Educational Toys and Piaget
Given the name, one could be forgiven for supposing that products marketed as so-called educational toys would be based on some theory of cognitive development or other.
In relation to such matters, the name of Jean Piaget is one of those which spring most immediately to the mind of an informed observer.
A Swiss developmental psychologist, he made his mark by emphasizing the importance of education on children.
His work has many implications for fields as diverse as philosophy, evolutionary biology, and even artificial intelligence in computers.
So how may someone who subscribed to these theories view the educational toys accessible on today’s market?
Piaget proposed four stages of childhood development.
These are the sensorimotor stage, lasting from birth to about toddlerhood.
Then comes the peroperational stage that reaches to about seven years of age.
The third is the concrete operational stage that lasts until about eleven, and lastly there is the formal operational stage leading to adulthood.
As can be imagined, good educational toys really should take appropriate account of the details of each stage.
Do they?
The first phase of development, the sensorimotor, involves hand-eye coordination, favoring toys that can be grabbed and pulled.
This would manage to make just about any object on earth a “toy!”
And actually, the vast majority offerings labeled as “educational” are only most useful for this first stage, such as dolls and building blocks.
Next up, the preoperational stage, involves toys – and now, games and puzzles as well – that allow for a certain amount of role playing as well – conceptual matters, in other words.
In the concrete operational stage, those so inclined may be amused by such things as robot kits and stuff like that.
Obviously, only a child in the formal operational stage must be given a full-fledged programmable robot – unless you have a prodigy on your hands!