Toys for toddlers...

We've always observed that the simpler the toy, the less “toyish,” that is the less elaborate and pretentious it is, the more small kids will play with it. This rule doesn't appear to escape our grandson Finn, who is approaching 19 month and had a grand time playing with plastic containers while we were watching him yesterday and paying no attention to many “professional” and sophisticated toys that are available to him and that he doesn't even look at, let alone play with.

Adults clearly project their own views of what a kid would like to have when they purchase toys and buy whatever “educational virtues” a toy is supposed to embody from the marketer, when in fact, kids of all ages seems to get more mileage out of simple objects in which they have room to expand their own imaginative and creative resources. So that's it, playing with boxes, cardboard boxes, paper shopping bags and old telephones go much farther than the latest Fischer-Price contraption, even when the batteries are... included!