interaction with your child while playing with a stick outside and your child could learn more from that interaction than engaging with a one of those trendy rainbow stacking toys that cost nearly a hundred dollars. So focus more on the interaction than the toys and you can rest assured that your child will be just fine even though you don’t have a playroom full of beautifully styled “educational” wooden toys.

TRANSLATION: You do not need more toys to promote your child’s development. In fact, having fewer toys and focusing more on the parent-child interaction may actually be better for your children.

Overall Translation

Research finds that the most “high-quality” and “educational” toys are actually those that are simple, open-ended, and non-realistic. Specific examples of these toys include blocks, miniatures, puzzles, dress up clothes, audiobook players, board games, and books. Research also finds that less is more in terms of toys so if you can’t provide your child with a lot of high-quality toys that may be better for your budget and your child.

Expert Review

All Parenting Translator newsletters are reviewed by experts in the topic to make sure that they are as helpful and as accurate for parents as possible. Today’s newsletter was reviewed by Dr. Erinn Duprey, a developmental scientist, university faculty member, and mother. Please check out her Instagram for more research-backed parenting tips!

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